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The History of Archery:
 
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Back to Archery Page Dundee Sportsman's Club Archery History

Archery is my Life
Archery, History of Archery
Archery
   

 Archery

Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows. Archery has historically been used in hunting and combat and has become a precision sport. A person practicing archery is called an archer, and one who is fond of or an expert at archery is sometimes called a toxophilite.

In Target Archery, the object is to hit targets such as this to score points.
These arrows score as an inner 10 and 9.

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Archery
   

 History

Main article: History of archery

The bow seems to have been invented in the late Paleolithic or early Mesolithic. The oldest indication for its use in Europe comes from the Stellmoor in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and date from the late Paleolithic Hamburgian culture (9000-8000 BC). The arrows were made of pine and consisted of a mainshaft and a 15-20 centimetre (6-8 inches) long foreshaft with a flint point. There are no known definite earlier bows; previous pointed shafts are known, but may have been launched by atlatls rather than bows.

The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark. In the 1940s, two bows were found there. They are made of elm and have flat arms and a D-shaped midsection. The center section is biconvex. The complete bow is 1.50 m (5 ft) long. Bows of Holmegaard-type were in use until the Bronze Age; the convexity of the midsection has decreased with time.

Mesolithic pointed shafts have been found in England, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. They were often rather long (up to 120 cm [4 ft]) and made of hazel (Corylus avellana), wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana) and other small woody shoots. 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 fastened on with birch-tar.

Bows and arrows have been present in Egyptian culture since its predynastic origins. The nine bows symbolize the various peoples that had been ruled over by the pharaoh since Egypt was united.

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

Hoops rolled with sticks, such as this, were widely
used as targets by indigenous archers in North America

The bow was one of the earliest forms of artillery. Bows eventually replaced the atlatl as the predominant means for launching projectiles.

Classical civilizations, notably the Persians, Macedonians, Nubians, Greeks, Koreans, Parthians, Indians, Japanese, and Chinese fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against massed formations, and the use of archers often proved decisive. The Sanskrit term for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to martial arts in general.

During the Middle Ages, archery in warfare was not as prevalent and dominant in Western Europe as popular myth sometimes dictates. Archers were quite often the lowest-paid soldiers in an army or were conscripted from the peasantry. This was due to the cheap nature of the bow and arrow, as compared to the expense needed to equip a professional man-at-arms with good armour and a sword. Professional archers required a lifetime of training and expensive bows to be effective, and were thus rare in Europe (see English longbow).

Archery was highly developed in Asia and in the Islamic world. In East Asia the ancient Korean civilizations were well-known for their archery skills, and South Korea remains a particularly strong performer at Olympic archery competitions even to this day. Horse archers were the main military force of most of the Equestrian Nomads. Central Asian and American Plains tribesmen were extremely adept at archery on horseback.

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Archery
   

 Decline and Revival of Archery

The advent of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Despite the high social status, ongoing utility, and widespread pleasure of archery in England, Japan, Korea, China, Turkey, America, Egypt, and elsewhere, every culture that gained access to even early firearms used them widely, to the relative neglect of archery. Early firearms were vastly inferior in rate-of-fire, and were very susceptible to wet weather. But they had longer effective range  and were tactically superior in the common situation of soldiers shooting at each other from behind obstructions. They also required significantly less training to use properly, in particular penetrating steel armour without any need to develop special musculature. Armies equipped with guns could thus provide superior firepower by sheer weight of numbers, and highly-trained archers became obsolete on the battlefield. "Have them bring as many guns as possible, for no other equipment is needed. Give strict orders that all men, even the samurai, carry guns."  Archery continued in some areas that were subject to limitations on the ownership of arms, such as the Scottish Highlands during the repression that followed the decline of the Jacobite cause, and the Cherokees after the Trail of Tears. Archery remained an important part of the military examinations until 1894 (in Korea) and 1904 (in China).

Traditional archery remained in minority use for sport and for hunting in many areas long after its military disuse. In Turkey, its last revival for this purpose took place with the encouragement of Mahmud II in the 1820s, but the art, and that of constructing composite bows, fell out of use in the later 1800s. The rest of the Middle East also lost the continuity of its archery tradition at this time. In Korea, the transformation from military training to healthy pastime was led by Emperor Gojong, and is the basis of a popular modern sport. Japanese continue to make and use their unique traditional equipment. Among the Cherokees and the British, popular use of longbows never entirely died out. In China, the revival of archery continued until the Cultural Revolution, when it was suppressed; the last of the traditional Chinese bowmakers is now working again. In modern times, horse archery continues to be practiced in some Asian countries but is not used in international competition. Modern Hungarians have revived horsed archery as a competitive sport. Archery is the national sport of the Kingdom of Bhutan.

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 Modern Primitive Archery

After the American Civil War, two Confederate veterans, Maurice and Will Thompson, revived archery in America. The two brothers and a former slave lived in the wild in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. As ex-Confederate soldiers they were not allowed to own guns, so they needed other ways to hunt for food. For some reason, the former slave (Thomas Williams) knew something about English-style Archery (using a longbow) and showed Maurice and Will. Later, Maurice wrote a book, "The Witchery of Archery," which became a best seller and enthused people about the sport of archery. In 1879 the National Archery Association was formed. However, public interest in archery soon subsided.

That all changed when Ishi came out of hiding in California in 1911. Ishi was the last of the Yahi Indian tribe. Once he came out of hiding, he was extensively studied and then lived at the University of California at Berkeley Anthropology Museum. His medical caretaker, Dr. Saxton Pope, was an instructor of surgery at the school. Dr. Pope was very interested in Ishi and his culture, especially archery. Ishi willingly taught Dr. Pope about his culture, how to make tools the way the Yahi did, and how to hunt using a bow and arrow. Soon, Dr. Pope was joined by archery-enthusiast Arthur Young.

Ishi's time was short however, and he died in 1916 of tuberculosis. Dr. Pope and Mr. Young did not lose interest in archery, and set about proving that archery could be used to bag large game.They hunted in Alaska and Africa and took several large game animals.

Because Dr. Pope and Mr. Young demonstrated to Western society that archery was effective on not only small game, but large game as well, archery did not lose public interest so easily. Many methods that Ishi taught Dr. Pope are still used today by primitive archers. From the 1920s, professional engineers took an interest in archery, previously the exclusive field of traditional craft experts.  They led the commercial development of new forms of bow including the modern recurve and compound bow. These modern forms are now dominant in modern Western archery; traditional bows are in a minority. In the 1980s, the skills of traditional archery were revived by American enthusiasts, and combined with the new scientific understanding. Much of this expertise is available in the "Traditional Bowyer's Bible" (see bibliography).

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 Mythology

Archers and archery play a role in several mythologies, including Greek Apollo, Germanic Agilaz, continued in legends like those of William Tell, Palnetoke, or Robin Hood. Armenian Hayk and Babylonian Marduk, Indian Arjuna and Persian Arash, were all archers. Earlier Greek representations of Heracles normally depict him as an archer. Yi the archer features in several early Chinese myths.

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 Equipment

 Types of bows

Main article: Bow (weapon)

A longbow is a type of bow that is tall (roughly equal to or greater than the height of a person), is not recurved, and has relatively narrow limbs that are circular or D-shaped in cross section. The traditional English longbow is usually made so that its thickness is at least ⅝ of its width. If the thickness is less than ⅝ of its width then the bow would be disqualified from most modern longbow competitions. Typically a longbow is widest at the handle. Longbows have been used for hunting and warfare, by many cultures around the world, a famous example being the English longbow, during the Middle Ages.

A shortbow is a smaller version of the longbow. While it is lighter and more maneuverable, it can be drawn less far, therefore stores less energy and hence has a shorter maximum range. Short bows were used for hunting by, among others, many West Coast American tribes.

A recurve bow is the only class of bow that is shot at the Olympic Games. Its basic working principles are similar to that of a traditional longbow. Its defining feature is that the ends of the limbs curve forwards slightly, which increases the power gained from the bow and smoothens the draw.

A compound bow is designed to reduce the force that an archer must hold, yet increase the overall energy stored by the bow. Most compound designs use cams or elliptical wheels on the ends of the limbs to optimize the leverage exerted by the archer and to reduce the holding force of the bow at full draw in what is known as the "let-off". With less force required to hold a compound bow at full draw, the muscles take longer to fatigue, thus giving a compound archer more time to aim. A compound bow must be adjusted so that the let-off occurs at the correct draw length appropriate to the archer.

A crossbow is a variation on the general bow design. Instead of the limbs being held vertically, they are mounted horizontally on a stock much like that of a firearm. The limb design can either be compound or a recurve but the basic concept of shooting is the same. The string is pulled back either manually or with a windlass and locked into place. The string remains in this locked position, held soley through mechanical means until the energy stored in its limbs is released by a trigger mechanism, which launches the loaded missile. The energy stored in the shortened limbs is comparable to the longbow but packed into a smaller design that is also much easier to aim. Crossbows shoot quarrels or bolts, shorter arrows than those usual for bows.

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 Types of Arrows and Fletching

Main article: Arrow

A normal arrow consists of shaft with an arrowhead attached the front end, with fletching and a nock at the other. Shafts are usually made of solid wood, fiberglass, aluminum alloy, or carbon fiber. Wooden arrows are prone to warping. Fiberglass arrows are brittle, but are more easily produced to uniform specifications. Aluminum shafts were a very popular high-performance choice in the later half of the 20th century due to their light weight, and subsequently higher speed and flatter trajectories. Carbon fiber arrows became popular in the 1990s and are very light, flying even faster and flatter than aluminum arrows.

The arrowhead is the primary functional part of the arrow, and plays the largest role in determining its purpose. Some arrows may simply use a sharpened tip of the solid shaft, but it is far more common for separate arrowheads to be made, usually from metal, horn, or some other hard material. The most commonly-used forms are target points, field points, and broadheads, although there are also other types, like bodkin, judo, and blunts.

 Feather fletches

Fletching is traditionally made from bird feathers, but solid plastic vanes are also used. They are attached near the nock (rear) end of the arrow with glue, or, traditionally, sinew. The fletching is equally spaced around the shaft with one placed such that it is perpendicular to the bow when nocked on the string. This fletch is called the "index fletch" or "cock feather", (the others sometimes being called the "hen feathers") and is a reference for the nocking of the arrow. Three fletches is the most common configuration, though more may be used. The fletching is sometimes attached at a slight angle, to introduce a stabilizing spin to the arrow while in flight. Oversized fletchings can be used to accentuate drag and thus limit the range of the arrow significantly; these arrows are called flu-flus. Misplacement of fletching can often change the arrow's flight path dramatically.

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 Bow string

Main article: Bow string

Dacron and other modern materials offer high strength for their weight and are used on most modern bows. Linen and other traditional materials are still used on traditional bows. Almost any fiber can be made into a bow string. The the refusal of a wife to cut her hair in order to make an emergency bowstring for her husband.

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 Protective equipment

Most archers wear a bracer (also known as an arm-guard) to protect the inside of the bow arm and prevent clothing from catching the bow string. The Navajo people have developed highly-ornamented bracers as non-functional items of adornment. Some archers also wear protection on their chests, called chestguards. Chestguards are to prevent the bowstring from being obstructed by the archer's body or clothing as it is released. They also protect the archer. Roger Ascham mentions one archer, presumably with an unusual shooting style, who wore a leather guard for his face.

The drawing fingers, or thumb in the case of archers using the thumb or Mongolian draw, are normally protected by a leather tab, glove, or thumb ring. A simple tab of leather is commonly used, as is a skeleton glove. Mediaeval Europeans probably used a complete leather glove. Eurasiatic archers using the Mongolian draw protected their thumbs, usually with leather according to the author of "Arab Archery", but also with special rings of various hard materials. Many surviving Turkish and Chinese examples are works of considerable art; some are so highly ornamented that they could not have been used to loose an arrow. Presumably these were items of personal adornment. In traditional Japanese archery a special glove is used, provided with a ridge which is used to draw the string.

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 Release aids

Archers using compound bows often use a release aid to hold the string steadily and release it precisely. This attaches to the bowstring at the nocking point and permits the archer to release the string by pulling a trigger. The "trigger" may be an actual trigger lever which is depressed by a finger or thumb (or held then released) but it may also be some other mechanism. Hydraulic and mechanical time delay triggers have been used, as have "back tension" triggers which are operated by either a change in the position of the release or "true back tension"; that is to say the release triggers when a pre-determined draw weight is reached. A mechanical release aid permits a single point of contact on the string instead of three fingers. This allows less deformity in the string at full draw, as well as providing a more consistent release than can be achieved by human fingers.

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 Shooting Technique and Form

The bow is held in the hand opposite to the archer's dominant eye, though holding the bow in the dominant hand side is advocated by some. This hand is referred to as the bow hand and its arm the bow arm. The opposite hand is called the drawing hand or string hand. Terms such as bow shoulder or string elbow follow the same convention. Right-eye-dominant archers hold the bow with their left hand, have their left side facing the target, sight towards the target with their right eye and handle the arrow and string with their right hand.

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 Modern Western-style competitive form

To shoot an arrow, an archer first assumes the correct stance. The body should be perpendicular to the target and the shooting line, with the feet placed shoulder-width apart. As an archer progresses from beginner to a more advanced level an 'open stance' is used/developed. Each archer will have a particular preference but mostly this term indicates that the leg furthest from the shooting line will be a half to a whole foot-length in front of the other, on the ground.

To load, the bow is pointed toward the ground and the shaft of the arrow is placed on an arrow rest which is attached in the bow window. The back of the arrow is attached to the bowstring with the 'nock' (a small plastic component which is typified by a 'v' groove for this purpose). This is called nocking the arrow. Typical arrows with three vanes should be oriented such that a single vane is pointing away from the bow. This vane is often coloured differently and has numerous names such as index fletch and cock feather.

The bowstring and arrow are held with three fingers. When using a sight, the index finger is placed above the arrow and the next two fingers below. The string is usually placed in either the first or second joint of the fingers.

The bow is then raised and drawn. This is often one fluid motion which tends to vary from archer to archer. The string hand is drawn towards the face, where it should rest lightly at an anchor point. This point is consistent from shot to shot and is usually at the corner of the mouth or on the chin. The bow arm is held outwards toward the target. The elbow of this arm should be rotated so that the inner elbow is not hyper-extended as this leads to a tendency for the bowstring to scrape the inside of the wrist or to catch on the arm guard when released. The bow should always remain vertical.

In proper form, the archer stands erect, forming a 'T'. The archer's back muscles are used to pull the arrow to the anchor point. Some bows will be equipped with a mechanical device, called a clicker, which produces a clicking sound when the archer reaches the correct draw length.

The arrow is typically released by relaxing the fingers of the drawing hand. An archer should pay attention to the recoil or follow through of his or her body, as it may indicate problems with form (technique).

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