atlatl

A Stone Age dart weapon, the atlatl was the precursor to the bow and arrow.

梭镖投射器是石器时代的投掷武器，是弓和箭的前身。

Even though pictures illustrate Huitzilopochtli with a spear and a snake in his hand, the snake was most likely a spear-thrower known as an atlatl.

虽然画中的威济洛波特利手持长矛和蛇，但是这条蛇更像是一个投矛器，也就是我们所知的投射器。

While spears could only be thrown at limited speeds and distances, atlatl could launch darts at over 160 kilometers per hour ( 100 mph).

长矛只能以有限的速度抛出较短的距离，而梭镖投射器能以每小时160千米（100英里每小时）的速度向前抛出。

The weapon's speed came from its flexibility. Both the atlatl and the dart were made of flexible wood.

武器的速度取决于它的灵活性，atlatl和飞镖都是用柔韧的木头制成。

Though they were eventually replaced with the easier-to-use bow and arrow, the atlatl stood the test of time, being used by the Aztecs even as late as the 1500s.

尽管其最终被更为方便的弓箭所代替，不过atlatl的使用持续了很长时间，甚至在16世纪时还被阿兹特克人作为武器使用。

Archaeological evidence tells us that the use of the atlatl was also widespread, with examples found in every inhabited continent except Africa.

考古发现，atlatl的使用相当广泛，除了非洲之外，每一个有人居住的大陆都发现了它曾广泛被使用的证据。

It was a deceptively simple weapon, nothing more than a handheld stick with a protrusion or notch at one end where a dart could be set. Yet despite their simplicity, atlatl were so effective that it's even been theorized that they contributed to the extinction of the woolly mammoth they were used to hunt.

这是一个看似简单的武器，就是一个在末端具有突起或缺口（可以设置飞镖）的手持棍子，尽管其设计非常简单，但却非常有效，以至于有理论认为正因为人们用它来捕杀猛犸象，最终导致了猛犸象的灭绝。