Sophisticated Primitive

About a month ago, we got an email from Paysha Rhone of Academy Communications, a public relations firm that specializes in small colleges:

“Kelsey [Devlin] is captain of the Franklin Pierce University atlatl team in Rindge, NH, and recently won a gold medal at the 19th Annual Northeast Open Atlatl Championship in Addison, VT.”

We are always ready to hear success stories featuring kids from Warwick, but we had to wonder: what the heck is an atlatl? We called Kelsey to explain exactly what it was.

Kelsey informed us that it is an ancient “weapons system” that allowed primitive hunters to throw a small spear farther, faster and more accurately. It offered a tremendous advantage over a spear alone and was so popular that there are very few primitive societies where it was not used, Kelsey, who is a senior at Franklin Pierce majoring in anthropology, told us.

The “system” consists of a stick with a hook at one end that holds a long thin spear called a dart. The thrower holds the stick and the dart and then launches the dart holding on to the atlatl.

“It is found on continents and in places that have had no contact with each other,” Kelsey said. “So, there is no one tribal society that invented it. It was found in Australia, Asia, North America, just about any place where hunting was important.”

Kelsey said the atlatl in North America is believed to have been used by people who were here before the people who used bow-and-arrow arrived.

“We have found the remains of settlements [in New England] that predate the modern Native Americans and they used the atlatl,” said Devlin.

The word itself comes from the Nahuatl language of Mexico. Devlin said the weapon is believed to have been invented about 80,000 years ago. One of her professors at Franklin Pierce, Robert Goodby started the atlatl team about 10 years ago and he has been gaining a reputation as an expert on pre-bow-and-arrow Americans in the Northeast. He felt the atlatl itself would help his students better understand the people who used them. Until we met Kelsey, we foolishly believed that atlatl throwing would be an esoteric pastime for archaeology nerds. There’s nothing nerdy about Devlin.

“Kelsey is a 2011 graduate of Warwick Veterans Memorial High School and a junior anthropology major. She is also an accomplished member of the university rowing team,” according to Paysha Rhone. “She has participated in competitions at archaeology fairs and atlatl contests in New England and across the country. She says new students are often taken aback as she and her fellow team members hurl their giant arrows toward a deer-shaped target in a field in the center of campus, but they grow accustomed to the practice and often cheer them on.

“Professor Goodby says Kelsey is an amazing student. “She’s been on the track and field team, is president of the Anthropology Club, a musician and an aspiring archaeologist who has worked on a number of sites in New Hampshire and is planning on graduate school, focusing on underwater and nautical archaeology.” She is currently working on a senior thesis project with the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources focused on cataloging and interpreting data from shipwrecks and other underwater sites in Lake Winnipesaukee.”

Just as the atlatl evolved independently on separate continents, so have its modern fan. Formal competitions are still relatively rare, but enthusiasm for the sport is growing.

Even one of the most prolific makers of the atlatl and darts for it, Bob Berg, says solid statistics are hard to come by. He founded Thunderbird Atlatl in 1990. Thunderbird developed from a hobby into a full-time business and is now known worldwide as the premiere manufacturer of atlatls, darts and accessories.

“When I started selling them, I was making about 300 kits a year by 1994,” said Berg. “Now I’m making 3,000 kits per year. I’m not a very good record keeper, but I estimate I’ve made between 30,000 and 50,000 kits so far.”

Like most makers, Berg started as a hobbyist and let the demand for what he made determine whether it would be a viable business. It was. The Thunderbird Atlatl shop is located in Candor, New York. Candor is a small village located just south of the Finger Lakes Region about equidistant from Ithaca to the north, Elmira to the southwest and Binghamton to the southeast. Bob and his wife, Cheryll, operate out of the street level portion of their home.

“We all work at the family business in one way or another. Bob is usually manning the workshop on weekdays. He is always coming up with new innovations while finishing custom orders,” according to Cheryll.

Bob Berg was born in Hilo, Hawaii but grew up on a farm in Apalachin, New York after 1959. Bob’s family raised beef cattle on the half square mile farm. They also produced hay and timber. Bob graduated from Alfred University in 1974 with a major in German.

“I am not an anthropologist, but I was always interested in primitive things,” he said. “I knap arrow and spear points and tools. I like hunting with the atlatl and I have brought down wild boar and deer, although I don’t have as much time for hunting lately, since the business has grown.”

Bob has been interested in all things primitive for the greater part of his adult life and enjoys passing his knowledge on. Bob enjoys a few hobbies both in and outside the atlatl business, among them spear fishing, atlatl hunting, oil painting and “inventing mechanical devices designed to save the world.”

Cheryll Berg grew up in the Catskill Mountains in Hancock, N.Y. She graduated from Utica College of Syracuse University and majored in journalism and political science. She retired from the newspaper she started in 1984 in 2004 and now is busier than ever working with Bob.

The Bergs are members of the World Atlatl Association, Ohio Atlatl Association, New York Atlatl Association, the Society for Creative Anachronism, Genesee Flint Knappers Association, The Secret Ear of Corn Ooga Booga Society and the International Atlatl Society.

“I consider myself among the top 100 atlatl throwers in the world,” said Berg without hesitation. “I’m probably the best hunter with the atlatl in the world.”

Berg said hunting with the atlatl is rare because just mastering the technique to throw it accurately takes so much concentration and practice. Hunting could be very frustrating for someone less that highly skilled.

“It takes extraordinary and eye coordination and all around concentration,” he said, “and the patience to do it over and over and over again.”

Berg estimates that there are 100,000 people who make a hobby of atlatl throwing and, aside from training and arming hobbyists, there are no professional atlatl throwers.

Kelsey Devlin said that most skilled throwers limit themselves to doing demonstrations.

“We have been doing demos for Boy Scouts as part of an outreach program as much as we can,” she said. “We have them try throwing it themselves and they think it’s the best thing ever.”

She said some Boy Scouts are earning badges with atlatls and campus practice sessions are drawing more and more attention.

“On Thursdays, we go out into the field and throw them and suddenly people are watching us. Even the jocks really like it.”

For more information about atlatls visit www.thunderbirdatlatl.com. More background on Franklin Pierce University’s Atlatl Team is at http://beta.franklinpierce.edu/about/news/pr_20081016Atlatl.htm Kelsey’s campus athlete page is http://fpu.prestosports.com/sports/rowing/2011-12/bios/kelsey_devlin She can be reached at Devlink11@live.franklinpierce.edu.