I am drawn to oddness. Difference catches my eye. I saw a couple of drawings of this atlatl in obscure publications and was smitten. How odd this looked. I had to make one.
The atlatl was found in Lovelock Cave, Nevada in the early 1900’s. M. R. Harrington published drawings of it. The atlatl was 17 inches long made of grease wood. The spur and any binding were not located with this artifact. The original artifact was lost after publication so no further measurements or images are possible.
With some educated guesswork I used the scanty information and drawings to spec out my own version. I took a piece of Baldcypress wood that came from a blown down limb to craft the body. Why cypress? I had some of that and none of the greasewood. I don’t even know how the two compare. At This point this was about art as much as replica making. Inspiration matters.
Then I began shaping a white-tail deer antler into a spur. Lastly I cut a strip of leather to wrap the handle. The original artifact did not have this, but neither did it have a spur. After I was done and brought everything together for assembly, I ran across some Aztec atlatl images that had pegs in the groove. It got me to thinking about an easier and more likely way to craft a spur for this atlatl and still make use of the V notch. Thus, I have drawn a design for my next version of this atlatl with a peg style spur. Perhaps one of you will be drawn to something odd and make a Lovelock Cave atlatl for yourself!
