Behavioral Ecology, Technology, and the Organization of Labor: How a Shift from Spear Thrower to Self Bow Exacerbates Social Disparities

Abstract

Self-bows replaced spear throwers as primary terrestrial hunting weapons on nearly all continents at different time periods throughout human prehistory. Many scholars have debated whether this transition occurred because of a shift in resource exploitation toward smaller fauna or because of the bow's supposedly superior performance in warfare. Before causal hypotheses explaining this technological shift can be tested, performance characteristics of atlatls versus bows must be well understood. Studies of performance characteristics often address topics such as the range, accuracy, or maintainability of weapons systems, but this study quantitatively compares the learnability of each weapon. Learning curves for spear throwers and bows are established using contemporary data generated by archers from the Society for Creative Anachronism and atlatlists from the World Atlatl Association.The hypothesis that spear throwers are easier to learn and can be wielded effectively by a wider segment of human populations than bows is supported. Implications for the organization of labor are contextualized in light of socioecological changes generally characterizing the conditions under which shifts from atlatl to self-bow technology occurred in prehistory. [learning curve, division of labor, atlatl, performance characteristics, skill] RESUMEN Los arcos simples reemplazaron los lanzadardos como armas de caza terrestre primarias en casi todos los continentes en diferentes períodos de tiempo a lo largo de la prehistoria humana. Muchos investigadores han debatido si su transición ocurrió debido a un cambio en la explotación de recursos hacia la fauna más pequeña o debido a un desempeño supuestamente superior del arco en la guerra. Antes de que las hipótesis causales que explican este cambio tecnológico puedan ser probadas, las características de desempeño de losátlats versus los arcos deben ser bien entendidas. Los estudios de las características de desempeño a menudo abordan temas tales como alcance, precisión, o capacidad de mantenimiento de los sistemas de armas, pero este estudio cuantitativamente compara la facilidad de aprendizaje de cada arma. Las curvas de aprendizaje para los lanzadardos y los arcos son establecidas usando datos contemporáneos generados por los arqueros de la Sociedad para Anacronismo Creativo y los lanzadores deátlats de la Asociación Mundial deÁtlatl. La hipótesis que los lanzadardos son más fáciles de aprender y pueden ser manejados efectivamente por un segmento más amplio de las poblaciones humanas que los arcos es sustentada. Las implicaciones para la organización del trabajo son contextualizadas a la luz de los cambios sociológicos generalmente caracterizando las condiciones bajo las cuales los cambios delátlatl a la tecnología

Female hunters of the early Americas

“…Pooling labor and sharing meat are necessary to mitigate risks associated with the atlatl ’s low accuracy and long reloading times ( 16 ). Furthermore, peak proficiency in atlatl use can be achieved at a young age, potentially before females reach reproductive age, obviating a sex-biased technological constraint that would later intensify with bow-and-arrow technology ( 17 ). Last, the residentially mobile lifestyle entailed by big-game specialization is quite conducive to human reproduction and, thus, female hunting—contrary to previous thinking—because it reduces net movement relative to central-place foraging strategies ( 18 ).…”

Learning to use atlatls: equipment scaling and enskilment on the Oregon Coast

“…2013; Angelbeck & Cameron 2014; Grund & Huzurbazar 2018). This research has drawn on experimental archaeology examining the differences in bow and atlatl accuracy, striking power, suitability for different types of prey, reload rate, production cost and gender-specific use performance (Whittaker & Kamp 2006; Whittaker 2010, 2013; Bettinger 2013; Grund 2017). While bows and atlatls are both highly variable in form and performance, a few overall differences between the two weapon systems emerge in this literature.…”

“…He argues that proficiency, a relatively high level of shot consistency, is more rapidly obtained with a bow than with an atlatl. Grund (2017) has used modern recreational atlatl and bow competition data to propose that individuals using atlatls achieve near-maximum accuracy faster than those using bows. Accuracy on average, however, was always lower among those using atlatls.…”

Assessment of complex projectiles in the early Late Pleistocene at Aduma, Ethiopia

“…However, the archaeological evidence in hand has not adequately answered questions relating to the timing and trajectory of the development of complex projectiles. The consensus view seems to favor the adoption, first in Africa, of spearthrowers and their later replacement by the bow and arrow technology [43]. Substantial archaeological evidence for composite projectiles—microlith-barbed osseous points—comes only from the Upper Paleolithic and is interpreted as propelled by spearthrowers [44,45].…”