Throwing
arrows, or at least javelins that resemble arrows, have been used by
several cultures, including the Romans and the Plains Indians.
One
form of Roman weapon, the plumbata, is described as being about
10 inches long with an iron head, lead or lead‑weighted shaft and
tin fins. There are references to legionaries carrying a rack of such
missiles on the inside of their shields, at least in some regions or
periods of the empire.
The
Celts are known to have used a hardwood and iron weapon of about
21 inches length. (These are the weapons termed “Irish darts” in “Slash and Thrust”
by John Sanchez. Sanchez claims these were the inspiration for the
lead, iron and tin Roman dart. The example of the latter that he
illustrates differs from most modern reconstructions.)
By
the Middle Ages, such short spears or darts were also popular in other
regions, particularly with the Arabs and Spanish (no doubt with the
latter due to Moorish influence). “Spanish Darts” were one of the many
weapons Henry VIII was proficient with. “Top dartes” were thrown from
the rigging of warships.
Hand‑thrown arrows are sometimes referred to as “dutch arrows”.
This article will deal with less conventionally thrown arrows.
In his book “The Art of Attack”,
H.S.Cowper refers to a class of weapon that he calls “javelins”,
although he concedes the term is also used for conventional spears.
Cowper uses the term javelin to define “…short
pointed missiles flung by the wrist, not propelled straight by the
forearm, but twirling in the air end over end before striking the object
aimed at”. In other words, something that looks like a spear but is thrown like a knife.
Most of these weapons he describes are between one and three feet in length.
Obviously, this use of the term “javelin” has fallen into disuse.
Cowper
suggests such a javelin was the type of weapon Saul threw at David:
sitting around the throne room with a full size spear and throwing it a
such short range seems to him unlikely.
Cowper describes several examples of javelin:
The
Persians used an all metal weapon 2.5 feet long, and sometimes
carried two or three in the same sheath. The Arabs used the “mizrak”,
which had a 15 inch head, 23 inch shaft and a spiked butt.
The Greek version had a head at each end, but then so do certain much longer Greek spears.
The
Knights’ Armoury at Malta had large stocks of sticks with a spear point
at each end. These two foot long weapons were intended for
throwing from the walls.
Most
of the two‑pointed weapons have one head smaller than the other. It is
true that this is a feature seen on many double pointed throwing knives,
but it is just as likely the lesser point is for close combat or
sticking the thing in the ground.
Short throwing sticks with a point at each end date back to prehistoric man.
Two‑pointed
examples certainly exist, but the majority of these weapons are
single‑pointed, and single‑bladed tumbling weapons seem to have seen
very little battlefield use .
Cowper's
javelins resemble short spears or throwing arrows, but are thrown end
over end like a throwing knife. Pretty obviously, it is hard to tell by
looking if a short spear was thrown knife fashion or spear fashion, and
in many cases the answer may be either.
I have seen suggestions that the Roman plumbata may have been thrown like a German stick grenade.
The
best evidence for such missiles being used that I have found comes from
Japan. The “uchi‑ne” resembles a short stocky arrow about 12 inch
long with a 4 inch head. 
The
“nage‑yari” (“thrown/throwing spear”) is a short spear about
17 inch long with a 5 inch head. Often tassels are fitted
behind the head, which may aid drag stabilisation.
According to some books, these short missiles are used in the defence of palanquins.
Michael
Finn's book “The Art of Shuriken” plainly shows an uchi‑ne being thrown
in the same way as a knife, but holding the bottom of the shaft just
above the vanes. Finn’s illustration appears to show an uchi‑ne brought
up to touch the shoulder and then flipped forward by straightening the
arm.
Don. F. Draeger, in “Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts” lists “uchi‑ne jitsu” as a skill practiced by samurai.
In
Shirakami Ikku Ken's book “Shuriken‑Do”, there is also an illustration
of uchi‑ne throwing, but this arrow is about two and a half feet
long, and obviously thrown as a spear. Interestingly, this illustration
also shows a retrieval cord, and the text mentions that some uchi‑ne are
fitted with these. Shirakami tells us that for long ranges the uchi‑ne
is thrown like a spear, but for shorter ranges it is gripped differently
and thrown in a turning style.
Interestingly,
Shirakami precedes this description with a few words on more
conventional Japanese throwing spears, which he terms “uchine” (spelt
without a hyphen).
Most illustrations of uchi‑ne that I've encountered have been of the shorter variety, however.
The
uchi‑ne was obviously intended to fly point first, and there is some
indication that the nage‑yari was drag stabilized: the shaft appears to
be tapered and there seems to be a tassel behind the head.
The
question that intrigues me is were nage‑yari thrown like spears or like
knives, and did they have enough drag stabilization to fly point first
or did they tumble as Cowper assumes?
These weapons pose several questions which are worth investigating.
- How long a shaft is needed to get a knife to fly point first? This will of course vary with head length and mass. Could a formulae to predict the length needed be found?
- Will adding a shaft to a knife significantly increase its range?
- Will adding a shaft to a undersized or too light knife turn it into a more effective missile?
Sadly,
I don't have the room nor resources to experiment with these ideas at
the moment, but would like to hear from anyone who decides to give them a
try.
In addition to wood, a good shaft material may be plastic pipe. Indeed, see the Flying Knife for a pipe-fitted knife that is thrown and flies like a dart.
Throwing with Strings
In his book “The Crossbow”, Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey describes arrow throwing as it was practiced by pitmen of the West Riding region, Yorkshire.
Where the Yorkshire technique differs from most arrow throwing is that it uses a length of string.
This
string had an overhand knot tied at one end and this end was attached
to the arrow by means of a half hitch. Hitching point was 16 inches
back from the head, just behind the centre of gravity. The other end of
the string was wrapped around the index finger of the throwing hand.
The
arrow was then grasped just behind the head with the thumb and second
and third fingers, the index finger keeping the string taunt.
The
arrow is thrown like a spear, but the string increases the
efficiency/duration of energy transfer. (I'll leave it to a physics
teacher to explain this better!)
As the arrow leaves the thrower, the half hitch unties itself and so the string stays with the thrower.
The
arrows used were 31 inches long, with an ogival tip and 5/16 of an
inch wide at the head end. The arrow tapered to a point 3/16 of an inch
wide at the back end.
Centre of balance was 13 inches from the head.
The
entire arrow would have weighed only a little more than half an ounce.
Usual material was hazelwood with a pith core. This would be dried for
two years before being used to make an arrow.
A good arrow was highly prized by its owner.
The purpose of this arrow throwing was for amusement and competition.
An typical throw ranged from about 240 to 250 yards, although the better throwers may manage 280 to 300 yards.
The longest recorded throw was 372 yards.
As
an experiment, Payne-Gallwey asked a thrower to use this technique with
a flight arrow from a bow. A range of 180 to 200 yards was achievable.
Given Payne-Gallwey's other interests, I suspect that the arrow used was
a Turkish arrow which would have weighed 7 dr, or 7/8th of an ounce.
The
arrows used in Yorkshire were not used for hunting or war, but the
technique of throwing a missile further with a length of cord was used
in a more belligerent manner by other cultures.
Natives of the New Hebrides, New Caledonia and New Guinea used a device called the “ounep” by Cowper.
The
only difference between the ounep and the Yorkshireman's string is that
the ounep was used on full‑sized spears and the hitch was tied at the
centre of gravity rather than the butt.
The finger end of the cord might have a loop tied rather than just being wrapped around the finger.
The
ounep allowed a spear to be thrown further, and theoretically a thrower
would not be in danger from a return cast unless the enemy had a ounep
of his own.
The
principle of the ounep was known to the Greeks and Romans, although
they used a loop of cord tied permanently to the shaft. This was known
as the “amentum” (thong or strap) to the Romans and the “ankulé” to the
Greeks. This device was used by the javelin armed pelasts of the Greek
world.
A comparison of hand‑throwing, ounep, amentum and atlatl spear‑throwing would be interesting.
In my recent post about throwing sticks and stones, I
mentioned that creating a good spear was not as easy as some survival
manuals make out, and that the throwing stick might be a better
investment of your time and energies.
I
had wanted to link this comment to an article that I had written back
in my early days on the internet. However, the throwing weapons group I
had originally written it for had long since disappeared, and to my
surprise, I had not placed a copy on my other website.
Since then, I have discovered several of my original articles are preserved on this site.
The spear article, in turn, referenced an article I wrote on throwing arrows, so I have updated that.