Info Needed PreContact Southwestern Types of Bow Wood

[Triple T]

I belong to a group called SALT (Study of Ancient Lifeways & Technology).  I have built only 4 bows, all out of Osage, all primitive. I flintknapp and I am also an Atlatlist.  With that in mind, my specialty during our public teaching events will be the "Hunting Tools/Weapons". I am interested in finding out if anyone on the Forum has any information or can direct me to any website or book that will help me find out what type of wood the Ancients in the Southwest used for their bows.  Our group's focus is Pre-Eurpoean contact and back.  I have found quite a bit of information on atlatls (favorite wood was oak for Anasazi) and darts were mostly compound with phramites for the shafts and mountain mahogany for the foreshafts.  When the Bow as introduced, arrows seemed to be made the same way in the Northern Arizona region.  Arrowweed was the preferred wood for arrows along the Colorado and Salt River drainages.  Unfortunately, I can not find a lot information on the bows. I am hoping someone can help me...

[loefflerchuck]

  Oak was also used by the Anasazi for bows. In Utah juniper fragments have also been found with evidence of a sinew backing. There is also a Anasazi bow in the" Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows and Quivers volume 2 with a sinew cable back. Look to the early historical bows of tribes like the Pueblo and Hopi. Who have been in that area for quite some time.
  One of the greatest finds of my life was a small wooden foreshaft. What was great is that I found it in a basketmaker 2 sight. The beginning of the bow in NA

[Tsalagi]

Mountain Mahogany, Juniper, Gambel's Oak.

[Triple T]

Thank you for the information that you supplied.  I appreciate the information and it will definitely help me.  Thank you for the direction on looking and finding images of a bow and a set of arrows...

Tsalagi:  May I ask you where I might be able to locate the information that you supplied?  Not only do I need to know the types of wood used, I need to also be able to back up my information with sources.

Thanks again...any help or suggestions where to locate the information is greatly appreciated....

[snedeker]

There's an article in an early 60s addition of American Antiquity about bows found in Gila Cave NM from around 1000 BC.  They were black oak, mountain mahogany, sycamore, and a harder pine.

Dave

[JackCrafty]

In my humble opinion, the best way to know what the pre-contact peoples used for bows is to research the types of plants that were native to that area prior to European contact and the subsequent changing of the landscape due to ranching and farming.

In pre-contact times, periodic burning of the land was a common practice among the NA's (for various reasons) in addition to the naturally occurring wildfires.  Ashe juniper, for example, is one plant that does not grow well under these conditions and would, therefore, be much less available that it is today (especially in Texas).  If it was widely available, I believe that most of the bows in the southwest (if not all) would be made from it...much like osage was used by the vast majority of the NA bow makers in osage's natural range.

Dams built by pre-contact beaver populations also affected the landscape and influenced the types of plants available (e.g., phragmites reed).

Hardwoods that can survive periodic burns, use as fuel for campfires, and grazing by buffalo and deer herds would be the wood available for bows.  Of those woods, the ones that can be coppiced would be of greatest value, since they can be harvested like a crop and will survive the relentless attacks by beavers and porcupines.

From Wikipedia:

Prior to European settlement, the American Southwest forest was savanna with scattered stands of trees, resulting in less than 25-30% ponderosa crown cover. The frequent surface fires occurred at intervals of perhaps every 2–12 years, with average burns covering 3,000 acres (12 km2).---http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ecology

A savanna, or savannah, is a grassland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close.

Savannas are subject to regular wildfires and the ecosystem appears to be the result of human use of fire. For example, Native Americans created the Pre-Columbian savannas of North America by periodically burning where fire-resistant plants were the dominant species.[6]

6. "Use of Fire by Native Americans". The Southern Forest Resource Assessment Summary Report. Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service. http://www.srs.fs.fed.us/sustain/report/fire/fire-06.htm. Retrieved 2008-07-21.

So, the big question is, "For cripes sake, what are the trees used, already??!!".  The short answer is I don't know.  Obviously ponderosa pine does well.  Oak survives well also.  Mesquite and juniper does not.

Hope that helps.

[loefflerchuck]

 1,000 bc is 1,300 years before bow and arrow technology was said to enter the new world!

[Tsalagi]

Triple T, I was told by some older Navajos about Juniper being used. The other two, I'll have to see if I can remember the book. It's in our local library Arizona regional section.

I can tell you this: In Northern Arizona (that's Hopi and Navajo territory and was Sinagua, Coconino, and Anasazi before that), all you're going to find here in quantity is Ponderosa pine (at elevation), Juniper, Pinyon, Sycamore, Gambel's Oak (at elevation), and some Mountain Mahogany. The Pinyon nut was a staple here in Native diets, both past and present, so we know those trees existed in great quantity. You can't go many places here without seeing ancient pottery shards laying on the ground. The Juniper was also very important and stilll is. It's used as incense (the tips of the needles.) I've seen Alligator Junipers here with a trunk girth of 3 to 4 feet, and one larger than that. Do some reading and those trees are several hundred years old. So, we know those trees existed.

In this region, around Flagstaff, bows had a great defensive purpose, as well as hunting. If you go to places like Walnut Canyon, you'll note the place was built almost fortlike. There was a huge drought here that caused a lot of migration and probably a lot of small scale wars over resources. Out where I collect pinyon sap, there are pit houses built by a canyon where water once flowed. Near there is a lone volcanic plug about 100 feet high. It was stone walls built there. Most likely, a sentry post for the canyon-side village. The primary workable wood now, as then, is Juniper for this region.

The big villages here were at Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and out in Winslow, Homolovi. They all have websites. I suggest a visit to them all, except Homolovi is closed til who knows when. You'll never forget a visit to Walnut Canyon. I've been there several times, and I live only a few miles from it. And I notice something new every time.

[Triple T]

Tsalagi:
Thank you for the reply and knowledge!  The next time I am in the Flagstaff area I plan on harvesting some oak and juniper for bows and atlatls.  Just curious, since you are interested in makiing bows, are you interested in other ancient primitive skills?  We have a few members in the Flastaff area

[Tsalagi]

Triple T, yes, I am very interested. I'd be interested in meeting them.

[snedeker]

Wooops.  the Gila cave materials were AD 1000.

[okiecountryboy]

Triple t
Send me more info on SALT. I just replied to the thread i started in QNA on az PA members. I am really into survivalism and anything primitive. PM me on any info you have on SALT.

I wonder what palo verde or mesquite would do for a bow? I've seen some impressive limbs that are naturally R/D.
Thanks
Ron in Mesa, Az

[Tsalagi]

Some more woods used were Cottonwood, Willow, and New Mexico Locust. The books you want to look for are:

Wild Plants of the Pueblo Province

Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners

Both books are by William W. Dunmire and Gail D. Tierney and published by Museum of New Mexico Press.  These books mention Juniper and Gambel's Oak as bow woods, too.