While at its simplest the throwing stick is just a heavy club thrown at the game, a well-designed throwing stick uses the principles of an airfoil shape and gyroscopic stability the oldest of these dates back 200,000 years to ancient Poland. Īnother hunting weapon, based on different principles than the spear, is the throwing stick. Each new evolution of hunting weapons extended the range and accuracy a skilled hunter, with suitable equipment and good conditions, can take game at ranges of over 1,000 meters (1 km). With the advent of accurate, reliable firearms, firearms became the weapon of choice. The atlatl was displaced starting in the late Paleolithic with the easier to make and use bow and arrow, which remains in common use today in both sporting and hunting. Archaeological evidence of the atlatl has been found on all continents except for Antarctica. The atlatl allowed a skilled user to throw a dart up to 100 metres (110 yards). Spear throwing devices such as the bâton de commandement, woomera, and atlatl extended that range even further by giving the hunter leverage to throw the spear faster and farther. The spear gave the hunter the ability to kill large animals, at ranges as far as the hunter could throw the spear the Roman pilum, for example, had a range of 30 metres (98 feet).

The spear was in use for hunting as early as five million years ago in hominid and chimpanzee societies, and its usage may go back even further. The evolution of hunting weapons shows an ever-increasing ability to extend the hunter's reach, while maintaining the ability to produce disabling or lethal wounds, allowing the hunter to capture the game. Since human beings are lacking in the natural weapons possessed by other predators, humans have a long history of making tools to overcome this shortcoming.

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