Anthropology Club’s prehistoric pitch
The Anthropology Club kicked off their semester with a bang – or more accurately, with a whoosh and thud. The club hosted atlatl throwing on the campus green, drawing in curious students to learn more about the club and to try their hand at throwing an atlatl.
An atlatl, known as a spear-thrower, is a handheld tool used to throw spears with greater force and accuracy than a normal throw during prehistoric times. According to ThoughtCo, the earliest known atlatls date back to the Upper Paleolithic era.
Izzy Van Veldhuizen, Anthropology Club treasurer, explained that the atlatls have a notch on the end where the spear is placed and how the tools are to be thought of as arm extenders.
“It allows the spears to build up speed, which makes them go further, and sink deeper into the animal you’re hunting,” Van Veldhuizen said.
Anthropology Club president Emma Ostwinkle said the club has been hosting the event for almost a decade now.
“We try to do it two times a year, once in the fall, and it’ll also be our last event in May, so right before finals,” Ostwinkle said. It’s a nice way to destress and a good way to start the school year.”
Van Veldhuizen describes the atlatl throw as the current executive board’s inheritance and commends the way the anthropology majors and staff assist in keeping the tradition alive.
“Some of our spears are a little rough around the edges, but for the most part they throw, and we’re always cycling new ones in,” Van Veldhuizen said. “Some of the atlatls are bought from other archaeologists that have made them, but most of these spears were made by students or staff in the archaeology labs.”
“Anthropology is about studying how humans in the past worked, and what they did,” Shannon McCormick, Anthropology Club secretary, said. “It’s really cool to experience what they did and what they didn’t. It is amazing that we get to connect to them in such ways.”
Under the guidance of the executive board, students took turns throwing the spears, using varieties of atlatls at a wooden board that depicted the picture of a mammoth. Spears whizzed through the air, some close to hitting the target and some straying far away.
Junior Erica Carmody, who has attended the event multiple times since her first year at Augustana expressed her excitement at the opportunity to experiment while having fun.
“It is fun to try different drawing mechanisms with different atlatls,” Carmody said. “Each one has a different combination, and usually, one person has one or two different combinations that work for them and they need to experiment.”
According to Carmody, the best part of the event is that one doesn’t have to be perfect while having fun due to the non-judgemental environment.
“No one makes fun of you if you don’t throw it correctly your first 15 times,” Carmody said. “They’ll celebrate when you do, and they’ll celebrate when you don’t.”
The Anthropology Club intends to host more interactive events throughout the year, aiming to provide hands-on learning experiences that bring ancient practices to life.
