@@MichaelBecker-px5sy Deadly accurate, like a teacher with a chalkboard rubber. At least in class we had desklids to lift to deflect the incoming missile, if we were quick enough. 😂
@@rich1051414They may not have understood the physics per se, but someone definitely invented the airfoil way before the 20th century! Not to mention gyroscopic stability - and precession under a torque with a boomerang.
@@MarkoBotsarisyep. “Advanced” concepts such as these have been known to exist for a long, long time. Humans often forget that writing and language are scientific advancements much like boomerangs or slings. We didn’t use written language for 80,000+ years while we were living the life, creating tools and shelters via oral history.
You throw it at birds on the ground or on water. For Egyptians in those paintings, it was probably cranes, ducks, etc. Bird hunting is now done in the air because tech advanced to the point that we depleted the populations.
@@ianmcmahon8589With the density of Passenger Pigeon flocks it would be viable to hit them. Consider that with a modern shotgun having a full choke, the maximum effective range is about fifty yards. Choke was invented by W.W. Greener in the 1870's by which time the Passenger Pigeon was in major decline so it must have been largely hit with unchoked guns meaning at lower altitudes than fifty yards. Throws further than fifty yards horizontally are evident in the video so it is reasonable to consider that with the right stick and technique, lethal throws up to the height of Passenger Pigeon flocks were possible.
In Australia what is popularly referred to as the returning boomerang is actually used to bring down a bird in flight. Galahs and cockatoos and many other Australian birds tend to flock in very large numbers. If the boomerang misses then it returns for another throw. Hitting a bird in one of those flocks is usually successful
@@737smartin our athleticism is not “pathetic” compared to the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans gave up a lot of physical abilities for very energy efficient walking and running. We can beat almost all other land animals in distance running thanks to our bone structure and sweat. I think only specially bred sled dogs and certain African antelope can out-marathon us
@@52flyingbicycles Endurance not the same as athleticism, which implies quickness, speed, coordination and explosiveness. Pound for pound, humans are well below average athletically vs other warm blooded creatures. We make up for this deficiency with top shelf intelligence and the resulting tool use.
@@737smartin endurance is a part of athleticism. For sure we are substantially weaker pound for pound than many other animals. IIRC we lack a smooth muscle layer under our skin which gives our relatives like the chimps substantially higher strength. But as Darwin said: it is not the strongest species that survive, but those most adaptable to change
Great bit of practical archaeology, thanks for uploading. Remember that in prehistory there was vastly more game around and our ancestors had a lot of time to practice, closing the odds on a successful kill.
The 20,000-year-old boomerang from Poland had markings from the earliest known base five number system carved on it. That might be the oldest demonstration of people using numbers in human history... and it was base five, like the fingers on one hand. By comparison, base ten and binary (base 2) are fairly recent innovations. Ancient people were just as clever as modern people.
Yes, we are NOT smarter than our ancestors in basic raw brainpower - We just generally get better nutrients since birth that pushes up the bottom & top potential of brain development, and have access to a lot of accumulated knowledge.
The roman numbers were base 10 but also fashioned from the hand. I, II, and III, are your fingers, V is the shape of your thumb and pinky when you show 5 fingers, and X is like two Vs or two hands. Placing Is before or after a number adds or subtracts from that number: I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX So the numbers can all be shown by simple hand signs as well Though idk if holding up 6 fingers to show the number 4 is actually a good system or if they even did that
Lol yeah. The skill curve for this is comically high and is probably dependent on huge populations of animals literally not viable in any context today.
@tomjjackson21 It really isn't. I made a Choctaw style rabbit stick and was able to hit a rabbit sized target from 50 feet within 5 throws. It's not hard to see how practice could make you very good at it.
And for much larger game you could simply rub the boomerang under your armpit and send your scent past your pray and wait in silence for dinner. Which is how the Australian Aboriginal employed the boomerang
Great video. Straight to the point, no unnecessary/distracting background music, full of interesting facts and now, after less than 4 minutes, I know more than before I watched it. Excellent work my friends. Unfortunately it is night time now where I live (UK). "Unfortunately" because I am now dying to get out doors, find some tree branches, do some work on the limbs and try this out. Thank you for sorting out my activities for tomorrow! I am subscribed!😊
When I was younger my mother worked in property management and she had a developer friend who used to travel the world that worked with her sometimes. One day he came over to our house with a bunch of other workers for a new project they were building and he saw that my neighbor had those little tiny colorful river pebbles on their driveway. He then went and picked one pebble, balled his left hand into a partial loose fist with his pointer finger on top in a horizontal position. (Edit - After talking to my brother he corrected me and reminded me his thumb was on top, not his pointer finger.) He then took a rock and pressed it into the skin on top of his thumb and it shot out so fast it made a loud wizzing noise in the air. We couldn’t believe it. My brother and I played baseball on the all stars traveling team at the time at around 15 years old and we even tried to recreate the sound he made by simply throwing the stones as hard and we could but we could never get them as fast as he made them go. So that should tell you how fast the rocks were flying when he did his little move. We then eventually asked him what was he doing and where did he learn that. And the story he told was something out of an adventure exploration novel. But to make a long story short, he explained he traveled to South American to the Amazon and did a little expedition when he was in college like two decades before that conversation. He was around his late 50s early 60s at the time. He said when he was on his trip his guide took him to this tribe who lived near the water and they had this technique that translated into “Thumping”. A technique they used to hunt birds and small animals. And this is the most amazing part. Because he claimed they used this technique to hunt small game and we didn’t believe they could hurt an animal, let alone kill one for food we asked him to explain how that could even happen! So he said “ok watch this.” We had a chain link fence at the time and he asked us which fence poll should he hit. You know those round thick polls that frame up a chain link fence. Well he aimed at it, thumped a rock, and hit the poll. And when we went to go inspect it, the thing had a noticeable dent in it! So my brother and I once again, picked up rocks that were bigger and heavier than the one he was using and threw them as hard as we could at the poll to see if we could make the same mark. And we couldn’t even do THAT! Granted we were only 15 at the time but still, you’d think you would make the same dent throwing overhand. But nope! The technique itself difficult at all, the trick was building up energy or force enough for it to launch out from between your skin. Basically you find a smooth rock and press it into the meat of your pointer finger and it shoots out like it had a spring behind it or something. When we looked at his hand he had this round patch of smooth hard skin that was formed into the oddest looking callus I have ever seen. He had obviously been practicing quite often and so often in fact that he had a callus so thick that he took off his name tag and used the needle end to try and pierce the callus and the needle started to bend like like it was about to deform. I will never forget it. We would always make him do it for friends and family whenever he came over and he enjoyed showing us. My brother and I practiced for months and couldn’t get anywhere close to as fast he was thumping those rocks. And lord knows why they called it thumping in the first place. You’re not really thumping anything. Later in life i even tried looking it up and couldn’t find anything about it on the internet. My brother even says now that we are adults that he must have been duping us with Magic tricks but when we asked our mom if he ever admitted he was just performing magic tricks and she said if he was then he never told her. If anyone else has heard of this obviously forgotten hunting technique I would be extremely grateful for someone to let me know where I can find more information on it. Thanks! Edit - I called my brother after i started getting questions about it and he corrected me on how he was doing it. I misremembered the hand positions so just look at my following comments for a more detailed description on how he did it. He wasn’t using his pointer finger as the platform, he was using his thumb and he even had this gnarly callus on it that i totally forgot about. Can’t see how because it was the weirdest looking callus. Almost shiny like it was polished and it would round about the size of a quarter. He also had big hands too so maybe that could have been a factor as well?
This is fascinating! I tried finding anything I could about this technique on Google but came up empty handed. I’d love to see a demonstration of at least what the hand positions looked like.
Boomerang means throwing stick. There were/are many variations of boomerangs. Their uses varied from tools for digging, hunting (kangaroos, goannas and other game) fighting, digging and such. As well as exchanged between different First Nations people as gifts and for men's ceremonies and dances. The 'boomerang' that returned was used to hunt birds. The boomerang would be thrown over a flock of geese, ducks, galahs. The first pass would startle the birds and prompt them to take flight. The returning pass would hit the birds (often more than one) in the air. The design of the 'wings' of a returning boomerang are quite unique and copy that of a birds wing The aerodynamics of the wing are reversed for the opposing wing, which causes the boomerang to return. An interesting fact regarding boomerangs is that men's boomerangs were made from the branches of trees and women's boomerangs made from the roots. The oldest boomerangs found in Australia are estimated to be 10,000 years old. However they have been depicted in rock paintings dating back over 20,000 years. So what you were using in your clip, was a boomerang.
First time I've ever heard of the returning boomerang being used for hunting. So I ggogled it, and sure enough its repeated in various places. I think its just one of those things thats been propagated on the net and now people believe its true. The returning boomerang was used for fun, sport, and ceremony, its a magical thing. Have you ever made and/or mastered throwing a traditional returning boomerang? Takes a lot of time and skill to make one and learn how to throw it. Even when you get good at throwing it, you still need near perfect conditions otherwise it wont come back very well, if at all. I can't imagine anyone risk losing their highly prized returning boomerang, something they spent many many hours making and perfecting, just to scare a flock of birds.
Very much doubt that the returning boomerang was ever anything other than a novelty/toy More probable is that a stick with some upwards lift would be used for hunting birds on the water But I definitely don't believe the modern myth that aboriginal tribes exchanged gifts This is a modern invention fabricated in recent history to propagate the fantasy that there was some kind of trade going on
@@jumboegg5845there is an entire mythology being fabricated A people desperate to legitimise themselves as great inventors and scientists who ignore the historic records and replace them with the most outrageous claims and speculation
AND it is intriguing that he mentions 'ancient' dates like Egypt, dates which are modern compared to Aboriginal culture being in Australia for 70,000 years...and using 'sticks' for at least that long.
My husband killed a duck flying while playing disc golf. He hit it with a frisbee. Maybe we should start throwing rabbit sticks for a more dangerous game of disc golf.
Fascinating. I believe there are many, many ancient technologies that are long forgotten because they became obsolete with the advent of new inventions. Humans seem to concentrate intensely on development of existing technologies refining them to perfection. But eventually a new invention completely displaces the old technology and the old technology disappears into obscurity.
"We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change places with an easy and blessed facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it. We do not regret our old, yellow fangs and tushes after we have worn nice fresh uniform store teeth a while." - Mark Twain
Yes. These sticks fly, meanwhile the rabbit looks up, was that a bird. It took lots of practice and skill to hunt with them. Even if you hit target, it’s luck to be effective
yeah, how many takes to get that to hit the target? 30? Highly ineffective it seems. The blow dart idea seems good. Way easier to aim and with poison on the dart... throwing a board... meh. maybe a spear works sometimes, blow dart, snare/trap, but let me watch the rest of the vid and see if you can maim a small animal with that. hehe
Great video. No garbage fillers, just the information, great explanations, and those amazing throws. The distance is impressive with the lift thise things generate. Kudos
RELISTEN HIS VERBAL DIRECTIONS, OF LIMB BEND AND THE DESCDRIPTIONS OF THE HOW TO; FOR WHY= AIR FOILED "WING SHAPED TOP, AND AN ALSO WING SHAPED LOWER "FLAT" SHAPE. FIELD TRIP AND FALL TO A SMALL PLANE AIRPORT, AND WITH AN OWNERS' PERMISSION ATTEMPT TO BECOME A VISUAL ARTIST WHO IF USED TO ME A TEENAGED MALE, STUDY THE SHAPES OF THE WINGS! PS MAYBE YOU ARE A DIRECTIVE SPEWING LEO?
I just received my first Shepards sling. When thrown correctly, the graceful motion seen with the Rabbitstick is evident with the projectile from a sling. Everything was elegant and kinetic back then.
2:06 I'd really like to know what the greatest feat performed with a rabbit stick was. Like if God could go back in time and show me that one time a caveman, thousands of years ago, hit an impossible three running rabbit at different points with one throw, but no one was there to witness him perform, "history's greatest rabbit stick throw." That'd be cool too see.
Decades ago, I read an article about Southerners (I think it was in Mississippi) hunting with 'throwing sticks'. As I recall, the sticks were more or less round in cross section and straight, not curved. They were thrown so the stick was vertical and went end-over-end across the ground. They were very effective on rabbits. It was a long time ago, so maybe I disremember.
This is what I was thinking too at first. I even made one of these sticks for fun. About 50 centimeters long of birch. Can not remember where I first heard about it, might have been from Dave Canterbury video.
It's nuts to think how ingrained physics and aerodynamics have mostly been with us genetically. Imagine seeing a dude who's from the era of early man, he takes out a stick, chucks it at you, and the thing starts flying for over a 100 yards. You're surprised at the distance but you know exactly how it works because our modern knowledge; aerodynamics. He probably can't grasp the concept in thought to explain how it happens, but he can show you in physical application.
I don't know why this suddenly appeared on my hope page today, but I was both fascinated and amazed. An ancient weapon that I had never heard of before, that had surprising technical features. The range and stability were extraordinary.
Yes - as the commenters have said: various versions of "amazing, and thank you". What stood out for me, was the airfoil aspect of the design. I realize we may never know how that came to be - happy accident by trial and error or was there some understanding of airfoils? But regardless - very cool!
many cultures including native and first peoples would train tree branches for different uses in order to harvest the branches or to leave them on the tree bent how they needed, things like: chairs parts, structural building parts, throwing sticks I imagine, other weapons and tools, guidance/signposting in the wilderness, living building structures. Cool stuff, thanks for sharing
Meanwhile I'm passed out under a tree with my single shot .410 squirrel hunting and this grey fox walks by me 10 feet away and wakes me up and I instantly drew a bead on him as a reaction. Lol I wish you could've seen our eyes locked in that moment I started busting out laughing and said good play sir and good luck hunting🤣 seemed like a friendly bloke, we both need one of these🍻
Thanks! I made my own rabbit sticks having heard of them but never seen one, and was surprised at how easily I could peg the base of a sapling at thirty to forty paces. Had NO idea, though, how far engineered these things were or what kind of range they actually had. Big eye-opener!
You say that the throwing stick is *_not_* a boomerang, but unless I missed it you don't say what the difference is. If it comes down to a boomerang being designed to return to the thrower then most traditional Australian Aboriginal boomerangs didn't do that. So I don't see what the difference would be.
As soon as I heard you say "Occuquan Paleotechnics," I hit "subscribe" same second !! I have bought things from your shop, still an enthusiastic user of my O.P. "basketmaker atlatl" !!! I use it in some of my own videos !
Great information video and history of the ancient art of hunting. I grew up in the 50’s and I remember always playing with boomerangs. Never got the full hang of it but it was a lot more fun than today’s kids video games. 😆 thank you for sharing.
If we're talking between this and actual hunting boomerangs (i.e. not the returning kind), surprisingly little. There's even certain types of boomerang called "kylies" that resemble this rabbitstick in form. I guess the biggest difference would just be materials available - Navajo and Anasasi would use red oak, Australians would use acacia. It's a great example of a technology that was likely independently invented multiple times. A bunch of people around the world thought, "there's a small, tasty, but fast animal over there. How can I kill the sh*t out of it from outside rock-throwing distance?", then experimented with whatever hardwood was nearby until they hit a design with the right combination of weight and aerodynamics. See also: spear-throwers (like atlatls and woomeras).
@@NeutralDrow I did not know there was anything other than a returning boomerang. But I do realize that if the boomerang hit something it prob wouldn't return. Thanks for the info.
@@raymondjjohnsonjr363 Funny thing, I always thought the returning kind were more modern than the hunting kind - like you said, they wouldn't return if they hit something, so what would be the impetus to make them? But when I looked something up on Wikipedia that Occpaleo mentioned (I never knew ancient Egyptians had throwing sticks), it turns out the earliest examples of returning boomerangs we have _are_ ancient Egyptian (from about 3000 BCE)! And it's likely they're much older, we just don't have any earlier surviving examples. So, I guess they're still more "modern" than the hunting kind...for certain values of the word.
Sorry,my english is bad. encredible strait and far flights. currently, i try to make a rabbit stick,he flying max 60 meters. Please, have you a exactly Description from the Profiles for long strait Flights ? Greatings from Germany,Walter.
If we had flying sticks in the stone age or earlier. Why so long to invent flying (mostly rhetorical)? That's an obvious foil and it flys. Probly needed the combustion engine for flight. But realt, realy good glyding came 150 years after we "invented the foil" (we also had sails on boats). You have to laugh, because if you didnt laugh youd cry.
I can see how it's relatively easy to hit a rabbit from a 30 meters with a weapon like this. I'm curious about it hiting birds though. What I can imagine is a steadily climbing weapon thrown at a bird on the ground, and as the bird jumpst to the air, the weapon matches the elevation and hits it. I can't imagine someone hiting a bird midflight with a weapon like that. Is it possible? Also here by random youtube recommendation. I love how there are bunches of new comments on a 3-year-old vid. UA-cam can be random as hell, but I'm glad I watched it.
I am glad that in current day and age we are slowly moving away from jokes about "beating stick" and "invetion of the wheel". For a pretty long time most of those things were treated as caricature of a caveman and underdeveloped human society. But in past couple of decades people been genuinelly fascinated by human ingenuity in ancient times. Seeing how much they actually knew from observation, things they yet can explain, but could figure out from experimentation, trial and error and application of theories. And it really put into perspective how important knowledge is, how revolutionary was each and every big discovery, how it changed and shaped the world, because even before it all - people still were very clever and observant, but they yet to find that next step to advance their technology.
I grew up going using an Apache and Hopi type throwing stick, never seen one so flat as ones used here. They were usually knee high with a slight bend. Ours were weighted for a solid kill. The distance on some of yours was impressive.
My mother was a master of the "Throwing Shoe".
All mothers are good at that
Funnily enough, so was mine.
@@robm.4512 good with the flip flops on the flies too
@@MichaelBecker-px5sy Deadly accurate, like a teacher with a chalkboard rubber.
At least in class we had desklids to lift to deflect the incoming missile, if we were quick enough. 😂
South america (slightly to the west) here, in this region it's called *"The Chancla"*
The way these fly so straight and level looks unreal, almost like a performance of magic.
Ones that are really well designed and thrown will practically counteract gravity when thrown and fly in a straight line for a very long distance.
@@rich1051414They may not have understood the physics per se, but someone definitely invented the airfoil way before the 20th century! Not to mention gyroscopic stability - and precession under a torque with a boomerang.
@@MarkoBotsarisyep. “Advanced” concepts such as these have been known to exist for a long, long time. Humans often forget that writing and language are scientific advancements much like boomerangs or slings. We didn’t use written language for 80,000+ years while we were living the life, creating tools and shelters via oral history.
Throwing it at birds flying by would seem hopelessly optimistic - until you imagine a flock of Passenger Pigeons filling the sky....
Yeah, it's a lot easier to hit a whole plane filled with pigeons than a singular pigeon on its own.
Really good point. Those were better days.
You throw it at birds on the ground or on water. For Egyptians in those paintings, it was probably cranes, ducks, etc.
Bird hunting is now done in the air because tech advanced to the point that we depleted the populations.
@@ianmcmahon8589With the density of Passenger Pigeon flocks it would be viable to hit them. Consider that with a modern shotgun having a full choke, the maximum effective range is about fifty yards. Choke was invented by W.W. Greener in the 1870's by which time the Passenger Pigeon was in major decline so it must have been largely hit with unchoked guns meaning at lower altitudes than fifty yards. Throws further than fifty yards horizontally are evident in the video so it is reasonable to consider that with the right stick and technique, lethal throws up to the height of Passenger Pigeon flocks were possible.
In Australia what is popularly referred to as the returning boomerang is actually used to bring down a bird in flight. Galahs and cockatoos and many other Australian birds tend to flock in very large numbers. If the boomerang misses then it returns for another throw. Hitting a bird in one of those flocks is usually successful
Even back when the pinnacle of human technology was “stick you can throw good” it still managed to be incredibly impressive and functional.
Yes we are impressive
Our employment of the “ranged weapon” makes up for our pathetic athleticism vs most of the animal kingdom.
@@737smartin our athleticism is not “pathetic” compared to the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans gave up a lot of physical abilities for very energy efficient walking and running. We can beat almost all other land animals in distance running thanks to our bone structure and sweat. I think only specially bred sled dogs and certain African antelope can out-marathon us
@@52flyingbicycles Endurance not the same as athleticism, which implies quickness, speed, coordination and explosiveness. Pound for pound, humans are well below average athletically vs other warm blooded creatures. We make up for this deficiency with top shelf intelligence and the resulting tool use.
@@737smartin endurance is a part of athleticism. For sure we are substantially weaker pound for pound than many other animals. IIRC we lack a smooth muscle layer under our skin which gives our relatives like the chimps substantially higher strength.
But as Darwin said: it is not the strongest species that survive, but those most adaptable to change
Great bit of practical archaeology, thanks for uploading. Remember that in prehistory there was vastly more game around and our ancestors had a lot of time to practice, closing the odds on a successful kill.
You need a dog to make filming days easier!
Nice work - well presented facts, historical context and demonstration in a short documentary style delivery - very nice indeed.
Thanks to the air around us.
The 20,000-year-old boomerang from Poland had markings from the earliest known base five number system carved on it.
That might be the oldest demonstration of people using numbers in human history... and it was base five, like the fingers on one hand.
By comparison, base ten and binary (base 2) are fairly recent innovations.
Ancient people were just as clever as modern people.
yeah but the polish paleolithic hunters couldnt drive stick now could they
Yes, we are NOT smarter than our ancestors in basic raw brainpower - We just generally get better nutrients since birth that pushes up the bottom & top potential of brain development, and have access to a lot of accumulated knowledge.
The roman numbers were base 10 but also fashioned from the hand. I, II, and III, are your fingers, V is the shape of your thumb and pinky when you show 5 fingers, and X is like two Vs or two hands.
Placing Is before or after a number adds or subtracts from that number:
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
So the numbers can all be shown by simple hand signs as well
Though idk if holding up 6 fingers to show the number 4 is actually a good system or if they even did that
But how do they know that it's 20000 years old?
@@FunkyMonkey-p9csomething like carbon dating
I've used an atlatl and a boomerang, but I never heard of the rabbit stick -- fascinating, and great presentation!
I could see were pitching this into a flock of birds that had just lifted off could be affective also
Lol yeah. The skill curve for this is comically high and is probably dependent on huge populations of animals literally not viable in any context today.
@@tomjjackson21 Maybe where you live but here in Canada there are tones of Rabbits and birds
@tomjjackson21 It really isn't. I made a Choctaw style rabbit stick and was able to hit a rabbit sized target from 50 feet within 5 throws. It's not hard to see how practice could make you very good at it.
And for much larger game you could simply rub the boomerang under your armpit and send your scent past your pray and wait in silence for dinner.
Which is how the Australian Aboriginal employed the boomerang
This is what the wilkie was used for in Australia. Aborigines can multiple varieties for different animals.
Great video. Straight to the point, no unnecessary/distracting background music, full of interesting facts and now, after less than 4 minutes, I know more than before I watched it. Excellent work my friends. Unfortunately it is night time now where I live (UK). "Unfortunately" because I am now dying to get out doors, find some tree branches, do some work on the limbs and try this out. Thank you for sorting out my activities for tomorrow! I am subscribed!😊
Why the hell am I looking at this instead of doing my work?!?!?
When I was younger my mother worked in property management and she had a developer friend who used to travel the world that worked with her sometimes. One day he came over to our house with a bunch of other workers for a new project they were building and he saw that my neighbor had those little tiny colorful river pebbles on their driveway. He then went and picked one pebble, balled his left hand into a partial loose fist with his pointer finger on top in a horizontal position. (Edit - After talking to my brother he corrected me and reminded me his thumb was on top, not his pointer finger.) He then took a rock and pressed it into the skin on top of his thumb and it shot out so fast it made a loud wizzing noise in the air. We couldn’t believe it. My brother and I played baseball on the all stars traveling team at the time at around 15 years old and we even tried to recreate the sound he made by simply throwing the stones as hard and we could but we could never get them as fast as he made them go. So that should tell you how fast the rocks were flying when he did his little move. We then eventually asked him what was he doing and where did he learn that. And the story he told was something out of an adventure exploration novel. But to make a long story short, he explained he traveled to South American to the Amazon and did a little expedition when he was in college like two decades before that conversation. He was around his late 50s early 60s at the time. He said when he was on his trip his guide took him to this tribe who lived near the water and they had this technique that translated into “Thumping”. A technique they used to hunt birds and small animals.
And this is the most amazing part. Because he claimed they used this technique to hunt small game and we didn’t believe they could hurt an animal, let alone kill one for food we asked him to explain how that could even happen! So he said “ok watch this.” We had a chain link fence at the time and he asked us which fence poll should he hit. You know those round thick polls that frame up a chain link fence. Well he aimed at it, thumped a rock, and hit the poll. And when we went to go inspect it, the thing had a noticeable dent in it! So my brother and I once again, picked up rocks that were bigger and heavier than the one he was using and threw them as hard as we could at the poll to see if we could make the same mark. And we couldn’t even do THAT! Granted we were only 15 at the time but still, you’d think you would make the same dent throwing overhand. But nope! The technique itself difficult at all, the trick was building up energy or force enough for it to launch out from between your skin. Basically you find a smooth rock and press it into the meat of your pointer finger and it shoots out like it had a spring behind it or something. When we looked at his hand he had this round patch of smooth hard skin that was formed into the oddest looking callus I have ever seen. He had obviously been practicing quite often and so often in fact that he had a callus so thick that he took off his name tag and used the needle end to try and pierce the callus and the needle started to bend like like it was about to deform. I will never forget it. We would always make him do it for friends and family whenever he came over and he enjoyed showing us. My brother and I practiced for months and couldn’t get anywhere close to as fast he was thumping those rocks. And lord knows why they called it thumping in the first place. You’re not really thumping anything. Later in life i even tried looking it up and couldn’t find anything about it on the internet. My brother even says now that we are adults that he must have been duping us with Magic tricks but when we asked our mom if he ever admitted he was just performing magic tricks and she said if he was then he never told her. If anyone else has heard of this obviously forgotten hunting technique I would be extremely grateful for someone to let me know where I can find more information on it. Thanks!
Edit - I called my brother after i started getting questions about it and he corrected me on how he was doing it. I misremembered the hand positions so just look at my following comments for a more detailed description on how he did it. He wasn’t using his pointer finger as the platform, he was using his thumb and he even had this gnarly callus on it that i totally forgot about. Can’t see how because it was the weirdest looking callus. Almost shiny like it was polished and it would round about the size of a quarter. He also had big hands too so maybe that could have been a factor as well?
Very interesting. I don't quite understand the hand positions. Can you please explain or make a video about it?
Very interesting.
I'd also be interested in more information about this technique!
Interesting read, I hope you find out more 😁
This is fascinating! I tried finding anything I could about this technique on Google but came up empty handed. I’d love to see a demonstration of at least what the hand positions looked like.
Good backscratcher too!
someone get this man a dog.... poor guy out there by himself throwing sticks
Excellent craftsmanship, incredibly informative, and presented brilliantly 👌🏼 terrific work sir!
"He threw a stick at me" will never mean the same.
Really enjoyed this. Nice to see these old skills get a new lease of life...
Boomerang means throwing stick. There were/are many variations of boomerangs. Their uses varied from tools for digging, hunting (kangaroos, goannas and other game) fighting, digging and such. As well as exchanged between different First Nations people as gifts and for men's ceremonies and dances.
The 'boomerang' that returned was used to hunt birds. The boomerang would be thrown over a flock of geese, ducks, galahs. The first pass would startle the birds and prompt them to take flight. The returning pass would hit the birds (often more than one) in the air. The design of the 'wings' of a returning boomerang are quite unique and copy that of a birds wing The aerodynamics of the wing are reversed for the opposing wing, which causes the boomerang to return.
An interesting fact regarding boomerangs is that men's boomerangs were made from the branches of trees and women's boomerangs made from the roots.
The oldest boomerangs found in Australia are estimated to be 10,000 years old. However they have been depicted in rock paintings dating back over 20,000 years.
So what you were using in your clip, was a boomerang.
First time I've ever heard of the returning boomerang being used for hunting. So I ggogled it, and sure enough its repeated in various places. I think its just one of those things thats been propagated on the net and now people believe its true. The returning boomerang was used for fun, sport, and ceremony, its a magical thing. Have you ever made and/or mastered throwing a traditional returning boomerang? Takes a lot of time and skill to make one and learn how to throw it. Even when you get good at throwing it, you still need near perfect conditions otherwise it wont come back very well, if at all. I can't imagine anyone risk losing their highly prized returning boomerang, something they spent many many hours making and perfecting, just to scare a flock of birds.
Very much doubt that the returning boomerang was ever anything other than a novelty/toy
More probable is that a stick with some upwards lift would be used for hunting birds on the water
But I definitely don't believe the modern myth that aboriginal tribes exchanged gifts
This is a modern invention fabricated in recent history to propagate the fantasy that there was some kind of trade going on
@@jumboegg5845there is an entire mythology being fabricated
A people desperate to legitimise themselves as great inventors and scientists who ignore the historic records and replace them with the most outrageous claims and speculation
AND it is intriguing that he mentions 'ancient' dates like Egypt, dates which are modern compared to Aboriginal culture being in Australia for 70,000 years...and using 'sticks' for at least that long.
And I wondered why it was referred to as an ˋAmerican‘ throwing stick, in the preamble. A weapon that existed thousands of years before America.
Most Australian hunting boomerang are not designed to return.
I have two made from very very hard wood, if they hit something in the right place...game over
My husband killed a duck flying while playing disc golf. He hit it with a frisbee. Maybe we should start throwing rabbit sticks for a more dangerous game of disc golf.
I also cried. Poor duck. 🦆🥏
Fascinating. I believe there are many, many ancient technologies that are long forgotten because they became obsolete with the advent of new inventions. Humans seem to concentrate intensely on development of existing technologies refining them to perfection. But eventually a new invention completely displaces the old technology and the old technology disappears into obscurity.
"We are chameleons, and our partialities and prejudices change places with an easy and blessed facility, and we are soon wonted to the change and happy in it. We do not regret our old, yellow fangs and tushes after we have worn nice fresh uniform store teeth a while."
- Mark Twain
Well, the whole genocide of indigenous peoples probably had something to do with losing technology, too.
My mom’s chanclas (flip flops) always magically returned to her every single time.
Yes. These sticks fly, meanwhile the rabbit looks up, was that a bird. It took lots of practice and skill to hunt with them. Even if you hit target, it’s luck to be effective
Thank you for a very educational video.
Much appreciated.
He should play disc golf. He's got a natural sidearm for sure.
Maybe he's not a dork
yeah, how many takes to get that to hit the target? 30? Highly ineffective it seems. The blow dart idea seems good. Way easier to aim and with poison on the dart... throwing a board... meh. maybe a spear works sometimes, blow dart, snare/trap, but let me watch the rest of the vid and see if you can maim a small animal with that. hehe
That white crescent looks like a magic weapon, and for its time, practically was.
Not if you had a brain
That was fun. Reminds me of that time Randy Johnson pitched a fastball into a seagull .
It really upset him. The seagull was not amused either.
Great video. No garbage fillers, just the information, great explanations, and those amazing throws. The distance is impressive with the lift thise things generate.
Kudos
OMG, that throw at 1:00, it flew forever.
It's slow motion, listen to the audio distortion and look at the guy's follow up motion. Still it's a pretty good throw
Nice video. Learn something every day. Subbed, liked, black belled. Us little channels have to stick together, lol
Bad News: You've got 10% accuracy on your throws
Good News: The Detroit Lions would like to sign you to a multi-million dollar contract (to play QB)
"This boomerang is faulty...."
Doves duck goose look out man is coming lol
OH! GOLF COURSE GEESING! WHAT'S FOR GOOSE BREAST SMOKED ALMOST "JERKY".( THE ENGLISH STYLED?)
everybody’s gangster until the rabbitstick comes out
Never bring a club to a rabbit stick fight
Have you ever actually hunted small game or birds with a throwing stick? I would LOVE to watch such an outing.
0:19 … isn’t a boomerang a stick?
Wood ❔
Boomerang is wooden but a stick is wooden…
I might be overthinking this
Those are some beautiful throwing sticks.
What wood is the stick, size, dimensions etc? Nice upload, could you show one being made an the impact value on a target?
RELISTEN HIS VERBAL DIRECTIONS, OF LIMB BEND AND THE DESCDRIPTIONS OF THE HOW TO; FOR WHY= AIR FOILED "WING SHAPED TOP, AND AN ALSO WING SHAPED LOWER "FLAT" SHAPE. FIELD TRIP AND FALL TO A SMALL PLANE AIRPORT, AND WITH AN OWNERS' PERMISSION ATTEMPT TO BECOME A VISUAL ARTIST WHO IF USED TO ME A TEENAGED MALE, STUDY THE SHAPES OF THE WINGS! PS MAYBE YOU ARE A DIRECTIVE SPEWING LEO?
Absolutely awesome craftwork and throwing ability..
I just received my first Shepards sling. When thrown correctly, the graceful motion seen with the Rabbitstick is evident with the projectile from a sling. Everything was elegant and kinetic back then.
2:06
I'd really like to know what the greatest feat performed with a rabbit stick was. Like if God could go back in time and show me that one time a caveman, thousands of years ago, hit an impossible three running rabbit at different points with one throw, but no one was there to witness him perform, "history's greatest rabbit stick throw." That'd be cool too see.
RABBIT STICK!
DUCK STICK!
(But seriously, it was very interesting.)
Decades ago, I read an article about Southerners (I think it was in Mississippi) hunting with 'throwing sticks'. As I recall, the sticks were more or less round in cross section and straight, not curved. They were thrown so the stick was vertical and went end-over-end across the ground. They were very effective on rabbits. It was a long time ago, so maybe I disremember.
This is what I was thinking too at first. I even made one of these sticks for fun. About 50 centimeters long of birch. Can not remember where I first heard about it, might have been from Dave Canterbury video.
Tom Brown jr says throw horizontally in the open and vertically among trees. I like the image of it cartwheeling across the ground.
It's nuts to think how ingrained physics and aerodynamics have mostly been with us genetically. Imagine seeing a dude who's from the era of early man, he takes out a stick, chucks it at you, and the thing starts flying for over a 100 yards. You're surprised at the distance but you know exactly how it works because our modern knowledge; aerodynamics. He probably can't grasp the concept in thought to explain how it happens, but he can show you in physical application.
Interesting thanks. Plenty of real boomerangs like that. Not tourist trash
But what if the grass isn't mown?
It’s basically the first wing design I’m gonna try and make 1
ONE! SHARE THIS WITH KINDRED SPIRITS! THIS IS HOW I SEE "CIVILIZATION " EVOLVING WITH THIS "PAY KNOWLEDGE FORWARD.!"
I learned to grab any properly shaped stick to carry in your hand, no need to carve it right away.
"...mammoth ivory weapon over 20,000 years o-" *yeet*
Very interesting, I was only aware of the boomerang version.
Some folk call it a rabbit stick I call it a elderly person stick um hmm
I don't know why this suddenly appeared on my hope page today, but I was both fascinated and amazed. An ancient weapon that I had never heard of before, that had surprising technical features. The range and stability were extraordinary.
I thought exactly the same thing
Yes - as the commenters have said: various versions of "amazing, and thank you". What stood out for me, was the airfoil aspect of the design. I realize we may never know how that came to be - happy accident by trial and error or was there some understanding of airfoils? But regardless - very cool!
Yes, I am sure that people then had an understanding of airfoils 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
many cultures including native and first peoples would train tree branches for different uses in order to harvest the branches or to leave them on the tree bent how they needed, things like: chairs parts, structural building parts, throwing sticks I imagine, other weapons and tools, guidance/signposting in the wilderness, living building structures.
Cool stuff, thanks for sharing
Is this not meant to return like a boomerang in case of a missed hit..?
I see why a lot of those people didn’t make it. It was too hard to hit your food.
Thank you that was very interesting.
Throwing it is easy now finding it that's the hard part
I was listening to a pidcast, where you appeared. Great informations! Ver, very precious.
No one show this video to Elmer Fudd
What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back?
A fLIcking stick.
Or a"Bullseye".
I mean the boomerang only comes back if you missed
Meanwhile I'm passed out under a tree with my single shot .410 squirrel hunting and this grey fox walks by me 10 feet away and wakes me up and I instantly drew a bead on him as a reaction. Lol I wish you could've seen our eyes locked in that moment I started busting out laughing and said good play sir and good luck hunting🤣 seemed like a friendly bloke, we both need one of these🍻
1:05 When it not only kept going, but actually started climbing.
Me: "GET THE F**K _OUTTA HERE!"_ 😳
Awesome video. Loved the history included in it. I plan to use in my Mystery History Club.
Thanks! I made my own rabbit sticks having heard of them but never seen one, and was surprised at how easily I could peg the base of a sapling at thirty to forty paces. Had NO idea, though, how far engineered these things were or what kind of range they actually had. Big eye-opener!
Can't see results of throws.
You say that the throwing stick is *_not_* a boomerang, but unless I missed it you don't say what the difference is. If it comes down to a boomerang being designed to return to the thrower then most traditional Australian Aboriginal boomerangs didn't do that. So I don't see what the difference would be.
So boomerangs are not exclusive to Australia? Mind blown 🤯
Apparently there are ancient Scandinavian and Sth American examples too.
As soon as I heard you say "Occuquan Paleotechnics," I hit "subscribe" same second !! I have bought things from your shop, still an enthusiastic user of my O.P. "basketmaker atlatl" !!! I use it in some of my own videos !
Great information video and history of the ancient art of hunting. I grew up in the 50’s and I remember always playing with boomerangs. Never got the full hang of it but it was a lot more fun than today’s kids video games. 😆 thank you for sharing.
Great video! Most Australian boomerangs were similar. The returning ones were mostly toys. Australians also used boomerangs in warfare
The algorithm: let's throw this link out there and see how long it goes. See yall again in 12 years.
I'll mark it in my Calendar.
my main problem with those, is that they can throw it back at you lol
but for hunting purposes, it has no downside
3:15 you killed the sun
You have to Do more Videos
Glad I stumbled on this informative video, great historical review!
What do this video and a miniskirt have in common?
Short enough to keep your attention yet long enough to cover the subject!
Fascinating, to the point and really educational. But never mind all that, I can't get over how good you are at throwing those things.
What's the diff between this & a boomerang?
If we're talking between this and actual hunting boomerangs (i.e. not the returning kind), surprisingly little. There's even certain types of boomerang called "kylies" that resemble this rabbitstick in form. I guess the biggest difference would just be materials available - Navajo and Anasasi would use red oak, Australians would use acacia.
It's a great example of a technology that was likely independently invented multiple times. A bunch of people around the world thought, "there's a small, tasty, but fast animal over there. How can I kill the sh*t out of it from outside rock-throwing distance?", then experimented with whatever hardwood was nearby until they hit a design with the right combination of weight and aerodynamics. See also: spear-throwers (like atlatls and woomeras).
@@NeutralDrow I did not know there was anything other than a returning boomerang. But I do realize that if the boomerang hit something it prob wouldn't return.
Thanks for the info.
@@raymondjjohnsonjr363 Funny thing, I always thought the returning kind were more modern than the hunting kind - like you said, they wouldn't return if they hit something, so what would be the impetus to make them? But when I looked something up on Wikipedia that Occpaleo mentioned (I never knew ancient Egyptians had throwing sticks), it turns out the earliest examples of returning boomerangs we have _are_ ancient Egyptian (from about 3000 BCE)! And it's likely they're much older, we just don't have any earlier surviving examples.
So, I guess they're still more "modern" than the hunting kind...for certain values of the word.
@@NeutralDrow I did have a throwing stick that would return (with the help of my 🐶) 😁
Sorry,my english is bad. encredible strait and far flights. currently, i try to make a rabbit stick,he flying max 60 meters. Please, have you a exactly Description from the Profiles for long strait Flights ? Greatings from Germany,Walter.
That's what I'm calling my failed - faulty Boomerangs from now on - - RABBIT STICKS !
0:25 "is NOT a boomerang" ... pictures of literally boomerangs
1:40 Pueblo III is exactly the shape used for boomerangs
Modern humans: It’s actually not so primitive!! 😀
All the rabbits: Yeah? Well spotted 🙄
Human ancestors: …
If we had flying sticks in the stone age or earlier. Why so long to invent flying (mostly rhetorical)? That's an obvious foil and it flys. Probly needed the combustion engine for flight. But realt, realy good glyding came 150 years after we "invented the foil" (we also had sails on boats). You have to laugh, because if you didnt laugh youd cry.
You Threw It At
A Standing Target
And Failed 2 Out of 3,
Imagine Trying To Catch
A Rabbit in The Wild!
I can see how it's relatively easy to hit a rabbit from a 30 meters with a weapon like this. I'm curious about it hiting birds though. What I can imagine is a steadily climbing weapon thrown at a bird on the ground, and as the bird jumpst to the air, the weapon matches the elevation and hits it. I can't imagine someone hiting a bird midflight with a weapon like that. Is it possible?
Also here by random youtube recommendation. I love how there are bunches of new comments on a 3-year-old vid. UA-cam can be random as hell, but I'm glad I watched it.
A boomerang?
The video was fine but man, you could put NYC to sleep with that monotone, dry voice over.
Almost as boring as the educational VHS in middle school.
I am glad that in current day and age we are slowly moving away from jokes about "beating stick" and "invetion of the wheel". For a pretty long time most of those things were treated as caricature of a caveman and underdeveloped human society. But in past couple of decades people been genuinelly fascinated by human ingenuity in ancient times. Seeing how much they actually knew from observation, things they yet can explain, but could figure out from experimentation, trial and error and application of theories. And it really put into perspective how important knowledge is, how revolutionary was each and every big discovery, how it changed and shaped the world, because even before it all - people still were very clever and observant, but they yet to find that next step to advance their technology.
Why is this not as popular as the Honey Badger video?
Heh, 'hunting sticks for the afterlife', eh? So, Tut wasn't satisfied killing those wascally wabbits once?
"Weapons for afterlife",
and today's religious id!ots are still living in those 2500BC.
I grew up going using an Apache and Hopi type throwing stick, never seen one so flat as ones used here. They were usually knee high with a slight bend. Ours were weighted for a solid kill. The distance on some of yours was impressive.
thx alot for sharing this knowledge soo interesting ....also to throw stick way far for my dogs ..( xcuse. my english .....i m french😉)
Wow. It's a freaking helicopter rotor. Powered flight was invented thousands of years ago.
This is why our North American brethren struggle with football (soccer)
They're using a rugby ball
I can picture it now. "Ugh, I hurt elbow, need Gronky John surgery"
that made my shoulder hurt ... thank god for my .243 throwing stick