Continuing with my series on Bolas, I found an article written by H. S. Harrison, A bolas-and-hoop game in East Africa, (Man, Vol. XLVII, 170, Dec, 1947 p.153), in which the author wonders if a game played by children in East Africa, called namuziga a is a relict of the original bola used by the paleolithic humans. Recalling Leakey's discovery of stone balls in Kenya, Harrison mentions the game and asks if it is a "degenerate survivor" of the orignal throwing balls.
He includes an image of these bolas from the Horniman Museum and interestingly mentions the use of bolas by Eskimos to hunt birds. Below is the image.
The game is described as follows: "Two sides were chosen, and the object was to win over members of the opposing side, one by one, by dint of skill in throwing and aiming the bolas. This consisted simply of about a yard of string to each end of which was attached a small piece of wood or a dry maize cob-two weights only. The hoop was made of flexible creepers or cane twisted and bound together; this was flung by a boy of one side so as to roll along the ground, and as it rolled each boy of the opposing side, in turn, threw his bolas in an attempt to entangle the hoop and stop its progress. When this was achieved the thrower of the hoop passed from his own side to that of the successful thrower of the bolas, and so the game proceeded, each side taking its turn in rolling the hoop."
So, in fact they are not made of stones, or round projectiles, they are "short cylindrical pieces of light wood, about 3¼ inches long by ¾inch diameter."
Inuit bolas
Regarding the Eskimos, he wrote that "the Eskimo, with their peaceful habits, have only a small bolas, used against flocks of birds."
The Inuit bolas are known as ka-lum-uk-toun, the one pictured in the image had bone and walrus ivory bolas, and dates to the Thule period 300 to 800 years ago.
Harrison concludes that as there are three varieties of bolas, one with two stones, another with three, and finally, the one-stone option (bola perdida), that , "These three types suggest a not too improbable way in which the bolas might have been evolved, possibly in more than one region of the world, if we prefer to think so."
Finally, he notes that "The bolas, like the boomerang, is ill adapted for use in densely wooded areas. Under the more favourable conditions provided by open country in parts of South America, it has been a favoured weapon of hunting peoples." Interestingly, bolas were used initially in the southern tip of South America, abandoned for several millennia, and readopted when the natives adopted the use of the horse for their hunting expeditions. A bola is easier to aim and fling at an escaping rhea (South American ostrich, or ñandú) or a guanaco (a wild relative of the llama), than using a bow and arrow (only the Mongols seem to have mastered the art of aiming straight and riding a horse).
In Patagonia
Compared to these Inuit and African "bolas", the South American ones were much more elaborate.
Alfredo Prieto, 2020 writes about southern Patagonian bolas and provides a timeline: they are first reported in sequences dated to 8500 years BP, and reached their peak in development by 4500 BP with different standard varieties (lemon-shaped, bi-conical, and bi-lobulated, with the typical spherical ones, with an equatorial groove being the most frequent ones).
The "biconical" bolas has finally settled a question I had about some "double cups" found in Patagonia, which I mentioned, and included some pictures of them, in a post back in 2013, where I reported an explanation for their use as symbolic artifacts, which I questioned. It is never to late to learn something new.
They were abandoned around 1500 years BP and bows and arrows were adopted at that time. This hiatus lasted for around 3200 years, until the 1700s, when they started riding horses.
They were made following a series of steps, Prieto provides a description and the following image showing how they were produced.
A granite stone was shaped by percussion and abrasion till it was almost perfectly rounded (upper left images: natural stone, preform) and then polished using a semi-spherical hole in a rock, a groove was then shaped along its midpoint (central top: finishing, grooving). Finally they tied a cord made from twined sinew to the groove. Some balls were painted red, with ochre to make it easier to find them on the ground. Others were polished so that they reflected light and could be seen and retrieved.
Later they were encased in a horse-hide seath as shown in the image a cord was tied around the groove and a seath was sewn around the stone (lower part of the image).
Regarding the Bola perdida it was used to kill opponents, and it was documented as being used to hunt sea lions on the Atlantic coast. The two ball bolas had a similar use, one ball was firmly held in the hand and the other used to pound the skull of the animal or human enemy.
If stones were not available, as in the vast Pampas prairies, the natives could use terracota, compacted clay placed in a seath, or bone.
Prieto notes that bolas were effective: the prey was entangled, immobilized and easy to kill and take back to camp. Using bow and arrow was more complicated: a wounded prey did not die instantly, it fled, had to be tracked, and then carried on foot for long distances back to camp. The Selk'nam (a Tehuelche group in Tierra del Fuego) used bow and arrow into the historic period, they never adopted the horse. Until the early 1900s they continued hunting with bow and arrow. But their environment was different from the dry steppe. They lived in grassy areas and open forests by the Andean foothills.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©
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