
Darts are airborne ranged weapons. They are designed to fly such that a sharp, often weighted point will strike first. They can be distinguished from
javelin
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...
s by the presence of
fletching
Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, crossbow bolts, Dart (missile), darts, and javelins, typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or Bark (botany), bark. Each piece of such a ...
(feathers on the tail) and a shaft that is shorter or more flexible. Darts can be propelled by hand or with the aid of a hand-held implement such as a
blowgun. They can be distinguished from
arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
s because they are not used with a
bow.
Darts have been used since pre-history. The
plumbatae were lead-weighted darts thrown by infantrymen in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Darts can be propelled by a number of means. The
atlatl uses leverage to increase the velocity of the dart, the
kestros increases the range of propelled darts using a sling, and the exhalation of a person's breath through a blowgun propels small stone points or poisoned needles with pneumatic force.
In the modern era, darts have been used for recreation in
lawn darts and the game of
darts
Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard.
Point ...
.
History
Pre-history
Some of the earliest evidence of advanced tool use includes remnants of an early type of dart, which can be considered the ancestor of arrows as well as bows. Reconstructions of this system have a range of over one hundred metres (yards) and can penetrate several centimetres of oak. This technology was used worldwide from the Upper
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
(late Solutrean, c. 18,000–16,000 BC) until the development of
archery
Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...
made it obsolete.
The darts in question are much larger than arrows, but noticeably lighter than javelins. They have a weighted ''point'', often of
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
, on a removable foreshaft. This is held by friction onto a thin, flexible main shaft a few metres in length, with fletching and a (usually socket-like) ''nock'' at the opposite end. Since they are unlike anything in Western history, the term "dart" has been adopted after some debate. Some alternate terms for this missile have included the
spear
A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...
, but this term has fallen out of favour since in all other uses, spears are stiff enough to be used for stabbing. In its function, an atlatl dart is more like a combination between a
bow and an
arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
.
Its similarity to a bow may not be immediately obvious, but in fact both serve to accumulate
energy
Energy () is the physical quantity, quantitative physical property, property that is transferred to a physical body, body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of Work (thermodynamics), work and in the form of heat and l ...
by
elasticity in a similar way. As throwing begins, a dart of this type is designed to flex in compression between the accelerating force at its nock and the
inertia
Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes the velocity to change. It is one of the fundamental principles in classical physics, and described by Isaac Newto ...
of its weighted point, storing energy. Late in this throw, as the point moves faster and so offers less resistance, the dart releases most of this energy by springing away from the thrower. Some energy may also be recovered by the fletching as the projectile "fishtails" through the air. However, this energy is far less than is commonly stated and only effectively increases accuracy by counteracting the downward force on the tail.
To maximize elastic energy storage and recovery, such darts should be held only by the nock and allowed to pivot as they are thrown. This requires a special tool called a
spear-thrower
A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever, or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Classical Nahuatl, Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in Dart (missile), dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a Plain bearing, b ...
. In Western culture these might be called ''
atlatl'' borrowed from the
Aztec
The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...
, or in Australia the Aboriginal word
''woomera'' is used.
Plumbatae or martiobarbuli
''
Plumbatae'' or ''martiobarbuli'' were lead-weighted darts carried by infantrymen in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The first examples seem to have been carried by the Ancient Greeks from about 500 B.C. onwards, but the best-known users were from the Roman and Byzantine armies. The best written source for these tactical weapons is
Vegetius's treatise known as ''
De Re Militari'' (1.17):
Replacement by the arrow
In Europe, the spear-thrower was supplemented by the
bow and
arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
in the
Epipaleolithic period. By the Iron Age, the
amentum, a strap attached to the shaft, was the standard European mechanism for throwing lighter javelins. The amentum gives not only range, but also spin to the projectile.
Archery may be easier to learn and have a faster rate of fire, yet perhaps this system's greatest advantage over the spear-thrower is that ammunition is easier to make and transport. Since the dart must store almost all of the system's elastic energy, more care, planning, and weight of elastic material must be invested in its construction. In archery, the bulk of elastic energy is stored in the throwing device, rather than the projectile; arrow shafts can therefore be much smaller, and have looser
tolerances for
spring constant and weight distribution than spear-thrower darts. For example, stone dart points from the same set tend to vary in mass by no more than a few percent, and computer simulations show that this is necessary for efficient operation. Similar constraints exist for the length, diameter, and materials quality of the shaft. If the same amount of attention and material are instead invested into a bow, projectiles can be made lighter (by a factor of five or more) and to less exacting
tolerances. This allowed for more forgiving
flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
knapping.
Greater mass becomes an advantage over archery when penetration is an overwhelming concern, as when
harpooning
sea mammals. This class of dart was used by aboriginal
Arctic
The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...
hunters such as the
Aleut
Aleuts ( ; (west) or (east) ) are the Indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleuts and the islands are politically divided between the US state of Alaska ...
until fairly recently.
Reconstructions
Darts,
plumbata and atlatls have been constructed by modern enthusiasts, either with ancient materials and methods or with high technology borrowed from modern archery. While some do this in the context of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
or
mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...
, many view the practice as a
sport
Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
, and throw competitively for distance and/or for accuracy. Throws of almost have been recorded.
Types of traditional darts
The darts in use by the developers of the English language were used throughout Europe for much of its military history, though they were never a dominant weapons technology. They have also lent their name to quite a few weapons from other cultures.
Thrown darts

It is quite reasonable to speculate the darts used with ''atlatl''s were adapted from hand-thrown darts, which in turn were derived from light javelins. In Europe, short but heavy-pointed darts were sometimes used in warfare. These had a length of about and resembled an arrow with a long head and short shaft.
Examples of thrown darts include:
* The ''
plumbata'', a Roman dart weighted with lead. In some legions, five of these were carried inside each soldier's shield; reconstructions show a range of or more when thrown overhand in the fashion of a
German stick grenade.
* Some types of the
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese ''
shuriken''
* The ''
bagakay'' from the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, made from bamboo (weighted with clay) or wood sharpened at both ends and around six to ten inches long. They were usually thrown five at a time and were effective at short ranges in puncturing thick objects. They were used for hunting birds and as a projectile weapon in warfare.
Feathered darts
Feathered spears, often called darts or javelins, were used in medieval and Renaissance Europe, both as ceremonial objects and as weapons. It is possible no examples have survived, presumably due to their fragility or the deterioration of their
fletching
Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, crossbow bolts, Dart (missile), darts, and javelins, typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or Bark (botany), bark. Each piece of such a ...
making them indistinguishable from spears, but they appear in multiple illustrations from the 15th and 16th century. As ceremonial items, they are shown held similar to scepters by military commanders and leaders such as
Emperor Maximilian I.
Many other illustrations show large darts being wielded as weapons, either on the battlefield or in smaller engagements such as judicial battles.
Depictions show them as being four to seven feet long, with arrow-like feather
fletching
Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, crossbow bolts, Dart (missile), darts, and javelins, typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or Bark (botany), bark. Each piece of such a ...
, barbed points and thick shafts comparable to conventional
polearms, presumably able to serve for both throwing and hand-held striking. One such example has historically been depicted on French and English pattern playing cards, where the jack of clubs is armed with one.
Some later artistic depictions suggest they may have also been used for hunting.
Kestros
The kestrosphendone, or
kestros, was a
sling-launched dart, invented in 168 BC for the
Third Macedonian War, probably similar to hand-thrown darts of the period. Casting one (according to surviving records) requires a specially designed sling with two unequal loops, though it is not clear whether this is a stave-sling or more closely resembles a shepherd's sling.
Blow darts
The
blowgun can be used to fire darts. Often, these are quite small, and do little harm by themselves; instead, they are effective due to
poison
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
spread onto their points, from (for example)
dart frogs or
curare.
Rope dart

This is a pointed weight attached at its blunt end to a length of rope or chain, which can be used to throw and retrieve it. It meets the definition above because it flies freely when no tension is applied to the rope, has a point and – in the form of a square of cloth – even has fletching.
''Shengbiao'' is a discipline of
''Wushu'' devoted to its use.
Swiss arrow
A
Swiss arrow (also known as a Yorkshire arrow) is a dart thrown using a cord to make the dart go farther with the same power.
Modern darts

Of the darts still in widespread use, perhaps the closest to traditional thrown darts are
lawn darts. These are large and heavy enough to be thrown by swinging, and to seriously wound a person when thrown.
Khuru is a traditional
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
ese dart sport. In this game, the players have a target to aim at and two darts to throw. The Bhutan Indigenous Games and Sports Association specifies that the distance between two targets is 35 meters for men and 27 meters for women.
An indoor game of
darts
Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard.
Point ...
has also been developed. For competitive purposes, a dart cannot weigh more than including the shaft and flight and cannot exceed a total length of .
They are designed to penetrate
dart boards.
A child-safe dart game utilizes magnetic darts with blunt tips, designed to stick securely to a specialized magnetic dartboard.
Tranquilizer darts are related to the darts for blowguns, but include a
hypodermic needle
A hypodermic needle (from Greek Language, Greek ὑπο- (''hypo-'' = under), and δέρμα (''derma'' = skin)) is a very thin, hollow tube with one sharp tip. As one of the most important intravenous inventions in the field of drug admini ...
and a hollow reservoir resembling a
syringe, which is generally filled with
sedative
A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or Psychomotor agitation, excitement. They are central nervous system (CNS) Depressant, depressants and interact with brain activity, causing its decelera ...
s or other drugs. These are launched from a
dart gun using compressed gas, a tuft of fibers at the back of the missile serving as both
fletching
Fletching is the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization device attached on arrows, crossbow bolts, Dart (missile), darts, and javelins, typically made from light semi-flexible materials such as feathers or Bark (botany), bark. Each piece of such a ...
and
wadding.
A type of dart still finds use in military engagements, in the form of
flechette
A flechette or flèchette ( ) is a pointed, fin-stabilized steel projectile. The name comes from French (from \''wikt:flèche, flèche''), meaning "little arrow" or "Dart (missile), dart", and sometimes retains the grave accent in English: flè ...
s. These are all-metal projectiles, often resembling nails that have had fletching (rather than nail heads) forged into them. They were used by American forces during the wars in
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
and
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
, but treaties have since been enacted to limit their use.
Large flechettes are used as
kinetic energy penetrators in many gun-fired
anti-armour projectiles.
See also
*
Crossbow bolt
*
Scorpio (weapon), small catapult discharging iron darts
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dart (Missile)
Projectiles
Throwing weapons
Ancient weapons
Hunting equipment