Beginners, History

Atlatls in America: A Brief Overview

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The word “atlatl” is the Aztec word for spear thrower. Our history in North America was greatly affected by the Native Central Americans’ use of the atlatl.

Bernal Diaz’s account of the conquest of New Spain, what is now Mexico, talked extensively of the use of atlatls by the natives, both those on the side of Montezuma and those who allied themselves with the conquistador Cortez.

Archaeologists and anthropologists both have recorded extensive use of the atlatl by Native Americans, who still were using mostly stone tools and stone tipped projectile weapons at the time of European contact. Atlatls continue to be used today in the Amazon Basin as well as in Alaska. Apparently there has been a resurgence in the use of the atlatl among native Alaskans in the Nome area and in the Aleutians and Kodiak Island.

See:
The Conquest of New Spain (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
by Bernal Diaz del Castillo (Author), John M. Cohen (Introduction, Translator) “BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO

News

Icicle Atlatl Contest

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Icicle Atlatl Contest , January 10, 9 am to 3pm. January 11, 9 am to 2pm, 2004 Icicle Atlatl Contest & ISAC, Tioga Park, Nichols, New York. Turkey dinner at my house (90 Main Street Candor, New York) at 5pm on Saturday night. ( snow date Jan 17&18) check here for snow cancelation. Contact: Bob Berg 1-800-836-4520

How To, News

Venison Recipe

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Bone a shoulder of atlatl-harvested venison and cube it. Dredge the cubed venison in egg then coat with brown bread crumbs. Set aside. Boil a half-cup of barley in two cups of water, stir, cover and let stand for 20 minutes. Cube a rutabaga or several turnips; slice a pound of parsnips into narrow strips. Ring two or three onions and crush a half a dozen cloves of garlic. Fry the garlic in a dash of olive oil. Add the onions, and parsnips, then the rutabaga or turnips. Don’t spare the olive oil because the venison is generally fat free. Don’t over cook the vegetables. In a large iron covered pot, sauté the venison until it is just browned but pink on the inside. Add the vegetables, barley, freshly crushed peppercorn, a dash of sea salt and a cup of red wine. Cover the pot and let simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with fresh brown bread and butter. This goes well with a hearty burgundy. Practice your French after the second bottle of wine.

News

Major Site Layout Updates

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Thunderbird Atlatl’s main page has just undergone a major update, but for the next few hours most of the links and images on the site will be broken. Over the next week, this site will be improved substantially, and a lot of new content will be added. Thunderbird Atlatl will be dynamic and easily-updateable by Robert and Cheryll Berg, without going through a third party web designer. Keep on coming back for the latest updates!

News

Time to Consider Your Holiday Orders!

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Order Early For the Holidays!

Now that the summer rush is over and we’re almost caught up, it’s time to get going on the holiday orders. If you want to be sure that your atlatls get delivered by early December, it is wise to order them soon.
We have plenty of our new Catatonk atlatls in inventory. The Catatonk is a flexible model with a dart rest at the handle end. It shoots very quickly and smoothly. The shafts are made from highly elastic woods such as Purpleheart, Osage Orange, or Argentine Ebony. The handles are made of a wood with a matching or contrasting color, usually (but not limited to) Bloodwood, Purpleheart, Maple or Walnut. The Catatonks have been well received at the various shows we’ve attended this summer.

The Catatonk is the second atlatl to combine the woodworking skills and design sensitivities of Bob Berg and John Jefferson, after the Kanakadea, which we introduced last year. John has also created a dozen or so extreme quality atlatls from rare woods that are unique, one of a kind weapons worthy of the most demanding customer. Over the last few years John has also helped improve some of our older designs with small but worthwhile changes.

Our plan is to have a new link to the “Unique and One of a Kind Premium Atlatls” that you can scroll through. Pictured will be the actual atlatl that you are buying. We also plan to have an Adobe Acrobat version of our Newsletter/Catalog, which will make it a little easier to obtain along with the informative articles that appear in it. Of course you can always ask for a printed catalog and we will gladly send it to you free of charge.

We also plan to upgrade the pictures of our atlatls this year, as soon as our Webmaster, Peter Berg, comes home from college for a break. We just sent him a box of home baked cookies so he owes us! Give us a call at 1-800-836-4520!

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