This wide-ranging volume brings together the results of global research on weapon technology, hunting strategies, and technological organization spanning the Middle Paleolithic through the ethnographic present, and the geographical breadth of the five inhabited continents. Integrating archaeological, experimental, and ethnoarchaeological perspectives, the book paints a vibrant picture of the technological know-how, decision-making processes, and organizational logistics associated with hunters armed with spears or arrows. Unlike most works on archaeological subjects, the findings presented here are bound to neither time nor place, but are applicable in any context in which spears, bows, and/or arrows are in use.

Artifacts linked to projectile technologies traditionally have provided the foundations for time-space systematics and cultural-historic frameworks in archaeological research having to do with foragers. With the shift in archae ological research objectives to processual interpretations, projectile technolo gies continue to receive marked attention, but with an emphasis on the implications of variability in such areas as design, function, and material as they relate to the broader questions of human adaptation. The reason that this particular domain of foraging technology persists as an important focus of research, I think, comes in three parts. A projectile technology was a crucial part of most foragers' strategies for survival, it was functionally spe cific, and it generally was fabricated from durable materials likely to be detected archaeologically. Being fundamental to meat acquisition and the principal source of calo ries, projectile technologies were typically afforded greater time-investment, formal modification, and elaboration of attributes than others. Moreover, such technologies tend to display greater standardization because of con straints on size, morphology, and weight that are inherent to the delivery system. The elaboration of attributes and standardization of form gives pro jectile technologies time-and space-sensitivity that is greater than most other foraging technologies. And such sensitivity is immensely valuable in archae ological research.

Historian Alfred W. Crosby looks at hard, accurate throwing and the manipulation of fire as unique human capabilities. Humans began throwing rocks in prehistory and then progressed to javelins, atlatls, bows and arrows. We learned to make fire by friction and used it to cook, drive game, burn out rivals, and alter landscapes. In historic times we invented catapults, trebuchets, and such flammable liquids as Greek Fire. About 1,000 years ago we invented gunpowder, which accelerated the rise of empires and the advance of European imperialism. In the 20th century, gunpowder weaponry enabled us to wage the most destructive wars of all time, peaking at the end of World War II with the V-2 and atomic bomb. Today, we have turned our projectile talents to space travel which may make it possible for our species to migrate to other bodies of our solar system and even other star systems.

Modern human origins and the fate of the Neanderthals are arguably the most compelling and contentious arenas in paleoanthropology. The much-discussed split between advocates of a single, early emergence of anatomically modern humans in sub-Saharan Africa and supporters of various regional continuity positions is only part of the picture. Equally if not more important are questions surrounding the origins of modern behavior, and the relationships between anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during the past 200,000 years. Although modern humans as a species may be defined in terms of their skeletal anatomy, it is their behavior, and the social and cognitive structures that support that behavior, which most clearly distinguish Homo sapiens from earlier forms of humans. This book assembles researchers working in Eurasia and Africa to discuss the archaeological record of the Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age. This is a time period when Homo sapiens last shared the world with other species, and during which patterns of behavior characteristic of modern humans developed and coalesced. Contributions to this volume query and challenge some current notions about the tempo and mode of cultural evolution, and about the processes that underlie the emergence of modern behavior. The papers focus on several fundamental questions. Do typical elements of "modern human behavior" appear suddenly, or are there earlier archaeological precursors of them? Are the archaeological records of the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age unchanging and monotonous, or are there detectable evolutionary trends within these periods? Coming to diverse conclusions, the papers in this volume open up new avenues to thinking about this crucial interval in human evolutionary history.

How can we predict the trajectory of a baseball from bat to outfield? How do the dimples in a golf ball influence its flight from tee to pin? What forces determine the path of a soccer ball steered over a defensive wall by an elite player? An understanding of the physical processes involved in throwing, hitting, firing and releasing sporting projectiles is essential for a full understanding of the science that underpins sport. This is the first book to comprehensively examine those processes and to explain the factors governing the trajectories of sporting projectiles once they are set in motion. From a serve in tennis to the flight of a ’human projectile’ over a high jump bar, this book explains the universal physical and mathematical principles governing movement in sport, and then shows how those principles are applied in specific sporting contexts. Divided into two sections, addressing theory and application respectively, the book explores key concepts such as: friction, spin, drag, impact and bounce computer and mathematical modelling variable sensitivity the design of sports equipment materials science. Richly illustrated throughout, and containing a wealth of research data as well as worked equations and examples, this book is essential reading for all serious students of sports biomechanics, sports engineering, sports technology, sports equipment design and sports performance analysis.

The objective of this volume is to showcase the contemporary state of research on recognizing and evaluating the performance of stone age weapons from a variety of viewpoints, including investigating their cognitive and evolutionary significance. New archaeological finds and experimental studies have helped to bring this subject back to the forefront of human origins research. In the last few years, investigations have expanded beyond examining the tools themselves to include studies of damage caused by projectile weapons on animal and hominin bones and skeletal asymmetries in ancient hominin populations. Only recently has there been a growing interest in controlled and replicative experiments. Through this book readers will be updated in the state of knowledge through a multidisciplinary scientific reconstruction of prehistoric weapon use and its implications. Contributions from expert authors are organized into three themed parts: recognizing weapon use (experimental and archaeological studies of impact traces), performance of weapon systems (factors influencing penetration depth etc.), and behavioral and evolutionary ramifications (cognitive and ecological effects of using different weapons).

High energy impact phenomena have been investigated by engineers of various backgrounds and disciplines. Structures often need to be designed against impact or potential attack and on the other hand the removal of decommissioned structures may be achieved by shaped charge impact, alternatively known as explosive cutting. The topic of ballistic impact is wide-ranging and encompasses various levels of kinetic energy input as well as a multitude of projectile-target materials and geometries. It has thus become the object of many experimental and analytical investigations resulting in numerous sparsely-spread articles in periodicals and conference proceedings as well as monographs narrowly focusing on specific types and ranges of impact scenarios. This volume describes a broad spectrum of analytical and experimental work in this area, thus providing considerable insight into the complexity and diversity of impact phenomena. By addressing a significant number of important issues it combines, rather uniquely, subject breadth and density with in-depth study of impact events of great engineering interest.