What was in the belly?

[willie]

In a nearby thread about compression wood, there is a side discussion about bone antler etc. I came across this illustration of a bow found in Texas and described as prehistoric. Jim Hamm writes a bit about it in TBB3,  p. 115. He does not speculate about the purpose of the belly grove much, but one cannot help having some ideas about it's purpose.

Ideas are welcome in this thread, even wild speculative ideas.

[Pat B]

If it was from a small diameter stick the concave might be where the pith was or maybe it's just how the builder made it. We've had a few bows here on PA with concave bellies. I'm just guessing but maybe it helps with the compression stresses.

[Aaron H]

I would think that it would concentrate the compression stresses into those ridges and cause fretting.

[DC]

You wanted wild a speculative . How about this is another"archaeologists got it wrong" and this is a radical RD where the back is actually the belly and the groove is for sinew. Huh, huh wild enough??   

[willie]

For those that have not bought the TBB series yet 

[loefflerchuck]

 Maybe this was for a antler or some other material inlay. There is one old northern plains bow with antler inlay in the belly about this size. The antler only makes up 1/3 the width of the belly set in a groove like this

[PatM]

It's for a decorative strip of air.  Seriously,  people like to impart  futuristic engineering knowledge on old things to make people back in the day seem smarter and bows are no exception.

[DC]

Or the old standard answer, "it was for ceremonial purposes"

[willie]

It's for a decorative strip of air.  Seriously,  people like to impart  futuristic engineering knowledge on old things to make people back in the day seem smarter and bows are no exception.

Weren't  people back in the day just as smart as we are now?..... and bit more experienced?

[PatM]

It's for a decorative strip of air.  Seriously,  people like to impart  futuristic engineering knowledge on old things to make people back in the day seem smarter and bows are no exception.

Weren't  people back in the day just as smart as we are now?..... and bit more experienced?

 Yes and no. We have the same brains but we "stand on the shoulders of giants". Our learning is built upon the foundation of previous knowledge.

  There was a period back in the day when people were just as smart and hadn't even invented the bow yet.

 Plus each bow is built by an individual who could have any sort of ability to learn and execute that knowledge. Just like on here.

[bradsmith2010]

it could have been a decorative inlay of some sort,,or as stated maybe the pith was there and the bow maker took it out to make it look nicer,, just speculating,,

[upstatenybowyer]

I remember this section of TBB. Hamm does say he's almost certain it's not from a pith. If it's not, only one of 2 possible explanations makes sense to me... either something was once in there that now is not, or someone was just experimenting with the design and probably found out it wasn't so great (or else we'd have many more examples). Just my thoughts.

[BowEd]

Actually I think like Aaron said the compressive forces were centered there on the antler but the edges I think would be ok and would not get harmed any provided it was glued in properly.Maybe to counter it a ridge of sinew was on the back to balance forces.
Horn is crowned all the time on asiatic or turkish hornbows to be more efficient but it covers most all of the limb though but still does'nt have to to get the horns compressive benefits on the belly.I really think it was an idea for a bow using materials that were available to him,but like what upstate said maybe it failed but...lol.if it did why is'nt it broke.

[upstatenybowyer]

"if it did why is'nt it broke." -Ed

^Good point 

[BowEd]

Not being critical upstate just an observation is all.