Archers have played a major role in combat and hunting for thousands of years. Primitive bows were made of a single piece of wood, but composite recurve bows were being manufactured from Greece to China as far back as the second millennium BC.
Recurve bows, those with the ends facing the ‘wrong way’ when unstrung, are more powerful inch for inch in length than single piece wooden bows, which made them more suitable to confined conditions such as on horseback, in a chariot or in wooded areas.
Bits of composite recurve bows, usually made from horn, have been discovered in many parts of the world. Early arrows were made from naturally straight twigs or pine needles with napped flint tips affixed. Wooden bows did not preserve so well and exemplars are rare.
It appears that archery was being developed in the early Mesolithic or late Paleolithic Age. Archery was especially well developed in some Islamic countries and in Asia, where Zen Buddhist monks used archery as an element of their meditation techniques.
In the early days of archery, there were miscellaneous feelings about archers. In those days, people battled hand to hand with swords and spears and some of the traditionalists thought that archers were cowards because they attacked from a distance out of direct danger. This point is made quite clear in ‘The Iliad’, Homer’s account to the siege of Troy.
There are or were many types of bows made to suit different fighting or hunting conditions. Some varieties of bow are the; long bow, short bow, recurve bow, composite recurve bow, reflex bow, decurve bow, deflex bow and crossbow among others.
The longbow was extremely hard to learn to use and the archer needed massive upper-body strength. The bow was often six feet long with a weighty three foot long arrow. The draw weight for maximum power was around a hundred pounds and the function of the bow on a battlefield was as long-range artillery.
The heavy arrows and fierce armour-piercing arrow head would rain down on the enemy from a hundred yards or more and penetrate shields and armour as if were not being worn. Shot horizontally, the three-foot arrow could pass through several people.
In fact, the longbow was so essential to the triumph of Great Britain that a law was passed making it obligatory for men over a certain age to practice with their longbows every Sunday on the village green in order to build up the necessary skills and upper-body strength in case war came.
The arrows are made to suit the different kinds of bows and the different bows and their specific arrows are suited to different kinds of hunting – whether you are hunting men or animals.
There are essentially two styles of shooting: instinctive shooting, which is very difficult as the archer does not take his eyes off the target, but does not sight down the arrow; and sight shooting where the archer makes use of sights to align the arrow with its target. Most people find sight shooting easier.
Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on several subjects, but is presently involved with archery recurve bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.