African bows and archery

[Iain]

Hi all,

I thought this could be a neat topic for discussion, sharing pieces and historical photos.

Bows and archery don't seem to be a particularly popular area of ethnographic arms collecting. Partly because it is hard to find pieces and that is in turn due to the materials involved which don't preserve as well as metal swords, daggers or spears.

Still, I think it is an important area as the bow was one of the primary weapons used across Africa. Sadly I don't have any in my collection yet - but recently I have been more and more interested in them.

Here's an interesting image to start things off - two bowmen from Kousséri in North Cameroon. I particularly like this image for the costumes, the large long bows shown and the massive city walls behind. Photo is taken from Ehe die Gewehre kamen.

Please share what you have in your collections and hopefully we can have an interesting discussion around this seldom talked about area of African arms.

Best regards,

Iain