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The throwing stick is one of the first weapon
Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures....
s used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one of the ends and either maiming or killing it.






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Aboriginal Craft
The throwing stick is one of the first weapon
Weapon

A weapon is a tool used to apply or threaten to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack or defense in combat, subduing enemy personnel, or to destroy enemy weapons, equipment and defensive structures....
s used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one of the ends and either maiming or killing it. The difference between a throwing stick and a javelin is found in their shapes and lengths. A javelin is almost always a straight shaft with either a pointed tip or a spearhead attached to the front end. A throwing stick can be straight like a pointed wooden shaft or curved like the boomerang
Boomerang

Boomerangs are curved pieces of wood used as weapons and sport equipment. Boomerangs come in many shapes and sizes depending on their geographic or tribal origins and intended function....
. Furthermore the throwing stick is a much shorter pole weapon
Pole weapon

A pole weapon or polearm is a close combat weapon in which the main fighting part of the weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft, typically of wood, thereby extending the user's effective range....
 than the javelin. However it became obsolete as slings
Sling (weapon)

A sling is a projectile weapon typically used to throw a blunt projectile such as a stone. It is also known as the shepherd's sling.A sling has a small cradle or pouch in the middle of two lengths of cord....
 and bows
Bow (weapon)

A bow is a weapon that projects arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow. Essentially, it is a form of Spring . As the bow is drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow....
 became more prevalent.

Distribution

The throwing stick is a simple tool used in hunting small game and waterfowl. In particular, the Egyptians
Egyptians

Egyptians is the name of the nationality and Mediterranean North African ethnic group native to Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to the Geography of Egypt, dominated by the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the Cataracts of the Nile to the Mediterranean Sea and enclosed by desert both to the Easte...
 used throwing sticks to hunt ducks as seen in several wall paintings. Tutankhamun
Tutankhamun

Tutankhamun , Egyptian language was an Ancient Egypt Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt , during the period of History of Egypt known as the New Kingdom....
 was a known lover of duck hunting and used the throwing stick in his numerous hunts. The Aborigines
Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
 of Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
 used the boomerang
Boomerang

Boomerangs are curved pieces of wood used as weapons and sport equipment. Boomerangs come in many shapes and sizes depending on their geographic or tribal origins and intended function....
. Although returning boomerangs are found in many cultures and will return to the user if thrown properly, the choice weapon of most cultures was the heavy non-returning boomerang that could also be wielded as a club or knife for attacking close kangaroo
Kangaroo

A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus....
, wallaby
Wallaby

A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name....
, and emu
Emu

The Emu , Dromaius novaehollandiae, is the largest bird native to Australia and the only Extant taxon member of the genus Dromaius. It is also the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich....
 by using it as a stabbing weapon. The Native American tribes such as the Hopi
Hopi

The Hopi are American Indians in the United States people who primarily live on the 12,635 km? Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi Reservation is entirely surrounded by the much larger Navajo Reservation....
, as well as all southern California tribes, also utilized the throwing stick to hunt rabbits and occasionally deer.

Other titles for the throwing stick are: rabbit stick, throwing club, killer stick, baton, boomerang, and kylie. The throwing stick can also be used as a weapon to be utilized in human combat, though the heavy non-return boomerang was the only one truly effective in this use.

Survival tool

As a survival tool, the throwing stick is one of the most effective and easiest tools to obtain. Other than a weapon, it can also be used as a digging tool for making fire-pits and underground shelter. A curved limb will suffice as a throwing stick. Ancient throwing sticks were believed to be made of hardwood with a weighted or curved end to one side to impart momentum so the stick stays straight and does not wobble in mid-flight.

Variations

All throwing sticks and its variations are about 2 to 3 feet long pieces of thick hardwood, usually about the circumference of the user's wrist. When they are thrown, they spin, creating the image of a sort of blurry disc.

Pommel Point Throwing Sticks are not actual variations of the throwing stick. They are simply throwing sticks with slightly blunt points that can crush skulls if they travel at a fast enough velocity. Thus, it is also dubbed the skull crusher throwing stick.

In the American Southwest, some throwing sticks have been found to have a propeller twist to them.

Return boomerangs have a flat convex surface that must be thrown at a 45 degree angle with a sharp flick of the wrist. The Egyptians described it as "-returning to the feet of the thrower and be ready at hand for the next flight of ducks."

The heavy Knife Boomerang could be made into a close-range hunting tool by plunging its sharp edge into the underbelly of emu, kangaroo, and wallaby.

See also

  • Atlatl
    Atlatl

    An atlatl or spear-thrower is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart-throwing, and includes a Plain bearing surface which allows the user to temporarily store energy during the throw....
     - spear thrower which has been called a throwing stick.