Bow (weapon)
This is about the projectile weapon bow. For the martial arts quarterstaff, see Bo (weapon).A
bow is a
weapon that shoots
arrows powered by the
elasticity of the bow. It is used for
hunting, sport (target shooting), and in historical times was a weapon of
war. The technique of using a bow is called
archery while someone who makes bows is known as a
bowyer, while the maker of arrows is a
fletcher. Together with the
atlatl and the
sling, it is one of the first ranged weapons or hunting tools which used mechancical principles (derived by experimentation and chance), instead of relying solely on strength and skill of its user.
Many bow designs have been used in different cultures and time periods. Common designs are; solid
wood (the
English longbow), laminated wood (
Japanese and
Sami bows) and bone-wood-hide composite (
Middle East,
India,
Mongols). In modern times, the
plastic composite and
compound bows dominate for
sport and
hunting practices.
Modern-day use of bows for hunting is a matter of controversy in some areas but is common and accepted in others. Modern hunters are often drawn to bow hunting because it generally requires more practice and skill than taking game with a firearm. While modern rifles allow hunters to shoot large game (such as deer or elk) at distances of 100 yards (metres) or more, archers usually take large game within 40 yards (metres) which requires the archer to stalk the game closely without frightening it away. Bow hunting is also still practiced in traditional cultures worldwide.
The bow seems to have been invented in the late
Palaeolithic or early
Mesolithic. The oldest indication for its use in Europe comes from the
Stellmoor in the
Ahrensburg valley north of
Hamburg, Germany and date from the late Palaeolithic
Hamburgian culture (9000-8000 BC). The arrows were made of
pine-wood and consisted of a main-shaft and a 15-20
cm (6-8
inches) long fore-shaft with a
flint point.
The usage of bows in warfare is described in the
Indian epics
Ramayana and
Mahabharata.
The oldest bows known so far come from the
Holmegård swamp in
Denmark. In the 1940s, two bows were found there. They are made of
elm-wood and have flat arms and a D-shaped midsection. The middle part is biconvex. The complete bow is 1.50
m (5
ft) long. Bows of Holmegaard-type were in use until the
Bronze Age; the convexity of the midsection decreases through time.
Mesolithic arrows have been found in England, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. They were often rather long (up to 120 cm [4 ft.]) and made of
hazel (
Corylus avellana), wayfaring tree (
Viburnum lantana) and
chokecherry (
Cornus alba). Some still have flint arrow-heads preserved; others have blunt wooden ends for hunting birds and small game. The ends show traces of
fletching, which was fastened on with birch-tar.
Bows and arrows have been present in Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins. The nine bows symbolise the various peoples that had been ruled over by the pharaoh since Egypt was united.
Most
Neolithic bows are made of
yew.
Ötzi the Iceman found in the Ötztaler
Alps carried an unfinished yew
longbow, with a bowstring of nettle or flax fibre.
In the
Levant, arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the
Natufian culture, ca. 12.800-10.300 BP) onwards. The
Khiamian and
PPN A shouldered Khiam-points are most certainly arrowheads.
Native Americans used
flatbows, often recurved, made from various hardwood species, such as
hickory. Likewise, the Fenno-Ugrian nations in Eurasia have traditionally used
ash,
maple or
elm flatbows. The bow was a late invention in the Americas.
|
Archers, also armed with spears, detail from the archers' frieze in Darius' palace, Susa. |
The bow became the main weapon of war used in the Middle East by the
Assyrians and
Egyptians, who fired it from warriors on
chariots to great effect. The
Greeks and
Romans did not find this technique useful. Advances in armor made the bow less effective and they both often campaigned in hilly or forest areas that were unsuited to chariots. The development of
horse archers by the people of the
Eurasian Steppe, brought the bow back to the fore. Using composite bows,
Steppe peoples such as the
Huns and
Mongols became a dominant force.
In the
Middle Ages, the
longbow was developed. It was an extremely effective weapon in battle and could penetrate
armor from a considerable distance. The longbow however is a difficult weapon to master and requires years of training. In Medieval
England and
Wales, the longbow became a popular weapon and archery a popular pastime. When the quality of English archery began to decline in the 16th century, English
monarchs went so far as to mandate by
law longbow training for
males of military age, and placed restrictions on other physical sports such as
football and
ninepins so that people would practice archery.
In more advanced countries with better technology, the
crossbow was used. It was slower to reload, but easier to use than a longbow and just as devastating. The force of impact of some crossbows is, in fact, greater than that of any bow and so a well-trained crossbowman could be more dangerous than any bowman.
The development of
gunpowder,
muskets and the growing size of armies slowly led to the replacement of bows as a weapon of war, causing them to be relegated to sport and hobby. See
archery for the modern sport of firing bows. Crossbows still have some use by
special forces due to their silence when compared with guns.
Bows are found all over the world, except for Australia where the main projectile weapons were spears and
boomerangs.
 |
Hun bow |
The
Hun bow is an asymmetric, composite and
reflex bow. It was invented in Central Asia and carried to Europe first by the
Huns.
Its asymmetric shape allowed the bow to be increased in size without restricting its use from the saddle of a horse. The lower part had to be shorter to facilitate movement across the back and neck of the horse, but the upper part was not so constrained and could be longer. The result was a stronger, longer-range bow than that of the Germanic tribes of Europe. Quite simply, the users of the Hun bow could shoot down their enemies before they could use their bows. The asymmetry, however, led to less accuracy, although this was offset to some extent by the fact that the weapon was a
composite bow.
The respect that the
Goths had of the Hun bow was transmitted orally for a millennium among
Germanic tribes and comes down to us in the Scandinavian
Hervarar saga. The
Geatish king Gizur who commands the Goth forces taunts the Huns and says:
Eigi gera Húnar oss felmtraða né hornbogar yðrir.We fear neither the Huns nor their hornbows.
The
Hungarian bow, an improvement of the
Hun bow for archers on foot, is a symmetric, composite and
reflex bow. It was invented in Central Asia.
It improved on the
Hun bow by lengthening its lower part until both halves were of equal size. This symmetry increased both its range and accuracy. If the archer was using the Hungarian bow while mounted, he or she needed to stand up on the saddle, an action that was impossible until the invention of the
stirrup. See also
composite bow.
The Perso-Parthian bow is a symmetric recurve
composite bow made of
Ibex (or for low quality bows, Ox) horn, a variety of wood cores,
gazelle,
deer, or Ox sinews, and usually
hide glue. These bows are highly tensioned. The "arms" of the bow are supposed to cross each other. The finished bow is then covered by bark, fine leather, or in some cases shark skin and laminated to keep out moisture. Traditionally, Ox tendons are considered inferior to wild game sinews since they have a higher fat content.
Perso-Parthian bows were in use as late as 1820s in
Persia(
Iran). They were then replaced by
muskets. Bow making technology improved, but the fundamentals remained the same for millenia.
Iranian people who migrated from central asia and southern europe and settled modern
Iran, brought horse archery and improved composite bows to the middle east.
Aryan nomads such as
Scythians,
Sakas, and
Sarmatians were skilled archers.
Parthians, originally a
Scythian tribe, were famed horse archers. Using Perso-Parthian bows, Parthians inflicted several devastating defeats on Romans.
Battle of Carrhae is probably the first decisive victory of
horse archers armed with Perso-Parthian bows over heavy
infantry.
The
Mongol bow is the type most often referred to as the typical
Asian recurve bow, made as a
composite bow, from
ibex or (more traditionally)
water buffalo horn,
sinew, birk wood and birk
bark, and
bamboo. The principal technical difference used to distinguish a "Mongol bow" from a "Hungarian bow" is the presence of a string run--an attachment of horn or wood, used to hold the string a little further apart from the bow's limbs. This attachment has been said to aid the archer by either creating a mechanical advantage at the end of the draw or giving an extra "snap" and acceleration to the string after the release.
The Mongolian tradition of archery is attested by an inscription on a stone stele that was found near
Nerchinsk in
Siberia: "While
Chinggis Khan was holding an assembly of Mongolian dignitaries, after his conquest of Sartaul (
East Turkestan), Esungge (the son of Chinggis Khan's brother) shot a target at 335 alds (536 m)."
A very long bow, usually made from yew, Italian yew being the best, that fires a considerable range: a longbow was often built to be as tall as the archers arms.the most famous example is the "English" or "Welsh" longbow, made traditionally of yew wood, and carried by English armies to great effect in the
Hundred Years' War. At this time it was called the "war bow." At close range, the longbow could be aimed directly at an individual target, and was capable of penetrating all but the very best plate armor of the time. In battles the archer could shoot 3 arrows before the first arrow hit its target making a cloud of arrows in the sky causing the enemy to panic. While reconstuctions have shown that contemporary crossbows had equal penetrating power, they were expensive and not widespread. At distance, archers would fire mass volleys on a high, arching trajectory at enemy formations, making longbow fire in some respects more akin to light artillery of the modern era. Longbow arrows lost some penetrative power used in this fashion, but anecdotes still abound of knights pinned to their horses by arrows that took them through the thigh, etc.
This style of bow was used up until the time of the English Civil War but was replaced in many cases by the matchlock musket, mostly because of the years of training involved with archery, even though the longbow was capable of much higher rates of fire--as many as 5 to 10 shots in 30 seconds to the musket's 1 shot in 30 seconds. The longbow, in the hands of a skilled
yeoman archer, was also undoubtedly far more accurate than early musketry, and had a greater range. The musket, like the crossbow before it, could be effectively employed with relatively little training, and had the psychological advantages of producing fire, smoke and noise in abundance when it was fired.
To make the bow you would need a stave of
yew or another suitable wood. Once you have that you would need to carve the stave so that the inner belly of the bow was made of the dense
heartwood while the outer side would be made of the springier sapwood. This combination gives the bow its immense power. You would then need to steam the ends to give them a slight bend and finish by rubbing a combination of natural ingredients into the bow. This would stop the bow drying out and breaking on the battle field.
A self-bow made from very hard and resilient wood, such as
ash,
hickory or
oak. Its name is due to fact that it is made flat, like a
ski. The flatbow's limbs are wider near the handle than on the tips, spreading the stress more efficiently than those of an ordinary longbow or composite bow. The traditional Finnish flatbow is made from ash and is as tall as the shooter. Modern flatbows are often made
recurved.
An automatic bow: The bow string is tied on a wooden support that holds it. When a trigger is pressed, the wooden support releases the bow string, releasing the arrow. The crossbow required less strength to fire it, but early on took great strength to load, though this was solved with the addition of a crank. Another means of loading the crossbow was to use a small hook attached to the belt of the archer. The archer would then hold the crossbow still by slipping his foot into a foothold at the tip of the bow. He then pulled the bowstring back by placing the hook in the crossbow's string and standing up. This permitted the firer to use his legs, instead of his arms, to pull back the string. Using this method, two-man teams with two crossbows (one would load the bow and then pass it to the firer in exchange for an unloaded bow) could produce a rate of fire comperable to contemporary bows. This method was not long-lived in European landwarfare, however, because the crossbow was soon after replaced by the musket.
The oldest remains of crossbows are found in East Asia and date back to 2000 BCE. Some crossbows are known as a bowgun. They launch stones or lead. This Chinese invention dates back to at least 300 BCE.
An arbalest is large, powerful crossbow with a bow (prod) of steel, rather than of wood or horn/sinew composite. The
Hussites were famous for their arbalest archers.
A
ballista is a torsion
springs crossbow. Depending on size, it was used as a
siege weapon or
sniper weapon. It has a high degree of efficiency because of the low inertia of the
torsion springs, but efficiency decreases if operated unter humid conditions and needs permanent anointment. It was usually operated by one (Scorpion) to three men. It shoots large arrows or
stones. Nowadays
ballista-bows have been constructed.
A
composite bow is made from different materials laminated together, usually applied under tension.
The
Hun and
Hungarian bows use horn on rear and with sinew on front. They are
recurve bows as the shape curves back on itself and it is this design that gives the bows tremendous power compared with their size.
The English
longbow has a natural composite of yew sap wood and heart wood. The heart wood is on the inside of the bow and resists compression and the outer sapwood stretches. This makes a powerful natural spring.
Modern
composite bows use laminated wood, plastic, and fibreglass. These are little affected by changes of temperature and humidity.
A
yumi is a Japanese longbow used in the practice of
Kyudo (Japanese archery). Traditionally made from a composite of
bamboo, wood and
leather,
yumi are of asymmetrical design, with the grip positioned at about one-third the distance from the lower tip. It is believed the asymmetric shape was designed for use on horseback, allowing the bow to be more easily moved from one side of the horse to the other.
A
compound bow is a modern bow that has pulleys or cams at the end of each limb through which the bow string passes. As the bow is pulled back (drawn) the pulleys or cams turn which, in turn, reduce the amount of force needed to completely draw the bow. They are little affected by changes of temperature and humidity and give superior accuracy, velocity, and distance in comparison to the traditional
longbow. Unlike traditional bows that are usually made of wood or wood laminated with other materials, compound bows are usually made of aluminium and composite materials. They were first developed and patented by
Holless Wilbur Allen in the
USA in the
1960s and have become increasingly popular.
With a traditional single string bow as the string is pulled back the tension increases, so the bow must be aimed and released quickly. On release the string rapidly accelerates to its fastest and then decelerates for it to return to stationary. There are
mechanical advantages to
pulleys:
*The draw force does not increase as the bow is drawn enabling the archer to hold the bow fully drawn and take time to aim;
*The pulleys enable the archer to draw a bow with a much higher draw force than they could manage with a conventional single stringed bow
(there are very few people alive today who could shoot accurately with a single string using the draw force of the longbows found on the Mary Rose);
*The string continues to accelerate from the release to rest so imparting more power (and hence speed) to the arrow.Archers in modern
archery competitions usually use a release aid to hold the string steady. This attaches to the bowstring at a point and permits the archer to release the string with a pull of a trigger.
*
Whip bow - An arrow or dart is attached via a notch in its forward end to the knotted end of a cord attached at the other end to a flexible stick. The stick is used to 'whip' or slingshot the dart forward, and the knotted cord releases from the notch. Mainly a children's toy, this "bow" is described in
The American Boy's Handy Book*
Atlatl - Spearthrower or
woomera. Although the darts are often fletched, there is no bow or stored energy before firing
*U. Stodiek/H. Paulsen, "Mit dem Pfeil, dem Bogen..." Techniken der steinzeitlichen Jagd. (Oldenburg 1996).
*Gray, David (2002)
Bows of the World. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-478-6
*(1992)
The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 1. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-085-3
*(1992)
The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 2. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-086-1
*(1994)
The Traditional Bowyers Bible Volume 3. The Lyons Press. ISBN 1-58574-087-X
*
Short Bows and Long Bows: Scaling effects in archery*
PDF:An Approach to the Study of Ancient Archery using Mathematical Modelling*
Welcome to USA Archery*
ATARN provides scientific data on traditional asian archery*
Simon Archery Collection
