The rabbit stick, is one of the first tools used by early humans and cultures all around the world for hunting. In essence, it is a stave thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly, hitting the target with one of the ends, maiming or killing it. One difference between a throwing stick and a javelin is in their shapes and lengths. A javelin is almost always a straight shaft with either a pointed tip or a spearhead attached to the front end. A throwing stick can be straight like a pointed wooden shaft or curved like the boomerang, and is much shorter than the javelin. It became obsolete as slings and bows became more prevalent, except for on the Australian continent, where it was developed to a high technology. Rabbit sticks shaped like returning boomerangs are designed to fly straight to a target at long ranges. Their surfaces are shaped as airfoils. When tuned correctly they do not exhibit curved flight, but rather they fly on an extended straight flight path. Straight flight ranges greater than 100 meters' distance have been reported by historical sources as well as in recent research. There were some rabbit sticks placed in the tombs of pharaohs.


This is a tool for small game hunting or fowling

Scavenged scrap steel head

Ash shaft

Head is wedged and screwed to the shaft