Atlatl
The atlatl is the carved wooden spear-thrower that hurls darts with far greater force than an unaided arm, used across Mesoamerica from the Olmec era through the Aztec empire and beyond. Spanish accounts and Aztec codices show warriors and hunters gripping the notched end of the thrower while the dart rests in its socket, and its power is credited with punching through the cotton armour and even the mail of the Spanish at short range. The atlatl was also a ritual object: the great Aztec festivals included darts thrown in honour of the gods, and the weapon appears in the hand of deities such as