Bolas

Bolas (from Spanish bola, "ball", also known as boleadoras, or Inca ayllo) are a throwing weapon superficially similar to the surujin, made of weights on the ends of interconnected cords, designed to capture animals by entangling their legs. They are most famously used by the South American gauchos, but have been found in excavations of Pre-Columbian settlements, especially in Patagonia, where indigenous peoples used them to catch 200 pound guanaco (llama-like mammals) and ñandú (birds). They have also been found, as a Stone Age lithic tool, in North America at the Calico Early Man Site.