Atlatl battle

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald

Some Columbine Christian School students held a throwing competition Thursday using their hand-crafted atlatls, an ancient hunting tool used by the ancestral Puebloans and other groups. Students used the throwing sticks to launch darts as far as 6½ feet in a competition sanctioned by the World Atlatl Association. Teacher Jim Hughes said students made the atlatls as part of a class project, and some have scored high enough in past competitions to be ranked internationally in their age groups.