spear-thrower, a device for throwing a spear (or dart) usually consisting of a rod or board with a groove on the upper surface and a hook, thong, or projection at the rear end to hold the weapon in place until its release. Its purpose is to give greater velocity and force to the spear. In use from prehistoric times, the spear-thrower was used to efficiently fell animals as large as the mammoth.
Usually constructed of wood, bamboo, bone, or antler, the spear-thrower performs the function of an extra joint in the arm. The spear lies along the spear-thrower, with its butt resting against a projecting peg or in the slight socket made by the septum of the node (in the case of bamboo devices). Typical of Australia, the spear-thrower is also used in parts of New Guinea and in some of the islands of Micronesia, and it was formerly used in Central and South America, as among the Mayan and the Aztecs (who called it the atlatl). Eskimo and Indian tribes of the northwest coast of North America also used it for discharging harpoons and fish spears. In East Africa an unusual form of spear-thrower consisted of a shaft of wood with a hollowed-out, swollen head into which the butt of the spear was placed. The man then manipulated the thrower as though it were a part of the spearshaft, but it did not leave his hand.
Allied to these spear-throwers is the becket, a short length of cord that operates like a sling, causing the hurled spear to spin as it flies. A similar contrivance used by the soldiers of ancient Greece and Rome was also used by some North African peoples; it differs from the becket in that the cord is attached to the spear and is not retained in the hand.