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The blowgun is a weapon that employs the force of breath for expelling a projectile and has been traditionally used for hunting and (occasionally) war. The use of blowguns extends to ancient times and is advantageous in dense-forest areas of South America and South East Asia. A classification system of blowgun types introduced in 1948 for South America is extended here. We assembled a global database that includes collection data and ethnographic accounts of blowgun types and other related features that were linked to available linguistic information. Our analyses show that geography explains the distribution of blowgun types to some degree, but within regions of the world it is possible to identify cultural connections. Darts are by far the most used projectiles and in combination with toxins (e.g. curare), these weapons reach their highest potential. A case study on the use of blowguns in groups of Austronesian language speakers shows clade-specific preferences across the tree. Our comprehensive database provides a general overview of large-scale patterns and suggests that incorporation of other related data (e.g. sights, mouthpieces, quivers) would enhance the understanding of fine-scale cultural patterns.
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; Barbieri, Chiara 2
; Jett, Stephen C 3 ; Carrillo-Briceño, Jorge D 1 ; Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo 4 ; Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R 1
1 Department of Palaeontology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
2 Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
3 Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
4 Institute for Systematic and Evolutionary Botany, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland