Question on Archeologicaly Found Bows

[Josh Wilson]

"...from the period of the longbow's greatness (c.1250 - 1500 AD) not one bowstave 1, of the tens of thousands known to have been produced, has survived. Indeed, until the discovery of the Mary Rose, we had no medieval bows at all. It is therefore quite surprising to consider that from the first millennium somewhere in the region of 40 - 50 bowstaves have survived with traces of many others having been found. As with most weapons finds, most of these come from pagan grave finds..."

http://www.regia.org/SaxonArchery.htm

Does anyone know anything about the 40-50 bows found in bogs and burials in pre-conquest England? What weight of pull they might have had?

What was the poundage of the Iceman's bow?

Thanks!

[Matt_H]

Otzi the icemans yew bow was never finished, it was just roughed out.

as for the others just google around a bit, there's stuff on mollegabet (9200 years ago) and meare heath out there amongst others. I believe the oldest found recently in southern Europe is from La Draga in spain (5400-5200 BC). Pieces of bow from Stellmoor in Germany (?) were dated to 11,500 years ago.

However in Africa there are arrow heads dating from 60,000 years ago.

[sharpend60]

60,000 years?

I new archery has been cool for a long time but my god....

[Mike_H]

Otzi the icemans yew bow was never finished, it was just roughed out.

as for the others just google around a bit, there's stuff on mollegabet (9200 years ago) and meare heath out there amongst others. I believe the oldest found recently in southern Europe is from La Draga in spain (5400-5200 BC). Pieces of bow from Stellmoor in Germany (?) were dated to 11,500 years ago.

However in Africa there are arrow heads dating from 60,000 years ago.

Size does not support the use of the bow alone.  North American points were small by today's standards but were pre bow and arrow. Without direct evidence such as bow or arrow fragments or whole items it cannot be confirmed.

[Parnell]

I did a replica of the Ashcott bow depicted in TBB2.  Which I believe was a bog bow, can't remember the time frame.

I made it from hickory, so not authentic in terms of wood, but the dimensions were the same and it pulled just over 50# at 27".
I figure "hunting bows" like this must have had shorter average draw lengths of say 24".  People were smaller, supposedly.

It is still functioning, 3 years later.

[Pat B]

If I'm not mistaken, bows evolved simultaneously around the world from 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. Lithics that preceded that were probably atlatl or spear points or knife blades.

[bhenders]

Hmm, that old Pat?  I thought it was more around 9 to 10 k ago for bow development.

[Pat B]

bhenders, whats a few Ks amongst friends!  I think 12k is what I heard but don't know for sure.

[Josh Wilson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11086110

[Starfire]

Neat, but unless a 60,000 year old bow is found it's really hard to say whether they were arrows or spears.

[Mike_H]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11086110

"The scientists unearthed 64,000 year-old "stone points", which they say were probably arrow heads. "

[DavidV]

...Don't want to steal the thread but I have a question...

I've always been fascinated by how my ancestors may have lived  and hunted. I have Italian and German heritage and I've wondered what style of bows both areas used in the stone age through to the middle ages. Can't find much on the internet. Anyway I just wanted to make a similar style bow with similar wood one day.

[Matt_H]

Otzi the icemans yew bow was never finished, it was just roughed out.

as for the others just google around a bit, there's stuff on mollegabet (9200 years ago) and meare heath out there amongst others. I believe the oldest found recently in southern Europe is from La Draga in spain (5400-5200 BC). Pieces of bow from Stellmoor in Germany (?) were dated to 11,500 years ago.

However in Africa there are arrow heads dating from 60,000 years ago.

Size does not support the use of the bow alone.  North American points were small by today's standards but were pre bow and arrow. Without direct evidence such as bow or arrow fragments or whole items it cannot be confirmed.

Yes, you're right of course...I should have put "presumed or probable arrow heads"