What looked like a small branch that blew off a tree during a storm turned out to be an ancient wooden hunting weapon wielded by Paleo Indians.
The 10,000-year-old atlatl dart was discovered in a melting patch of ice high in the Rocky Mountains close to Yellowstone National Park.
The dart was made from a birch sapling and still carried personal markings from the ancient hunter. When it was shot, the 3-foot-long (0.9 meter) dart had a projectile point on one end, and a cup or dimple on the other that would have attached to a hook on throwing tool called an atlatl.
The Native American hunter would have used the atlatl, a tool about 2 feet long (0.6 m), for leverage to achieve greater velocity, said Craig Lee, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who discovered the weapon.
more Ancient Hunting Weapon Discovered in Melting Ice | Climate Change Helps Archaeology | LiveScience
The 10,000-year-old atlatl dart was discovered in a melting patch of ice high in the Rocky Mountains close to Yellowstone National Park.
The dart was made from a birch sapling and still carried personal markings from the ancient hunter. When it was shot, the 3-foot-long (0.9 meter) dart had a projectile point on one end, and a cup or dimple on the other that would have attached to a hook on throwing tool called an atlatl.
The Native American hunter would have used the atlatl, a tool about 2 feet long (0.6 m), for leverage to achieve greater velocity, said Craig Lee, of the University of Colorado at Boulder, who discovered the weapon.
more Ancient Hunting Weapon Discovered in Melting Ice | Climate Change Helps Archaeology | LiveScience