High-performance wooden bows are currently made following the Holmegaard design. Several bows from Holmegaard, Denmark, date 8,000 years ago. The oldest extant bows in one piece are the elm Holmegaard bows from Denmark, which were dated to 9,000 BCE. Īt 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. 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. 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. After the end of the last glacial period, use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited region, except for Australasia and most of Oceania. Remains of these creatures were found in the same sediment as the bone points.' Įlsewhere in Eurasia, the bow and arrow seems to reappear around the Upper Paleolithic. 'Bow-and-arrow hunting at the Sri Lankan site likely focused on monkeys and smaller animals, such as squirrels, Langley says. They have been dated to 48,000 years ago. The earliest probable arrowheads found outside of Africa were discovered in 2020 in Fa Hien Cave, Sri Lanka. The oldest known evidence of the bow and arrow comes from South African sites such as Sibudu Cave, where likely arrowheads have been found, dating from approximately 72,000–60,000 years ago. Main article: History of archery Scythians shooting with bows, Panticapeum (modern Kertch), 4th century BCE Returning the bowstring to its ready-to-use position is called stringing the bow. Many bow designs also let it straighten out more completely, reducing the space needed to store the bow. This removes all residual tension on the bow and can help prevent it from losing strength or elasticity over time. When not in use, bows are generally kept unstrung, meaning one or both ends of the bowstring are detached from the bow. Ī container or bag for additional arrows for quick reloading is called a quiver. Then 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. Typically while maintaining the draw, the archer aims the shot intuitively or by sighting along the arrow. This flexes the two limbs of the bow rearwards, which perform the function of a pair of cantilever springs to store elastic energy. 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).

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. 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. Basic design and use Drawing a bow, from a 1908 archery manualĪ bow consists of a semi- rigid but elastic arc with a high-tensile bowstring joining the ends of the two limbs of the bow. Someone who makes bows is known as a bowyer, someone who makes arrows is a fletcher, and someone who manufactures metal arrowheads is an arrowsmith. A person who shoots arrows with a bow is called a bowman or an archer. Today, bows and arrows are mostly used for hunting and sports.Īrchery is the art, practice, or skill of using bows to shoot arrows. They were important weapons of war from ancient history until the early modern period, where they were rendered increasingly obsolete by the development of the more powerful and accurate firearms. Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was common to many prehistoric cultures. The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). For the album by The Walkmen, see Bows + Arrows.

Horizontal bow quiver