Prehistoric Archery and Atlatl event September 1st & 2nd

[david_s]

Just a heads up...

The SPTA/PAAS are organising a prehistoric weekend at Flag Fen Bronze age museum.

Saturday will be a 'public' day with a bit of have-a-go, show and tell, demos of atlatl and bow making etc and some traders we hope.

Sunday there's going to be an International Spearthrowing Accuracy Competition and a small prehistoric archery competition.

At the end of the prize givings we will be making an offering in the mere so if you want to take part bring an arrow that is not precious to you.

There's a flyer here:

PAAS v1.0

Give me a shout by email if you have any questions.


ooops just realised that I haven't put the competition entry fees in the flyer...

Seniors 10GBP
U16 5GBP
U12 Free

Competitiors get into the museum free.

[steve58]

Sorry to be dim... but what is atlatl? Sounds a bit Inca or Aztec?

[Tom]

Originally Posted by steve58

Sorry to be dim... but what is atlatl? Sounds a bit Inca or Aztec?

It's a spear thrower Atlatl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And it does come from an Aztec dialect

[celticmatt]

I saw this, its sound fun, I recently shot my first local field comp with a ash bow based on the mere heath type, did quite well against some ELB's.
The Primitive Web site re the flag fen shoot says no metal arrowheads, what to use instead as broadheads are not allowed?

[david_s]

Originally Posted by celticmatt

I saw this, its sound fun, I recently shot my first local field comp with a ash bow based on the mere heath type, did quite well against some ELB's.
The Primitive Web site re the flag fen shoot says no metal arrowheads, what to use instead as broadheads are not allowed?

You can shoot metal piles just not in the priimitive class.

Bone, horn antler or hardwood work fine. No need for anything fancy. Just scarf joint them on with some good glue, araldite (modern glues are permissable) or hide glue if you want to be a bit more authentic. Then bind with some linen, rawhide or sinew and then another coat of glue over the whipping to make sure. For atlatl darts, if you don't want to get that technical, just sharpening a point works fine. Bamboo can be quilled and fire hardened.

We are throwing into paper targets over hay bales there's no need anything fancy. On my best dart I use a small bodlkin which means I have to throw in the open class.

We'll accept flint points but know from experience that anything barbed pulls off when they get into modern target materials so it's at your own risk.

The great thing is that the equipment for atlatl need not be sophisticated. A cane with duck tape fletchings for a dart and a bit of hazel with a spur carved in it for a thrower will do nicely. There's a great tutorial here:

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