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By Jackson Kuhl

FOXNews.com Terry Keefer, the World Atlatl Association's 1999 world champion, demonstrates the amount of flexibility of a dart in flight

Using this simple tool, contestants in the Candor, N.Y., Fourth of July Atlatl Contest were flinging 6-foot long shafts of wood into a target 65 feet away. "Men, women, children — everyone's doing it," said Gary Fogelman, editor and publisher of Indian-Artifact Magazine.

An atlatl is a 2-foot stick of wood with a spur or groove at one end and a grip at the other. A wooden dart, which resembles an arrow but is much longer, is loaded onto the atlatl with its butt on the spur or in the groove. Then, while stabilizing the dart on the atlatl by pinching it between forefinger and thumb, the thrower swings the atlatl overhand, sending the dart flying.

Because the spur or groove is at the outermost edge of the thrower's arc, the leverage of the throw is concentrated there and then on to the butt of the dart. This causes the propelling energy to be immediately behind the dart rather than in the mid-section, as with a hand-thrown spear.

The impact of a dart thrown with an atlatl can be as much as that of an arrow shot from a bow with a 60-pound draw — enough to puncture a garage door or a 55-gallon drum.

Atlatls Abound in Americas

First mentioned by the conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo in his memoir, The Conquest of New Spain, atlatls were feared Aztec weapons that could easily pierce Spanish armor. The name is from the Aztecs' Nahuatl language, though experts disagree on the precise pronunciation: some belive it to be "at-latl" while others pronounce it "atl-atl."

Archaeological evidence of atlatls has been found throughout North America. Last August, when the preserved corpse of a 550-year-old Amerindian was extricated from a British Columbia glacier, an atlatl was among his possessions.

Indian Knoll, Ky., is probably most well known for its abundance of atlatls. The site was occupied around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago by people associated with the Central Riverine Archaic tradition, a cultural classification of groups living in and around the Mississippi, Tennessee, and Ohio river valleys. Atlatl grips and spurs of antler, horn, and stone, as well as shell weights, were found buried within over 70 graves at Indian Knoll.

FOXNews.com Modern atlatls, like ancient ones, are made from a variety of woods, and may feature antler grips and bone spurs like the bottom example

The European record of the atlatl goes back as far as 12,000 B.C., and variants are still used today by a range of folk from Arctic Inuits to Australian Aborigines. Archaeologists didn't become interested in the atlatl as a tool until 1940, when researcher Jim Browne attempted to reconstruct one from archaeological evidence. The result, Browne felt, was too inaccurate to be of practical use.

Then in the early 1980s, Bob Perkins, an engineering student at Montana State University, built an atlatl for an anthropology course. Browne's mistake, Perkins found, wasn't in the atlatl but rather in the type of dart he tried to use. Perkins' flexible wooden shaft was much more effective than the rigid one Browne designed.

This is because the "atlatl system" — the compound tool comprised of both atlatl and dart — utilizes "oscillation harmonics," according to Fogelman. During the throw, both parts bend: the atlatl flexes back, then forward, to pitch the dart ahead; and the dart flexes, storing spring energy that propels it away from the atlatl. The result is a projectile that can fly at speeds beyond 100 miles per hour.

Perkins and fellow Montana State student Paul Leininger eventually turned atlatl making into a small business, and this action either coincided with or resulted in a growing number of people becoming interested in atlatl throwing.

A Sport Is Born

The World Atlatl Association was formed in 1987 and today claims a global membership of between 400 and 500 people. Its objective: encouraging "the use, practice, competition, promotion, manufacture and perpetuation of the atlatl spear thrower." Much of its following consists of amateur archaeologists and stone-age technology enthusiasts.

Members periodically meet to compete, with participants getting 10 throws at a standardized bull's-eye: five from a distance of 15 meters and five from 20 meters. At the end of the 11-month season in November, the highest scorer is named world champion.

Martin Strischek was 73 when he started throwing a few years ago. Now he and his son Ray — who won the 1997 championship — give demonstrations for the Boy Scouts and other civic groups.

FOXNews.com Low-scoring contestants have to wear a 'loser's necklace' until the next competition

"I love the transfer of knowledge," said Dana Klein, WAA member and a sanctioned official at Candor. "That's what it's all about." Klein spends 22 weekends out of the year traveling the nation and attending meets.

Fogelman, who was world champ in 1998, said it's both the people and the challenge that attract him to the sport, adding that it's, "an opportunity to compete on the world stage."