African bows and archery

[thinreadline]

Originally Posted by fearn

Hi David,

I suspect you're overgeneralizing a bit. Certainly, !Kung and Pygmy bows are weak. However, there are reports of Liangulu "Elephant bows" that pulled over 100 lbs. Saxton Pope, a prominent English Archer, visited Kenya in 1925. He challenged a Wakoma archer to a friendly distance contest. Pope at first used a yew longbow and a (light) flight arrow. The Wakoma outshot him, using his hunting bow and a heavy hunting arrow. Pope then switched to the heaviest bow he owned, and managed to outshoot the Wakoma (still using his hunting rig) by ten paces, at which point he called a halt to the contest. (Traditional Bowyer's Bible, vol. 3, which is most of what I know about African bows).

I'd say that, before WW2, there was as much diversity in African bows as there is in North American bows. There were big bows around. We're just lacking samples for this website. So far.

Best,

F

Precisely so , whilst the argument for smaller weaker bows in a forests is sound , the evolution of longer more powerful bows for game hunting in grassland savannah was essential in an environment where cover is scarce and a greater killing range was needed . This is seen the world over , except perhaps in nomadic horsemen who with the advantage of speed could get so much closer to game without the same need for stealth ... the smaller bow being more convenient when on horseback.

[fearn]

Originally Posted by thinreadline

Precisely so , whilst the argument for smaller weaker bows in a forests is sound , the evolution of longer more powerful bows for game hunting in grassland savannah was essential in an environment where cover is scarce and a greater killing range was needed . This is seen the world over , except perhaps in nomadic horsemen who with the advantage of speed could get so much closer to game without the same need for stealth ... the smaller bow being more convenient when on horseback.

Again, not quite. All things considered a bigger bow is desirable, because they tend to be more accurate and to throw bigger arrows. The English longbow and the older woodbows exemplified by the Eastern North American Indian bows are all examples of this, as are some African bows. If you live in the eastern US, which has a plethora of good bow wood (oak, hickory, ash, etc.), this is a really good solution.

There are two other big factors: weather and the availability of poisons. In a rain forest (or on the water) bows tend to either rot or warp (think about wet wood), so in such an environment, you're stuck with some version of a big wood bow, ideally with no knots. Those palm-wood Papuan bows are a good example. In somewhat drier environments, you can start adding backings (sinew, horn, bamboo, etc) to improve the spring, creating many variations on the compound bow. This was done all over the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic (cable backed bows) to Turkey, Korea, China, California, etc. This is an ideal solution if you're living in an area where good bow-woods are scarce but there are big ungulates to provide the other material. It's also not a bad solution if you want to beef up a big wood bow. Backings tend to be glued on, and glues can go bad in wet weather, so there's a trade-off between power and versatility/durability.

Small compound bows are useful for horseback, and are the classic solution adopted by the steppes nomads, all the cultures they contacted, and the Plains Indians. Small and powerful, they are also fussy, need a fair amount of care, and can be inaccurate (due to the small arm length).

As for poisons, they seem to be used where available. For example, some northern California tribes used small sinew-backed bows capable of taking a deer on power alone. They also poisoned their tips with rattlesnake venom. The ancient Greeks reputedly poisoned their arrows, as did the Ainu when they were hunting bears with them. The Kalahari bushmen have a crappy environment for bow woods and few tools to work them, but they have some excellent toxins, so they use light bows with tiny needle-like poisoned arrows, and kill with those. The west African tribes such as the Tiv reportedly use a mix of Calabar bean and whatever snake venom they can get their hands on, and build normal wood bows but use prickly arrowheads to get the poison in. And so forth.

Thing is, bows and arrows aren't simple. Their design takes into account the local environment, materials available, and intended use, and a lot of clever bowyers have independently come up with similar solutions for thousands of years.

Best,

F

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by fearn

Again, not quite. All things considered a bigger bow is desirable, because they tend to be more accurate and to throw bigger arrows. The English longbow and the older woodbows exemplified by the Eastern North American Indian bows are all examples of this, as are some African bows.
[...]
Thing is, bows and arrows aren't simple. Their design takes into account the local environment, materials available, and intended use, and a lot of clever bowyers have independently come up with similar solutions for thousands of years.

For some things, bigger bows are better. Sometimes bigger arrows are better. Not always! Consider Arab/Turkish sub-drawlength arrows used with arrow-guides, or the more extremely short Korean version, where the arrows were about 1/2 the draw length.

The English longbow is one of the bows optimised for maximum energy, which is very important for armour penetration. Most game animals don't wear armour, so not such a big deal for hunting bows.

Some of the stone/iron age European bows are large, probably moderate draw weight (i.e., pretty high draw weight for us moderns), and inefficient. Inefficient is a Bad Thing in modern archery, since it robs you of speed, and thus of flat trajectory. But if you're a hunter who has to make his own arrows, low velocity is not always a bad thing - it's easier to find you arrows when you miss.

For a self bow, starting from scratch, I find it's easier to make the bow than the arrows. Losing/breaking arrows is a largely ignored disadvantage of powerful and efficient bows.

As you say, it isn't simple. The optimisations for warfare, hunting, and sporting archery are all different. That's not even looking at the different types of warfare, hunting, and sport! We can add ritual archery to the list, too.