Atlatl Rock

Valley of Fire, Nevada

Photo: 1998 Kevin L. Callahan

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The Atlatl Rock Petroglyphs are located in the Valley of Fire State Park, NV. northeast of Las Vegas and have one of the finest and most realistic representations of an atlatl or spearthrower (and the dart that was thrown) anywhere. According to David S. Whitley (1996:133) 3this is one of the best prehistoric renderings of an atlatl in North America.2 Some of the rock art at this site may be older than 1500 years in age and it was most likely a shamanistic vision quest site. The object below the bighorn sheep is the atlatl and the object just below that is the dart. The fletching is represented near the right end of the dart. If you are looking for a guidebook I highly recommend David S. Whitley's (1996) A Guide to Rock Art Sites: Southern California and Southern Nevada Mountain Press: Missoula ISBN 0-87842-332-X available at Red Rock Canyon Visitors Center for $20.

Compare this petroglyph with a museum specimen of a similarly shaped atlatl from the Chicago Museum of Natural History Click Here.

Over 100 petroglyphs of atlatls are represented at the Jeffers Petroglyphs site in southwestern, Minnesota.

ATLATLS OR SPEARTHROWERS IN PREHISTORIC MINNESOTA(article by Kevin Callahan)
GO TO THE MAMMOTH PAGE
TED BAILEY'S ATLATL WEBSITE (many atlatl and prim. technology links including the World Atlatl Association)
PASCAL CHAUVAUX'S 1997 ATLATL WEBSITE(great history & European throwing contests)
UMRARA Home Page
SHAMANISM AND ROCK ART IN MINNESOTA
Anthropology HUMAN ORIGINS
ARCHAEOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA

The Great Basin and Western Interior in brief:
The 400,000 square mile desert between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada with mountains and deep valley basins. Varied elevations and microenvironments. Unpredictable and harsh environment with 80% of sites in the foothills. The rich lowland marshes had denser population.
Re: Culture | Years | Tools | Sites | Trends

1. Desert Archaic 9500ya-today
digging sticks, manos and metates, projectile points, sandals, decoys, baskets
After AD 500 Bow and Arrow, some pottery
Cave Sites:
Danger and Hogup in Utah Hidden and Lovelock in Nevada
Broad spectrum hunting and gathering (seeds and Pinion nuts), lived around marshes and lakes, Diverse food, storage

2. Fremont AD 400-1300
maize-beans-squash, leather moccasins not fiber sandals, distinctive coiled baskets, horned and shield bearing pictographs, irrigation with some hunting, Sedentary horticulture and small game hunting, scattered houses, no kivas

For more information see my course website on the Archaeology of North America.