The archery bow is one of man's oldest weapons. It projects it's ammunition utilizing the elasticity tension created by drawing the bowstring back and releasing. Early arrows were often fired from an atlatl, a notched stick allowing the arrow to launched with greater force. The bow was created to increase power, distance and accuracy. Since it's creating, the archery bow has been used in warfare, survival, hunting and competition sports.
Early Bows
The earliest bows that have been found to date are from northern Germany dating back between 9000 and 8000 B.C. These first bows were constructed from elm and had straight arms and a D-shaped mid section and were 5 feet in length. Bows were found in Denmark dating from 8000 to 6000 B.C. that were made from single pieces of elm and yew that are tillered, having an even amount of bend in both top and bottom limbs. On the border of Italy and Austria, a preserved man was found dating from 3300 B.C. carrying an unfinished yew bow. These ancient bows were made from a single piece of material.
Composite Bows
The composite bow is a bow that is constructed of various different materials in order to increase bow strength. The earliest form of composite bows are found dating back to 2800 B.C. The Egyptians made composite bows from wood tipped with animal horn and held together with glue and animal sinew.
Compound Bows
The compound bow was created by Holless Wilbur Allen in 1966. He obtained an U.S. patent in 1969. Compound bows have much stiffer limbs than recurve or longbows. They utilize a pulley system to make it possible to draw these stiffer limbs. The compound bow quickly saw an increase in popularity and is now the favored bow for hunters in the U.S.
Decline of the Bow in Warfare
With the advent of the musket in the mid 1500s, the bow's days as a weapon of warfare became numbered. In 1588, the English fleet, with 10,000 soldiers armed with muskets defeated the Spanish armada proving bows to be an inferior weapon. By the 1600s all advanced armies were outfitted with muskets instead of bows.
Ammunition
The first stone arrowheads found in Africa date as early as 50,000 B.C. though with no evidence for bows existing before 9000 B.C., it is likely that these were launched from atlatls or spear launchers. By 3300 B.C., arrowheads were made out of flint. Arrowhead materials followed the metal processing very closely. Polymer production reached a stage where the standard feather fletching could be substituted with plastic vanes.
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