Archaeology drawing, am I reading it correctly

[stuckinthemud]

Ok, so I see this as a yew branch with a lttle reflex, the sapwood heavily reduced in thickness but chased to a whole ring  with the belly heavily trapped
Yes, a crossbow, from 1040ad France, possibly the oldest known . It's 110cm ttt. View is side on, I haven't got a front view. What do you think, am I far off?

[Hamish]

The orientation of the nocks and the belly cross section suggests you are correct.

[PatM]

I think you're guessing on the reduced sapwood to one ring.  The cross section at the center seems more like it's shaped to fit a tiller notch.  I doubt the whole  limb s that shape.   

[bownarra]

It's not a very good drawing Who knows without seeing it.

[stuckinthemud]

I think you're guessing on the reduced sapwood to one ring.  The cross section at the center seems more like it's shaped to fit a tiller notch.  I doubt the whole  limb s that shape.   

ooh, that made a penny drop into place, the marks at the centre are compression damage where the tiller has pressed into the belly.  Thanks Pat. Yes, I am guessing about the reduced sapwood, but looking at how little of the crown is left at the tips it doesnt seem entirely unreasonable.

[stuckinthemud]

Got a couple more details, its elm, not yew, 4cm wide and 3cm thick at centre.  The elm is complicating things for me; since Dutch Elm Disease wiped out most of the trees in my region, I can't get hold of any from my usual suppliers.  Any of the UK builders able to point me in the direction of a decent supplier??

[Aaron H]

It looks to fit into a saddle of sorts in the center, with a faceted somewhat round cross section in the center of the limbs that taper to a triangular tip. I would guess that it came from a smaller branch or sapling given the crown throughout, pretty knotty stuff at that.