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A Spear Thrower from Oklahoma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

W. E. Baker  and
A. V. Kidder
W. E. Baker
Affiliation:
Boise City, Oklahoma
A. V. Kidder
Affiliation:
Carnegie Institution, Washington, D. C.
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Extract

There is reason to believe that the bow came into use in the New World in relatively recent times, and that prior to its introduction, or its much less probable local invention, the spear-thrower enjoyed continent-wide distribution in both Americas. These suppositions are based on the apparent total absence from all respectably ancient deposits of small, light points suitable for the tipping of arrows; and, conversely, by the presence in such deposits of larger points, of sizes and weights appropriate for service with the heavier, longer darts propelled by the spear-thrower. Furthermore, the spear-thrower is known to have been replaced by the bow in the Southwest during the Basket Maker II period, probably in the early centuries of the Christian era.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , July 1937 , pp. 51 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1937

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References

51 The cave was discovered by the senior author's son, Ele, in 1928. It was later investigated by E. B. Renaud of the University of Denver, who published a brief description of his work in it and in other nearby caves (Colorado Scientific Society Proceedings, Vol. 12, No. 5, pp. 123–135). Subsequent excavations were made by the Oklahoma Historical Society, and the cave was finally cleared in the summer of 1934 for the University of Oklahoma by Ele Baker. Nothing, apparently, has been published subsequent to the Renaud paper.

52 Harrington, M. R., Amer. Anthrop., n.s., Vol. 26, No. 1.

53 For San Juan spear-throwers see: Kidder and Guernsey, Bur. Amer. Ethnol. Bull. 65, pl. 82; Guernsey and Kidder, Peabody Mus. Papers, Vol. VIII, No. 2, pl. 33; Guernsey, same series, Vol. XII, No. 1, pl. 50. The El Paso specimens are in the Peabody Museum of Harvard. They will shortly be published by Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Cosgrove.

54 Harrington, loc. cit.; Gamio, Ethnos., Vol. I, 1921, lam. 13, b.