Twisted Bow

Lore & Background

The oldest known evidence of arrows comes from layers 20–21 in Obi-Rakhmat Grotto, Uzbekistan, some 80,000 years ago. Micro-points have been found, the right size for use as arrow-heads, too small for spear points and too large for blowgun darts. Traces of impact fractures, consistent with their use as projectile points, are identified. They may have been hafted to arrow shafts using locally-available bitumen. In Sibudu Cave, South Africa, likely arrowheads have been found, dating from approximately 72,000–60,000 years ago. Probable arrowheads from Fa Hien Cave, Sri Lanka have been dated to 48,000 years ago. Small stone points from the Mandrin Cave in Southern France, used some 54,000 years ago, have damage from use that indicates their use as projectile weapons, and some are too small (less than 10mm across as the base) for any practical use other than as arrowheads. They are associated with possibly the first groups of modern humans to leave Africa.

In Their Own Story

After the end of the last glacial period, some 12,000 years ago, the use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited region except for Australasia and most of Oceania. The reason for the absence of locally made bow and arrow technology from the Australian continent, when it was widely and commonly used elsewhere, has long been debated. It has recently been hypothesised that it is because the mechanical and physical properties of common Australian woods make them unsuitable for selfbows. The earliest definite remains of bow and arrow from Europe are possible fragments from Germany found at Mannheim-Vogelstang dated 17,500–18,000 years ago, and at Stellmoor dated 11,000 years ago. Azilian points found in Grotte du Bichon, Switzerland, alongside the remains of both a bear and a hunter, with flint fragments found in the bear's third vertebra, suggest the use of arrows at 13,500 years ago. Recent analyses of stone and bone projectile points from early Upper Paleolithic contexts suggest that some European Homo sapiens may have used bow-propelled arrows as early as 40,000–35,000 years ago, earlier than previously assumed. At the site of Nataruk in Turkana County, Kenya, obsidian bladelets found embedded in a skull and within the thoracic cavity of another skeleton, suggest the use of stone-tipped arrows as weapons about 10,000 years ago. The oldest extant bows in one piece are the elm Holmegaard bows from Denmark, which were dated to 9,000 BCE. Several bows from Holmegaard, Denmark, date 8,000 years ago. High-performance wooden bows are currently made following the Holmegaard design. The Stellmoor bow fragments from northern Germany were dated to about 8,000 BCE, but they were destroyed in Hamburg during the Second World War, before carbon 14 dating was available; their age is attributed by archaeological association.

Reader's Guide

A bow consists of a semi-rigid but elastic arc with a high-tensile bowstring joining the ends of the two limbs of the bow. An arrow is a projectile with a pointed tip and a long shaft with stabilizer fins (fletching) towards the back, with a narrow notch (nock) at the very end to contact the bowstring. To load an arrow for shooting (nocking an arrow), the archer places an arrow across the middle of the bow with the bowstring in the arrow's nock. To shoot, the archer holds the bow at its center with one hand and pulls back (draws) the arrow and the bowstring with the other (typically the dominant hand). This flexes the two limbs of the bow rearwards, which perform the function of a pair of cantilever springs to store elastic energy. While maintaining the draw, the archer typically aims the shot intuitively or by sighting along the arrow. Then the archer releases (looses) the draw, allowing the limbs' stored energy to convert into kinetic energy transmitted via the bowstring to the arrow, propelling it to fly forward with high velocity. The distance a bow can shoot is called its cast. A container or bag for additional arrows for quick reloading is called a quiver. When not in use, bows are generally kept unstrung, meaning one or both ends of the bowstring are detached from the bow. This removes all residual tension on the bow and can help prevent it from losing strength or elasticity over time. Many bow designs also let it straighten out more completely, reducing the space needed to store the bow. Returning the bowstring to its ready-to-use position is called stringing the bow.

Did You Know?

• The oldest known evidence of arrows comes from layers 20–21 in Obi-Rakhmat Grotto, Uzbekistan, some 80,000 years ago.
• The oldest extant bows in one piece are the elm Holmegaard bows from Denmark, which were dated to 9,000 BCE.
• The Stellmoor bow fragments from northern Germany were dated to about 8,000 BCE, but they were destroyed in Hamburg during the Second World War.
• The bow was the national weapon of Persian kings, and images of them carrying it can be seen on Persian coins.
• The British upper class initiated a revival of archery as a sport in the late 18th century, with Sir Ashton Lever forming the Toxophilite Society in London in 1781.