The History of Archery



The heroic effort of archers at the battlefield helped several kingdoms win wars. Archery, although obsolete today has helped men since early ages. People have used archery to conquer their enemy and to tame wild animals.

Research has shown that archery was widely being used in ancient civilization. History shows that earlier arrows were made of pine sticks or shafts which had a long fore shaft with a flint point.

As of this date, archaeologists have found the oldest bow in Denmark. Arrow shafts have been found in many places across the globe in Egypt, Sweden, Denmark and India.

Bows and arrows are the main constituents of archery. Archery history reveals that the bows were developed in either the early Mesolithic age or late Paleolithic age. Archery was highly developed in Asia and other Islamic kingdoms.

People were specially trained in archery; these archers were employed in the battlefields. In fact, before the development of firearms archery served as the primary weapons.

Different types of bows and arrows were manufactured and accordingly they had different ranges.

The archery history is full with saga of great archers. These archers have played a major role in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, India, Greece and Persia.

The archery bows which were commonly used were: longbow, shortbow, flatbow, recurve bow, crossbow and compound bow.

Longbows had a very long bow. The length generally matched the height of the archer and in some cases even exceeded the height of the archer.

The limb of the Flatbow is wider and the cross-section is rectangular in shape.

A Shortbow is shorter in length, is light-weight and has a short range. It was basically used for hunting purposes. In Crossbows the limbs are mounted in a horizontal manner and not in a vertical manner.

The Compound bow is designed in such a manner that the archer is at his ease while mounting the bow.

Shaft, arrowheads, neck, and fletching constitute an arrow. Aluminum alloy, carbon fiber, wood and fiberglass are used for the construction of the shaft.

The shaft should not be too flexible; it should be straight and easy to handle. At present arrows made of carbon alloys are popular and are being widely used by archers. In fact arrows used in popular sports events like the Olympics are made of carbon alloys.

Sight shooting and instinctive shooting are the two methods adopted by an archer when shooting an arrow. In instinctive shooting the archer completely concentrates on the target while shooting the arrow. It requires a lot of practice; this method was popular during the early phases.

However, later bows with adjustable pins were developed; these pins could be adjusted by the archers for aimimg at a target. This is called sight shooting and is easy as compared to instinctive shooting.

In later years firearms replaced archery. Firearms were found to be superior to archery; they were more lethal, had longer range and also using them wasn’t too difficult. In fact those kingdoms which did not know how to use firearms had to suffer heavily on the battlefield.

Archery history indicates that men since time-immemorial have been devising ways to lord over others.


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Bear Archery
The History Of Archery
Archery Whats It All About
Ross Archery
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The Different Types Of Archery Bows
Traditional Archery
Targets Used For Archery
Researching Archery
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