Origin of Archery
General Topic
So was it for hunting animals or killing humans?
Was there a difference back then?
We're all decedents of archers.
Our forefather stood back and shot down all the rock-throwers and stick-swingers and then just took all their wemmens and deer-heads and other cool stuff.
I was recently thinking about this.. How do you suppose the first person figured out to put a "string" on a stick and shoot another stick off of it?
John
I feel that archery was invented for animals, not humans. If you think about it, traditional archery range is about the same distance that mammalian predators begin their chase after the stalk and we don’t have that kind of speed so it makes sense that archery filled that void (credit to my friend Paul for pointing this out).
Plus, human vs human are really susceptible to a long spear or even a club, whereas prey animals are much less so due to speed. The Greeks, Macedonians, and Romans ruled the world for much of premodern history on the back of the spear (held, not thrown), with minimal use of archery.
The Egyptians coupled archery with the chariot with good success, as did the Mongols on horse back, but it really wasn’t till the English invented a bow that could hurl an arrow of significant weight much farther that archery changed warfare.
For a thousand years, the world was run by those that mastered the use of the armored phalanx with spearman at its core and archers mostly an annoyance on the wings or in light cavalry, easily defended against by the large shields already needed to protect a foot soldier against the enemy’s spear.
Look up Otiz the iceman, one of the oldest known archer ever discovered with bow and arrows in hand. Also one of the most extensively studied mummified human. Body was aged before the copper culture yet he had in his possession a well made copper tool. Otiz rewrote the time line of mans working with copper. He much been skilled hunter as he had ibex meat in his stomach. Archery may also have been what killed him as he has a broad head embedded in his upper left shoulder. He other old wounds and quite a few tattoos.
Otiz the iceman, the frozen archer, a fascinating read .
I'll have to reread about the iceman, I don't remember that much detail about him.
The name is Otzi, no Otiz. Truly incredible find.
Greeks, Macedonians, Romans, Egyptians, even Otzi, got nothin' to do with archery's origins. Those civilizations came about 25,000 years later.
Go back it time to when there were no "morals" or "laws" except those that pertained to your personal survival. Now imagine that you, and only you, have "the power". Do you hunt or pillage?
Whoa! cuzin TBM } >>>>~~~~~><——-<<<< (
Some of you are right, some not so much. The mongol horse archers changed warfare forever and took over and ruled the largest empire ever, including China, Korea, Mongolia, and all of Europe to the Atlantic. All done from horseback with bows.
As to who or how they were invented, great question we'll never know the answer to. Since it appears to have been developed all over the world at about the same time period I'm going with an Alien gift.
“mongol horse archers ....... ruled ......the largest empire ever, .....including all of Europe to the Atlantic. “
Could you reference a source?
The furthest into Europe I could find was central .
a) Modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus b) Parts of Southern and Eastern Poland c) Czech lands d) Medieval Hungary e) Kingdom of Croatia f) Southern Austria g) Bulgaria h) Serbia
Non of these areas share a Border with the Atlantic Ocean.
Otiz--isn't he the drunk from the Andy Griffith Show? Never knew he was into archery...??
I thought Al Gore invented archery so we could have something to talk about on bowsite
Bow and arrows came to be about 70 thousand years ago, give or take. It is believed the first came from Africa and arrow heads have been found in South Africa that are about 64 thousand years old. The first archery gear was most likely used to hunt animals but also may of been used to kill humans as well. Pretty cool history if you enjoy reading about such stuff. Shawn
Yes, Africa. Later, the invention of the long bow, the cross bow, the recurve bow was later and across many continents. And yes for hunting and warfare and self protection.
I'll have to see if I can find the archeological article that states archery may be more than 180,000 years old as opposed to the generally accepted 20,000 years..
