Everything about Bows And Arrows totally explained
A
bow is a
weapon that projects
arrows powered by the
elasticity of the bow. As the bow is
drawn, energy is stored in the limbs of the bow and transformed into rapid motion when the
string is released, with the string transferring this force to the arrow. Bows are used for
hunting and sport (target shooting), and as a weapon of
war.
The technique of using a bow is called
archery. Someone who makes bows is known as a
bowyer, and one who makes arrows a
fletcher. Together with the
atlatl and the
sling, the bow was one of the first
ranged weapons or hunting tools which used
mechanical principles, instead of relying solely on the strength of its user.
Many bow designs have been used in different cultures and time periods. Common designs include the widespread
long bows (
Europe,
North and
South America,
Africa and
Asia), short bows (
South African
Bushmen),
laminated wood (
Japanese and
Sami bows),
sinew-backed bows (common in North America), and the horn-wood-sinew composite (
Eurasian nomads, also used for centuries in the
Middle East,
the later Roman Empire,
China,
Korea, and
India). In modern times, the
recurve and
compound bows dominate for
sport and hunting practices. Newer materials, including flexible plastics,
fiberglass, and
carbon fibers, have led to increases in range and projectile velocity.
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 must usually take large game within 40 yards (metres); thus the archer must
stalk the game more closely without frightening it away. Bow hunting is also still practiced in traditional cultures worldwide.
History
The bow was likely invented in the late
Paleolithic or early
Mesolithic. The oldest indication for its use in Europe comes from the
Stellmoor in the
Ahrensburg valley north of
Hamburg, Germany and from the
Grotta dell'Addaura in
Italy, dates from the late Paleolithic (9th millennium BC). The arrows were made of
pine wood and consisted of a mainshaft and a 15–20
centimeter (6–8
inches) long foreshaft with a
flint point. There are no known definite earlier bows; previous pointed shafts are known but may have been launched by atlatls rather than bows.
The usage of bows in warfare was described in the Indian epics
Ramayana and
Mahabharata.
The oldest bows known come from the
Holmegård Fen, or swamp in
Denmark. In the 1940s, two bows were found there. They are made of
elm and have flat arms and a D-shaped midsection. The center section is biconvex. The complete bow is 1.50 m (5
ft) long. Bows of Holmegård type were in use until the
Bronze Age; the convexity of the midsection has decreased with time.
Mesolithic pointed shafts have been found in
Italy,
England,
Germany,
Denmark and
Sweden. They were often rather long (up to 120 cm [4 ft]) and made of
hazel,
wayfaring tree, and other woody shoots. 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.
The "Levantine" style of rock art, once dated to the Paleolithic but now thought to be early
Neolithic, includes pictures of archers, such as the Cova dels Cavalls
(External Link
) in La Valltorta, declared a World Heritage site in 1924. One petroglyph of the Levantine style has been dated to approximately 5000 BC.
Self bows and arrows have been present in
Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins, with "The Nine Bows" being a term for the various neighbours and enemies of Egypt
(External Link). Egyptian composite bows are known from the ancient tombs, some dating from the early
New Kingdom, indicating possible introduction by the
Hyksos. Some bows from
Tutankhamun's tomb were composite bows, others self bows.
Most Neolithic European bows are made of
yew.
Ötzi the Iceman, an Italian cave-man found in the Ötztaler
Alps of
Italy carried an unfinished yew
longbow, with a bowstring of
nettle or
flax fibre.
In the
Levant, artifacts which may be arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the
Natufian culture onwards. The
Khiamian and
Pre-Pottery Neolithic A shouldered Khiam-points may well be arrowheads.
Native Americans used
longbows (especially on the east coast) and
flatbows (especially on the west coast), 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.
The bow became the main weapon of war of the
Assyrians and
Egyptians, whose warriors shot it on the ground and from
chariots to great effect. War chariots fell entirely out of fashion by approximately the beginning of the
Common Era, but development of
horse archers by the people of the
Eurasian Steppe, brought highly mobile archers back to the fore. Using composite bows,
steppe peoples such as the
Scythians, Huns,
Turks, and
Mongols became a dominant force.
In the
Middle Ages, European powers made effective use of the longbow as a major weapon of war. 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 for effective use in war. A longbow which can pierce later medieval armour also requires a very strong man to draw it. In Medieval
England and
Wales, the longbow became a popular weapon, and archery was 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 people would practice.
The development of
gunpowder,
muskets, and the growing size of armies (and their consequent demand for less-trained levies) slowly led to the replacement of bows as weapons of war, supplanted by firearms, which were simpler for conscripts to learn and use, causing bows to be relegated to
sport and hobby use.
Types of Bows
Longbow
English longbows were ideally made from yew, but good-quality yew has always been scarce and expensive; white woods such as
elm,
ash, hazel and brazil-wood were used according to availability. Yew sapwood is elastic in tension, yew heartwood is elastic in compression. This combination makes a hard hitting durable bow. Modern yew bows are often backed with a thin layer of rawhide to keep from splintering or breaking on the back, since yew is so expensive. Although the whitewoods will make an English longbow if specially treated, they're better suited to making flatbows. Other dense woods from other parts of the world will also make good longbows.
A well-made bow could shoot well in excess of 300 yards (275 meters) using light arrows. A longbow archer could shoot up to 10 arrows per minute; a crossbowman or arbalestier of the
Hundred Years War could only shoot up to three. A famous example is the
English longbow, carried by English (and Welsh) soldiers to great effect in the Hundred Years' War. At this time it was called the "war bow". At close range the longbow was capable of penetrating all but the very best plate armor of the time. Groups of archers would loose volleys on a high, arching trajectory at enemy formations. The arrows used were heavy, up to 4
ounces (112
grams) or more, with narrow heavy
bodkin pointed heads and thick arrows often made of ash. This style of bow was used up until the time of the
English Civil War but was almost completely replaced by the musket, mostly because of the years of training involved with archery.
Construction of a longbow begins with a stave of yew or another suitable wood. (Most modern bowyers will remove some of the
sapwood growth rings from the back of the bow, so that the bow has some
sapwood and mostly
heartwood. This wasn't done in the Mary Rose bows, some of which still show
cambium on the backs. In white woods such as elm or ash there's no important difference between the sapwood and heartwood, and no reason to remove outer growth rings.) The stave is cut to approximate shape, usually about as long as the intended archer is tall, then "tillered", wood removed so that the bow tapers in thickness/strength to the tips. At first a skilled bowyer can quickly remove large amounts of obviously-redundant wood. Nocks are cut and the stave is braced low and rasped or planed more to ensure that the bow bends evenly. Eventually, with great care, removing very small amounts of wood between checks, the bow is tillered so that it bends perfectly to full brace and then full draw, allowing the bow a few extra pounds to make up for poundage lost when the bow is broken in.
Yew sapwood is elastic in tension, yew heartwood is elastic in compression. This combination makes a hard hitting durable bow. Modern yew bows are often backed with a thin layer of rawhide to keep from splintering or breaking on the back, since yew is so expensive. Although the whitewoods will make an English longbow if specially treated, they're better suited to making flatbows. More information on this topic is available on the
internet and in some books. The Traditional Bowyers' Bibles are a good place to start, as is Paul Comstocks' "The Bent Stick".
Yumi
A
yumi is a Japanese longbow used in the practice of
kyūdō. Traditionally made from a laminate 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 shape was designed for use on horseback, allowing the bow to be more easily moved from one side of the horse to the other.
Unlike most archery disciplines, the
yumi isn't drawn with fingers alone, but with a ridge on the thumb of the leather glove or
yugake, worn on the back hand. This meant the draw weight wasn't limited to the finger strength of the shooter. Instead, a more relaxed and holistic technique was developed and the
yumi was drawn not just with the arm, but with
kyūdōka, the whole breadth and being of the archer. The arrow was often nocked to the "wrong" or far side of the bow to allow quicker setting of the arrow, and the string was released not by relaxing the hand, but by altering the posture of the back hand wrist, allowing the string to slip over the ridge of the glove; the thumb becomes part of a rigid frame with the wrist piece, making finger strength unimportant in the process of shooting.
Flatbow
The limbs of a
flatbow have a rectangular or rhombic cross-section, rather than curved or "crowned" as with a longbow. The typical modern flatbow is made from a whitewood such as ash,
hickory, hazel, or
oak, with limbs about 2 inches (5
cm) wide, tapering in the last outer third of the limbs to ½-inch (1 cm) nocks. It is often made about 66 inches (1.67
m) long and tillered elliptically, with good potential for high draw weights. This is a good form of bow because it allows anyone to make an excellent bow with little expense; many suitable whitewoods are cheap and plentiful, whereas yew and osage are expensive and the supply of good material is limited.
Short bow
A
shortbow is any shorter version of the longbow, flatbow, or composite design. By definition it doesn't allow the archer to draw the string to the face or body, so accuracy is more difficult to attain. The shorter draw stores less energy and hence has a lesser velocity and maximum range; it also requires less energy output from the archer. It is quicker to shoot, more manoeuvrable, easier to conceal, and requires less work and material. Correspondingly short arrows may be used, similarly easier to make, lighter, and less unwieldy than those for a longer bow.
Such bows may still be deadly weapons, effective at penetrating body cavities of large animals including humans. Short bows were used for hunting by, among others, many tribes of the North American West Coast and Plains (often with a flat or lenticular cross-section) and by South African
Bushmen (often with a rounded cross-section similar to the classic longbow). Early Eurasian composite bows are short bows, as depicted in ancient Greek art and found in central Asia. They are still in use in Africa for hunting, for self-defence, and in inter-ethnic clashes.
Composite bow
laminated from different materials to produce a bow. The Asiatic traditional composite bows use
horn on the belly and sinew on the back, often with a wooden core to provide a gluing surface. The bows are backed with sinew because it's very elastic. Sinew will also shrink and pull a bow into
reflex. The horn on the belly is very strong in
compression and can handle a high draw weight without taking a set. These Asiatic bows were often highly recurved and reflexed, giving a short bow the ability to store lots of energy and shoot nearly as fast as a much longer bow.
Modern, non traditional "composite" bows use
laminated wood,
plastic, and fiberglass.
Crossbow
The
crossbow is a small bow attached to a wooden support and drawn towards a nut or pin. When a trigger is pressed, the pin or nut releases the bow string, shooting the bolt. The crossbow requires little effort to shoot, but early on took great strength to load, though this was solved by adding a windlass or 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 shooter to use his legs, instead of his arms, to pull back the string. This method wasn't long-lived in European land warfare, 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 BC . Some crossbows are known as a bowgun. They launch stones or lead. This Chinese invention dates back to at least 300 BC.
Arbalest
An
arbalest is a 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.
Ballista
A
ballista is a torsion
spring crossbow, traditionally using
sinew for the springs. The earliest form of the ballista (and of the European crossbow) is thought to have been the
gastraphetes or belly-bow, developed for
Dionysius I of Syracuse, in Sicily circa 400 BC. It was used as a
siege weapon. It has a high degree of efficiency because of the low inertia of the
torsion springs, but the sinew will lose tension under humid conditions. It was usually operated by one (the "Scorpion" ballista) to three men. It shoots large arrows or stones. Nowadays,
ballista-bows have been constructed.
Modern bow types
Recurve bow
Some bows are recurved, with the ends bending away from the archer when the bow is unstrung. A "
recurve bow" in modern archery usually describes a specific type of modern bow, usually made mainly of fibreglass.
Compound bow
A
compound bow is a modern bow that has
pulleys,
cams, or
wheels at the end of each limb through which the bow string passes. As the bow is drawn, the pulleys or cams turn, which in turn changes the leverage of the bows' limbs. They are normally made to give a high resistance in the middle of the draw, and significant "let-off" at the end; this enables the bow to store a lot of energy while still being easy to hold and aim at full draw. They are little affected by changes in temperature or humidity and will give high speed at a lower draw weight compared to the simple bow. Unlike traditional bows, compound bows are always made of modern materials such as aluminium and carbon fiber. They were first developed and patented by
Holless Wilbur Allen in the
United States in the 1960s and have become increasingly popular.
With a traditional bow, the force required to draw the bow increases as the bow is drawn. This limits the total amount of energy and means that when the archer is at full draw and aiming, they've to hold the maximum draw weight of the bow.
Related weapons
- Whip bow: an arrow or dart 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. In the United Kingdom this is known, for an unknown reason, as a 'French Arrow'.
- Atlatl: Spearthrower or woomera. Although the darts are often fletched, there's no bow or significant amount of stored energy before release. The atlatl relies instead on leverage.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bows And Arrows'.
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