Dart

Darts appeared at the beginning of the Mesolithic , when people learned to attach tips of bone and stone to simple spears-spears. The dart flint tip is one of the most widespread types of archaeological finds from the primitive world.

Soon, a spear thrower (atlatl) was invented - a device that increases the reach of a hand when throwing, which had the form of a plate with an emphasis for the shaft end or belt loop. A dart thrown by hand flew up to 20 of its own length, and the use of a spear thrower made it possible to throw darts twice farther, although it was significantly less accurate. For this reason, the kopemetalka was used by the inhabitants of the steppes, for whom the throwing range was most relevant.

Onions everywhere competed with darts, but never crowded them out completely. The advantage of the dart consisted primarily in the fact that he held only one hand - in the other there could be, for example, a shield . Heavy darts, unlike arrows, retained a destructive force throughout the entire flight, and at short distances exceeded the arrows in accuracy. If the accuracy of the fired arrow was influenced by some factors that did not depend on the shooter, then the dart could, in principle, be thrown as you please.

One of the key differences between darts from melee copies (except for a different distribution of mass along the length) was the shape of the tip. If a hand-to-hand weapon was usually made so that its tip would never get stuck and would not cling to anything, while the shields, on the contrary, were focused on squeezing enemy weapons, for darts the ability to stick in shields was a positive quality: the dart is rather heavy, and using a shield with a dart stuck in it became difficult. Jamming a dart in a wound was also desirable on the hunt , so that the points of the darts were often specially made with notches.

On the other hand, throwing a dart required a certain amount of space for swing, and you couldn't have as many darts with you as arrows. Therefore, in the end, the bow was still preferable, pushing the throwing spears into the background.

Among the barbarians, only people who could not make powerful bows armed themselves with darts, but later, with the spread of protective equipment, the interest in darts increased again due to their better penetrating power and accuracy.

For example, the light infantry of ancient Greece , Macedonia and Rome rarely used other throwing weapons other than darts: by attacking the hoplites , they were more likely to hit darts in unprotected parts of the body. Dart was easier to punch and not too strong armor , canvas, leather or mail. The Romans even used spear throwers.

Short darts were often used by cavalry too - this allowed the cavalry fighter to use one hand to control a horse, and, importantly, in a dart, it was possible to snatch a dart from a clip (“ djida ”) faster than a bow and arrow from a quiver.

Finally, in Europe, darts began to be actively used again from the end of the 13th century , when plastering agents allowed, to some extent, to remove the iron deficit, which required much more to produce darts than for the production of arrows.

Darts can be divided into several types. The first, the oldest, closest in characteristics to the hunting samples of the Stone Age, are the lightest (0.2-0.3 kg) and long (up to 210 cm) throwing spears. Such darts provided the maximum range and accuracy of a throw and were often used with a spearman. However, in their mass, they approached heavy arrows, and a lower initial speed determined even worse, in comparison with arrows, penetration ability.

A typical example of a light type dart can be considered the Roman gasta velitaris ( Velit dart).

Heavier throwing spears, intended for punching armor, in their characteristics were close to universal copies of spears, but unlike them, they could have armor-piercing tips and lead rings weighting. With moderate (150–180 cm) length, the weight of “medium” darts ranged from 0.7 to 1.7 kg. The throwing distance averaged 25 meters.

Most Roman pilums belong to this type.

Finally, some types of darts were specially designed to disable heavy type shields. Such was the Roman "heavy pilum", the mass of which was 2-3 kg, and sometimes more. Such spears rushed, naturally, only on several meters. But when it hit even the most durable shield, the pilum either broke through it, or stuck in it with its jagged tip, forcing it to be lowered - in any case, the shield lost its functionality, which in those times meant the destruction of the hoplite as a combat unit.

Solferrum also belongs to heavy darts - a javelin of Iberian origin, which was usually made entirely of iron and was similar in tactics to the Roman pilum.

Darts used by cavalry (in particular, Russian), were significantly shorter - 70-120 cm in length. But their weight in this case exceeded 0.5 kg, which made it possible to break through light protective equipment. Short darts rushed for short distances - about 10-15 meters.

We should also mention the late Roman “piglets” - darts “ plumbates ”, worn in several pieces in a legionary shield. Darts of this type were distinguished not only by lead weighting, as can be understood by their name, but also by a very small shaft length - about 45 centimeters. Such a device simplified wearing, but together with lead load, it strongly shifted the center of gravity to the tip, which made it necessary to use it to stabilize the tail. There were both light (0.2 kg) and armor-piercing (over 0.7 kg) samples of this weapon. Svinchaty rushed at a distance of 60 m.

• Darts (popular British game)
• Spearman
• Assegay
• Plumbat
• Hoplites
• Peltasts
• Velity
• Legionaries
• Firephores