Open House
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Category Archives: atlatl
2012 Atlatl Competition
Mark your calendar…. October 27th
Join us for the 12th Annual Blackwater Draw Atlatl Competition
Check back soon for more details and the official poster.
Mastodon State Park
This weekend Mastodon State Park, a location of Pleistocene age fossil deposits, in Imperial, Missouri will be featuring “Archaeology Days”. Admission is free and activities include demonstrations on flintknapping, rock art, and clothing manufacture. Additionally, visitors will have the opportunity to use an atlatl and take a guided tour of the excavation site.
If you’re in the neighborhood or plan on being in the Imperial, Missouri area on Sept. 24-25 you should stop by and enjoy the festivities. Links to the website and a youtube video of the park can be found below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKyR5dKds_4&feature=player_embedded#!
Blackwater Draw Fall Atlatl Competition 2011
Join us at the Blackwater Draw site for the
11th Annual Fall Atlatl Competition.
Whether you are new to dart throwing or have been at it for years, everyone is invited to participate in the 2011 Atlatl Throw. Learn more from the World Atlatl Association.
- The event will be held October 22nd at the Blackwater Draw Archaeological site on New Mexico Highway 467.
- Gates open and registration to compete begins at 9:00 am.
- Practice targets open at 9:00.
- Throwing teams for men, women, and youth.
- Field round competition beginning around 10:00 am and will continue through the afternoon.
- ISAC in the afternoon.
- Casual throwing available all day as targets become free.
Atlatl and spearthrowers of all types welcome. (No stone tips please).
New Mexico Prehistory 2011
Thanks to all who braved the heat to come out for the New Mexico Prehistory Weekend this year. Pottery firing was done off-site due to an open flame ban but the results were remarkable. The work of Ulysses Reid is not to be missed.
Preheating.
Dung and Osage Orange scraps.
After burn.
The finished product.
Cleaned up and on display.
Many folks were introduced to the spear thrower (atlatl).
Bead working demonstrated.
General pre-industrial technology of the southwest was covered.
And, as always, yucca fiber art was a big hit.
There was a large turn out of knappers (ooga booga to you all), archery, native plant talks, and horn working.
I was remiss in taking photos so if anyone would like to contribute, we would be glad to post them.
Thanks to all who participated.
Artifact of the Week 2/28/2011
LA3324.32904: Unfluted Folsom projectile point fragment made of Alibates agate.
This artifact was excavated from the Blackwater Draw North Bank in 1963 by J. Collins. This fragment was found in the Folsom-age horizon just 36 cm (14 inches) below the Agate Basin stratigraphic unit.
Alibates chert, sometimes called “flint”, is better described as an agatized dolomite. The Alibates Flint Quarries located near Amarillo, TX is the source for this raw material.
To learn more about this commonly used raw material, visit Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument.
Archival Photo of the Week
A clovis point found in association with a fibula from Mammoth I in the North Bank. This excavation was conducted by the El Llano Archaeological Society in 1962.
Artifact of the Week 2/14/2011
LA3324.25325 (left) Scottsbluff projectile point of gray chert.
LA3324.25287 (right) Scottsbluff projectile point of gray chert.
These two Scottsbluff projectile points were excavated in 1972 by Dominique Stevens. Both points were recovered from the carbonaceous silt stratigraphic level of the South Bank at the Blackwater Draw site.
The Scottsbluff technological complex was named after the Scottsbluff bison kill site in northwest Nebraska. Calibrated radiocarbon dates for the Scottsbluff technological complex are 9,500-10,500 years before present (BP). A radiocarbon date from the Scottsbluff occupation level at the Big Eddy site in southwestern Missouri is 9,525+/-65 years before present.
Learn more about Big Eddy, a multicomponent Paleoindian site.
2010 Atlatl Throw
Photos from the October 2010 Atlatl Competition are up. Windy weather added a new level of difficulty to the target throws. The turnout was excellent with participants traveling from as far as Roswell, northern New Mexico, and Austin to take part in our event. Thanks to everyone who came.
Blackwater Draw Atlatl Competition
Saturday the 23rd of October.
Atlatl and spearthrowers of all types welcome. (No stone tips please).
Gates open and registration to compete begins at 9:00 am. Practice target opens at 9:00. Field round competition beginning around 10:00 am and will continue through the afternoon. ISAC in the afternoon. Casual throwing available all day as targets become free.
Field round target being tested.
