I seek to tap the combined brain power of the PA community.
I am searching for information on North American desert, cable backed bows. I have found only three references that discuss these bows and I am hoping to learn more about their varieties. If you know of any additional sources, museums, photo collections or anything that might be useful please help me dig up some information about the subject.
Sources:Allely and Hamm. 2002. Encyclopedia of Native American Bows, Arrows and Quivers Vol. 2 pg 220 depicts an Anasazi cable backed bow from the Fenn Collection in Santa Fe. The bow is 44" long and roughly 1" in Dia. It has sinew wraps and a single sinew cord run across the back. Sinew nocks were all that kept the bow string in place. Wood type is not mentioned.
Laubin and Laubin. 1980. American Indian Archery. page 28.
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the White Mountain, Warm Spring, and Hauchuca Apaches used corded sinew on their bow backs, like the Eskimos and some other peoples of the North. Apaches, being Athabasken, may have retained this as a tradition from their sojourn long ago in Alaska and the Northwest."
Kluckhohn. 1971. Navaho Material Culture. page 17. Kluckhohn calls these bows trussed bows. but the description makes it obvious what he is discussing.
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The trussed bow was made in the same manner as the self bow, except that additional notches were cut at each end. Two, three, or four strings were twisted as were bowstrings. {He describes 2,3, & 4 ply cable} These were placed on the back of the bow and run over the ends in a the notches, down the front a short distance, and fixed there in two separate places at each end, by wrapping sinew around the bow. Additional wraps were made at the grip and midway between the grip and each end; there were seven ties in all. The trussed bow was said to have more elasticity than the sinew backed bow."
Beyond that I have little documentation to work with. If it were not for Steve Allely I would not even have an image. Many thanks Steve!
So I gather that the cable was typically a single cable used in conjunction with sinew wraps. Some bows had filed nocks while others had sinew nocks. Navaho, Apache and the ancient Anasazi made these bows. Any other tribes? Most of the bows have a round cross section with a flatter belly.
I figure some of you fellas out west may know more than I do, and may even have some sources that would help figure out what else is out there.
Please contribute if you can. Post pics if you have them. I would love to see a run on replicas for this type of bow.
Swamp Monkey is curious!
