Author: Tim Jeung
Published: 30 December 2018
Believed to be invented as early as 71,000 years ago, the bow and arrow played an essential role in the growth of mankind. The weapon offered a new, ranged method of hunting and warfare. Many cultures around the world experimented in their own ways to find the most efficient and effective design for the bow and arrow. This lead to many composite bows, bows made out of multiple materials, each chosen for a certain quality, and the idea of a recurve bow, which allowed for smaller bows that still had high power. Both the recurve design and later the composite material methods, made the bow a much more efficient and effective weapon in hunting and combat. Civilizations across history and the world contributed to the development of the bow, and their collective work can be seen in modern day bows used in sport and hunting.
The first bows consisted of a stick with some a string-like material attached to both ends in order to bend the stick. Early designs were similar to the modern day longbow. Although it is still unclear when or where the bow and arrow were originally invented, researchers believe that the bow originated in Southern Africa, where arrow points made from bone were found dating back to around 71,000 years ago (Wayman). From there, the bow and arrow became a very important weapon and began its spread around the world alongside humanity. The bow looked and worked like traditional, one-material longbows with a simple U shape when bent (Denny, 24). The bow originally served as a means of hunting, but quickly adopted a new purpose for combat, being used in warfare by almost all civilizations until recent history.
Although the bow and arrow was used all over the world, its design, the shooting methods, and the roles of the archer varied from civilization to civilization. The earliest findings of recurve bows came from Mongolia, where their recurve bow design dates back 6,000 around years (Fields). Later on, other cultures including those in the Indo-Iranian and Finno-Ugrian regions, as well as the Japanese (Insulander) would develop their own versions of the recurve design. The recurve design, where the limbs arc forwards, away from the archer, granted archers a greater amount of power than a traditional longbow of the same size, or with smaller bows that still had a considerable amount of power (Denny, 24).
An improvement on longbow styled bows, recurve bows were introduced in order to make the bow stronger than a longbow of the same length and material. When unstrung, a recurve bow forms a W shape, rather than a straight line, with the end of the limbs curving away from the archer. When strung, the recurve bow would have the usual curve in the center, curving away from the archer, and the ends of the limbs would still be curving slightly away from the archer. Because of this design, the bow flexed in a way that required a bit more draw strength from the archer, but in turn, increased the energy the bow released when fired. This was a very important and revolutionary modification to the bow because it could reduce the size of the bow and still produce the same amount of power, meaning more power than a bow of the same size or the same amount of power from a smaller bow.
One of the best examples of use of the recurve bow design comes from the ancient Mongolian Empire. The Mongol empire was one of the many cultures to develop recurve bows but they also owed a huge part of their success in battle was their use of their Mongol recurve bows on foot as well as on horseback. The recurve design allowed their relatively shorter bows to be much more powerful than a longbow, with draw weights (the weight the archer has to pull the string to get the bow to the full draw position) of over one-hundred pounds and achieve ranges of around five-hundred yards (Fields,), as compared to English longbows of much later, which only had draw weights of around one-hundred and ten pounds or lighter and a range of around two-hundred and fifty yards (Denny, 4).
Composite bows began appearing around 2600 BCE, according to a fragment of a two-wood bow found in Korekawa, Japan (Insulander). Early composite bows were generally made from two or more different types of wood, although material that came from animal horns and bones were sometimes used. Materials would be chosen based on their ability to flex without breaking, and their overall strength. As the bow evolved, more advanced materials such as metal and fiberglass were implemented into the design, as seen in many modern day bows.
A good example of the use of composite materials in bow making can be seen from the Native American Indians. Going back to around, 500 C.E., the Native Americans used either certain types of wood or antler/bone for the main section of the bow, with sinew backing used for reinforcement (Weitzel). The composite bows made by the Native Americans were usually made for archers on horseback because the bow needed to be shorter and easier for the rider to manage. Since the size of the bow affects the amount of stress put on the bow when fully drawn, the bows were made from composite materials to add strength to the bow. The idea of using more than one material to make a bow was worldwide, with the Mongolians developing composite bows around 900 BCE (Fields), and the Egyptians developing theirs sometime before 600 BCE (Denny, 7).
Composite bows are generally stronger and more reinforced than one-material bows. Using more than one material on the bow can allow the bowmaker to develop bows that are more durable, flexible, and/or more powerful, depending on the intended purpose that the bow will serve. Combined with the recurve, design, composite bows can be made stronger, more efficient, and more practical. Many modern day recurve bows, especially those used in hunting and sporting events such as college archery tournaments and the Olympics are made from multiple materials, including multi-wood and fiberglass carbon and/or metal as the main materials to grant the archer with a strong, durable bow.
The bow and arrow has been a major key element of warfare since its creation and has helped decide the fate of countless battles throughout history. The introduction of recurve and composite bows into the bow and arrow family revolutionized the way humans used the weapon, allowing for more effective horseback archers, longer range, and stronger, more durable bows. Even in archery today, the process of using composite materials to give the bow more strength and the recurve design to launch the arrow with more power is still widely used among sport archers as well as hunters.
References
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Denny, Mark. Ingenium : Five Machines That Changed the World. Baltimore, MD, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 15 February 2016. (*Primary*) <http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ucmerced/reader.action?docID=10375800&ppg=20>
Fields, Aaron. "Mongolian Martial Arts." Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation. Eds. Thomas A. Green and Joseph R. Svinth. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/abcmlarts/mongolian_martial_arts/0>
Insulander, Ragnar. "The Two-Wood Bow.” Acta Borealia. Vol. 19. Routledge. 49–73. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08003830215543>
Keller, Jared. “How Archery Conquered America.” Maxim, 2015. Web. 16 February 2016.
<http://www.maxim.com/entertainment/how-archery-conquered-america>
Wayman, Erin. “Early Bow and Arrows Offer Insight Into Origins of Human Intellect.” Smithsonian.com, 2012. Web. 14 February 2016. <http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/early-bow-and-arrows-offer-insight-into-origins-of-human-intellect-112922281/?no-ist;>
Weitzel, Tim. “American Indian Archery Technology.” The University of Iowa, n.d. Web. 16 February 2016. <http://archaeology.uiowa.edu/american-indian-archery-technology-0>
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