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The Origin and Authenticity of an Atlatl and an Atlatl Dart from Lassen County, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Franklin Fenenga
Affiliation:
Lillard Museum, Sacramento Junior College, Sacramento, California
Robert F. Heizer
Affiliation:
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

Extract

In October, 1939, an atlatl and an atlatl dart were brought from Lassen County, California, to the Lillard Museum for examination. These pieces had been found in Susanville in the collection of Mrs. McDow, whose husband had obtained them from an Indian, Charlie Paiute, formerly a resident of the Susanville area.

The atlatl is made apparently of willow; is 75 cm. long; averages 21 mm. in width; is 10 mm. thick at the distal end and increases to 13 mm. at the handle. The wood has been stained with a red pigment (a very similar stain may be obtained by grinding hematite, adding water to it and daubing it on wood). It is black and greasy, apparently from dirty hands, at the handle and along the edges paralleling the groove.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1941

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