The Franklin Pierce University atlatl team is featured in a full-page article in Parade Magazine this week. Parade can be found in Sunday newspapers throughout the U.S. or online (see the link below). Franklin Pierce is located in New Hampshire.
The team, called the Hurling Ravens, was started in 2004 by Anthropology Professor Bob Goodby. The New Hampshire team, like the Grinnell College Raging Cow team in Iowa (started by Professor John Whittaker), is one of the few college atlatl teams in the country. The article mentions an atlatl team from the University of Vermont and we know the Raging Cows team from Grinnell and another from Luther College are just a few of the college teams which compete informally.
Thunderbird Atlatl sees the Franklin Pierce team each year at the annual Chimney Point Atlatl Contest in Vergennes, Vt. Along with the atlatls and darts the team members have built, we are pleased they use some of our equipment. We look forward to working more high school and college teams around the country. Congratulations to the Hurling Ravens on a nice article. The article was written by Jim Fennell of the New Hampshire Union Leader.
www.parade.com/news/…/0530-a-college-team-takes-aim.html
6/8/10–Dear Hurling Ravens: I really enjoyed the article in Parade magazine. I am a student of Texas rock art and lived on a nature preserve for 12 years that had pictographs from the period. The Archaic Indians used atlatls extensively here as their weapon of choice and I’m fascinated by it. I’ve been searching for someone who can teach me how to make one and throw it, but haven’t had any luck in my search.
I’m so glad to see that your group has adopted the atlatl! In their own way, the Archaics developed a truly efficient weapon and proves to me that they weren’t as primitive as they seem.
Does your club have a T-shirt available?
Thanks again for a good article which I shall file in my anthropology file for future reference.
Sincerely,
Paula Phillips, San Marcos, Texas
We will forward your email to the club.
Thank youl