NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE ANCIENT ATLATL DART TECHNOLOGY OF SOUTHERN YUKON, CANADA
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-02-04

In the mountains of the Yukon, northern Canada, mountain ice patches have been melting and revealing a 9,000-year record of First Nations’ hunting weapons. Included in these assemblages are dozens of lost hunting arrows and the fragmentary remains of more ancient hunting spears referred to as a throwing darts or atlatl darts. For 20 years the fragmentary remains of this locally extinct technology have been recovered from a variety of sites across southern Yukon. For the first time in the summer of 2018 a complete, and entirely intact throwing dart was recovered from the overlapping territories of the Carcross Tagish and Kwanlin Dün First Nation’s. This specimen is crafted from three separate pieces of wood and features an intact stone point, sinew bindings and carefully adhered fletching. In this presentation we will describe the setting of the discovery as well as the material composition of this weapon and how new analyses lend insight into the design, construction and use of ancient hunting spears.


Author(s): Thomas, Christian (Government of Yukon)