Bow (weapon)

A bow (rhymes with "so"and "oh") is a weapon that shoots arrows powered by the elasticity of the bow and/or the string. It is useful for hunting and war. The technique of using a bow is called archery.

A large number of different bow designs have been used in different cultures and time periods. Common designs are; solid wood (the English longbow), laminated wood (Japanese and Sami bows) and bone-wood-hide composite (Middle East, India, Mongols). In modern times, the plastic composite and compound bows dominate for sport and hunting practices.

Although the bow is nowadays thought of primarily as a weapon, it is not clear whether this was the original use of the device. Instead it may have started life as a musical instrument and only later used to shoot arrows. The bow is still used as a musical instrument in some cultures today. It is usually referred to as a musical bow when used in this way, both to distinguish it from the weapon, and from the kind of bow used to play string instruments. The berimbau is a Brazillian instruement that probably developed from the bow.

Modern-day use of bows for hunting is a matter of controversy in some areas but is common and accepted in others. Bow hunting is also still practiced in traditional cultures worldwide.

The "artillery" form of a bow is a ballista.

History

The bow seems to have been invented in the late Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic. The oldest indication for its use in Europe come from Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and date from the late Palaeolithic Hamburgian culture (9.000-8.000 BC). The arrows were made of pine-wood and consisted of a main-shaft and a 15-20 cm long fore-shaft with a flint-point.

The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegaard-swamp in Denmark. In the 1940s, two bows were found. They are made of elm-wood and have flat arms and a D-shaped midsection. The middle part is biconvex. The complete bow is 1.50 m long. Bows of Holmegaard-type were in use till the Bronze Age, the convexity of the midsection decreases through time.

Mesolithic arrows have been found in England, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. They were often rather long (up to 120 cm) and made of hazel (Corylus avellana), wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana) and chokecherry (Cornus alba). Some still have flint arrow-heads preserved, others have blunt wooden ends for hunting birds and small game. The ends show traces of fletching, which was done with birch-tar.

Most Neolithic bows are made of yew.

In the Levant, arrow-shaft straighteners are known from the Natufian culture, ca. 12.800-10.300 BP) onwards. The Khiamian and PPN A shouldered Khiam-points are most certainly arrowheads.