Composite bow
A composite bow is a traditional
Archaeological finds and art indicate composite bows have existed since the second millennium BC, but their history is not well recorded, being developed by cultures without a written tradition. They originated among Asiatic
The details of manufacture varied between the various cultures that used them. Initially, the tips of the limbs were made to bend when the bow was drawn. Later, the tips were stiffened with bone or antler laths; post-classical bows usually have stiff tips, known as siyahs, which are made as an integral part of the wooden core of the bow.
Like other bows, they lost importance with the introduction and increasing accuracy of guns. In some areas, composite bows were still used and were further developed for leisure purposes. Early modern Turkish bows were specialized for flight archery (shooting for distance). Composite bows are still made and used in Korea and in China, and the tradition has been revived elsewhere. Modern replicas are available, often made with fiberglass bellies and backs with a natural or man-made core.
Construction and materials
The wooden core gives the bow its shape and dimensional stability. It is often made of multiple pieces, joined with animal glue in V-splices, so the wood must accept glue well. Pieced construction allows the sharp bends that many designs require, and the use of woods with different mechanical properties for the bending and nonbending sections.
The wood of the bending part of the limb ("dustar") must endure intense shearing stress, and denser woods such as hard maples are normally used in Turkish bows.
A thin layer of
The
Stiffening laths, if used, are attached. Both horn and laths may be bound and glued with further lengths of sinew. After months of drying, the bow is ready for use. Further finishing may include thin leather or waterproof bark, to protect the bow from moisture, and recent Turkish bows were often highly decorated with colourful paints and gold leaf.
Advantages and disadvantages of composite construction
Advantages
The main advantage of composite bows over self bows (made from a single piece of wood) is their combination of smaller size with high power. They are therefore more convenient than self bows when the archer is mobile, as from horseback, or from a chariot. Almost all composite bows are also recurve bows as the shape curves away from the archer; this design gives higher draw-weight in the early stages of the archer's draw, storing somewhat more total energy for a given final draw-weight. It would be possible to make a wooden bow that has the same shape, length, and draw-weight as a traditional composite bow, but it could not store the energy, and would break before full draw.[2]
For most practical non-mounted archery purposes, composite construction offers no advantage; "the initial velocity is about the same for all types of bow... within certain limits, the design parameters... appear to be less important than is often claimed." However, they are superior for horsemen and in the specialized art of flight archery: "A combination of many technical factors made the composite flight bow better for flight shooting."[4] The higher arrow velocity is only for well-designed composite bows of high draw-weight. At the weights more usual for modern amateurs, the greater density of horn and sinew compared with wood usually cancels any advantage.[1]
Disadvantages
Constructing composite bows requires much more time and a greater variety of materials than self bows, and the animal glue used can lose strength in humid conditions; the 6th-century Byzantine military manual, the Strategikon, advised the cavalry of the Byzantine army, many of whom were armed with composite bows, to keep their bows in leather cases to keep them dry. Karpowicz suggests that crafting a composite bow may take a week's work, excluding drying time (months) and gathering materials, while a self bow can be made in a day and dried in a week.[1] Peoples living in humid or rainy regions historically have favoured self bows, while those living in temperate, dry, or arid regions have favoured composite bows.
The civilizations of India used both self bows and composite bows. The Mughals were especially known for their composite bows due to their Turko-Mongol roots. Waterproofing and proper storage of composite bows were essential due to India's extremely wet and humid subtropical climate and plentiful rainfall today (which averages 970–1,470 mm or 38–58 inches in most of the country, and exceeds well over 2,500 mm or 100 inches per year in the wettest areas due to monsoons).[6]
The civilizations of China also used a combination of self bows, composite recurve bows, and laminated reflex bows. Self bows and laminated bows were preferred in southern China in earlier periods of history due to the region's extremely wet, humid, and rainy subtropical climate. The average rainfall in southern China exceeds 970 mm (38 inches), averaging 1,500–2,500 mm (58–97 inches) in many areas today.[6]
Origins and use
Composite construction may have become common in the third or fourth millennium BC, in Mesopotamia and Elam.[7]
Associated with charioteers
Bows of any kind seldom survive in the archaeological record. Composite bows may have been invented first by the
Composite bows were soon adopted and adapted by civilizations who came into contact with nomads, such as the
By mounted archers
The mounted archer became the archetypal warrior of the steppes and the composite bow was his primary weapon, used to protect the herds, in steppe warfare, and for incursions into settled lands.
Classic tactics for horse-mounted archers included skirmishing: they would approach, shoot, and retreat before any effective response could be made.
By infantry
Composite bows can be used without difficulty by infantry. The infantry archers of
Technical changes in classical times
The details of bow construction changed somewhat with time. It is not clear that the various developments of the composite bow led to measurable improvements: "the development of archery equipment may not be a process involving progressive improvements in performance. Rather, each design type represents one solution to the problem of creating a mobile weapon system capable of hurling lightweight projectiles."[4]
Scythian bows, bending tips
Variants of the Scythian bow were the dominant form in Asia until approximately the first century BC. These were short weapons—one was 119 cm (47 inches) long when strung, with arrows perhaps 50–60 cm (20–24 inches) long—with flexible, "working" tips; the wooden core was continuous from the centre to the tip.[18]
Siyahs, stiff tips
From about the 4th century BCE, the use of stiffened ends on composite bows became widespread. The stiffened end of the bow is a "siyah" (Arabic, Persian),
Laths stiffening the grip
A new bow type, in which bone reinforcements cover the handle of the bow as well as the tips, may have developed in Central Asia during the 3rd to 2nd century BCE,
With the arrival of the Huns, this tradition of bows with stiffened grips came to Europe. "Alanic graves in the Volga region dating to the 3rd to 4th century CE signal the adoption of the Qum-Darya type by Sarmatian peoples from Hunnic groups advancing from the East. In general, Hunnic/Qum-Darya bows had two pairs of ear laths identical in every respect to those found on Roman limes sites. The ear laths show only a greater proportion of longer laths (like those of Roman examples from Bar Hill and London). More distinctively, the grip of the bow was stiffened by three laths. On the sides were glued a pair of trapezoidal laths with their longest edges towards the back. On the belly was glued a third lath, varying in shape but often narrow with parallel sides and splayed ends. Therefore, each bow possessed seven grip and ear laths, compared with none on the Scythian and Sarmatian bows and four (ear) laths on the Yrzi bow."[28]
Such bows were often asymmetric, with lower limbs shorter than the upper.[20][29][30]
The Huns and their successors greatly impressed their neighbours with their archery. Germanic tribes transmitted their respect orally for a millennium: in the Scandinavian
Additional stiffening laths
The Qum-Darya bow was superseded in the modern area of Hungary by an
Post-classical development
After the
The composite bow was adopted throughout the Arab world, even though some
The first surviving treatise on composite bow construction and archery was written in Arabic under
Integral wooden siyahs
Later developments in the composite bow included siyahs made of separate pieces of wood, attached with a V-splice[35] to the wooden core of the bow, rather than strengthened by external reinforcement.[1] Medieval and modern bows generally have integral wooden siyahs and lack stiffening laths.
String bridges
A string "bridge" or "run" is an attachment of horn or wood, used to hold the string a little further apart from the bow's limbs at the base of the siyahs, as well as allowing the siyah to rest at an angle forward of the string. This attachment may add weight, but might give a small increase in the speed of the arrow by increasing the initial string angle and therefore the force of the draw in its early stages. Large string bridges are characteristic of
Modern living traditions
All Eurasian composite bows derive from the same nomad origins, but every culture that used them has made its own adaptations to the basic design. The Turkish, Mongolian, and Korean bows were standardized when archery lost its military function and became a popular sport.[39] Recent Turkish bows are optimized for flight shooting.
Perso-Parthian bow
The Perso-Parthian bow is a symmetric recurve under high tension when strung. The "arms" of the bow are supposed to
Perso-Parthian bows were in use as late as the 1820s in
Turkish bow
This is the Ottoman development of the composite bow, presumably brought from the steppes. Turkish bows evolved, after the decline of military archery, into probably the best traditional flight bows. Their decoration often included delicate and beautiful multicoloured designs with gold.[1][32]
Chinese bow
For millennia, archery has played a pivotal role in Chinese history.[40] Because the cultures associated with Chinese society spanned a wide geography and time range, the techniques and equipment associated with Chinese archery are diverse. Historical sources and archaeological evidence suggest that a variety of bow designs existed throughout Chinese history.[41] For much of the 20th century, only a few Chinese traditional bow and arrow-making workshops were active.[42] However, in the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a revival in interest among craftsmen looking to construct bows and arrows in the traditional Chinese style.[43]
Mongol bow
The Mongolian tradition of archery is attested by an inscription on a stone
Archery with composite bows is part of the annual festival of the three virile sports (wrestling, horseriding, archery), called "Naadam".
Hungarian bow
The Hungarian bow is a fairly long, approximately symmetrical composite
Korean bow
A traditional
Japanese bow
Yumi is made by laminating multiple pieces of bamboo and wood.
Analogous New World bows, modern replicas, alternative materials
American sinew-backed bows
When Europeans first contacted Native Americans, some bows, especially in the area that became California, already had sinew backing. After the introduction of domesticated horses, newly mounted groups rapidly developed shorter bows, which were often given sinew backing. The full three-layer composite bow with horn, wood, and sinew does not seem to be recorded in the Americas, and horn bows with sinew backing are not recorded before European contact.[47]
Replicas made with modern materials
Modern replicas of traditional composite bows are commercially available; they are usually made with fibreglass or carbon on both belly and back, easier to mass-produce and easier to take care of than traditional composite bows.
Other less satisfactory materials than horn have been used for the belly of the bow (the part facing the archer when shooting), including bone, antler, or compression-resistant woods such as
See also
Bow construction techniques
References
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- ^ a b "World Average Yearly Annual Precipitation". Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
- ^ Origins and Comparative Performance of the Composite Bow. Karl Chandler Randall IV. PhD thesis, Classical Studies, University of South Africa, February 2016. Promoters: Doctor Martine De Marre and Doctor Barry Molloy. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/79170491.pdf Archived 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 1 December 2019
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- ^ In Arabic سِئَة siʾaḧ, سِیَة siyaḧ (pl. سِیَات siyāt), سَأَة saʾaḧ (or سَاءَة sāʾaḧ), سُؤَة suʾaḧ
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- ^ a b Hall, Andrew (2006). "The development of the bone reinforced composite". Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries. 49: 65–77.
- ^ "New Evidence about Composite Bows and Their Arrows in Inner Asia".
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- ^ a b c d Faris, Nabih; Robert Potter (1945). A BOOK ON THE EXCELLENCE OF THE BOW AND ARROW AND THE DESCRIPTION THEREOF (PDF). University of Princeton Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009.
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{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link) - ^ l-Ashrafi l-Maklamishi l-Yunani, Taybugha (1368). Kitab ghunyat at-tullab fi marifat ramy an-mushshab [Saracen Archery. An English Version and Exposition of a Mameluke Work on Archery (ca. A.D. 1368) With Introduction, Glossary, and Illustrations. Translated by J. D. Paterson, And Lt. CDR. W. F. Latham] (in Arabic).
- ^ Waele, An De. 2005. "Composite Bows at Ed-Dur (Umm Al-Qaiwain, U.A.E.)". Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy. 16, no. 2: 154-160. Abstract: This article discusses seven bone fragments excavated during the second Belgian archaeological campaign at ed-Dur (tomb G.3831, area N). Rather than weaving implements, these objects are identified as the reinforcing bone laths of composite bows. Information on the composite bow in general—origins, structural composition and technical advantages—will be given. Additionally, the question of which types of composite bows could have been present at ed-Dur and what role these weapons could have played at the site are discussed.
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