African bows and archery

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This is the 3rd bow .. the one with the leopard skin grip.

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Here are the five arrows mentioned in my first post

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more views of the same 5 arrows

[katana]

African bows tend to have a low draw weight and for hunting tend to be short....this allows stalking and firing from concealed positions. Larger bows would get tangled with vegetation.The low draw weight is compensated by getting close to the intended prey and by the use of poisoned tipped arrows. This usually have a small barbed arrow head bound to a foreshaft which is then fixed to the main shaft. This arrangement prevents the animal rubbing against objects to remove the entire arrow . The barbed head remains in place as the thinner, weaker foreshaft breaks, leaving the main shaft behind. The poison is not fast acting and requires the hunters to stalk the injured animal for many hours.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=arrow+head

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=african+bow

David

[fearn]

Originally Posted by katana

African bows tend to have a low draw weight and for hunting tend to be short....this allows stalking and firing from concealed positions. Larger bows would get tangled with vegetation.The low draw weight is compensated by getting close to the intended prey and by the use of poisoned tipped arrows. This usually have a small barbed arrow head bound to a foreshaft which is then fixed to the main shaft. This arrangement prevents the animal rubbing against objects to remove the entire arrow . The barbed head remains in place as the thinner, weaker foreshaft breaks, leaving the main shaft behind. The poison is not fast acting and requires the hunters to stalk the injured animal for many hours.

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ght=arrow+head

http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...ht=african+bow

David

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

[VANDOO]

I DON'T HAVE MUCH ON AFRICAN BOWS AND ARROWS IN MY FILES BUT WILL SEE IF I CAN TAKE A FEW PICTURES OF ITEMS IN MY COLLECTON SOON. HERE IS A PICTURE OF 4 CONGO ARROWS.

[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

[katana]

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

Hi Fearn,
yes generalising.... for more recent times. A number of tribes still to this day hunt with 'smaller' bows ......the rest tend to use AK45's. I agree that up the middle of the 20th century, larger bows with greater draw poundage were much more evident. Perhaps WW2 in Africa allowed greater and easier access to firearms....negating the use of the high draw weight, long bow ??
There does not seem to be many references as to the wood species used in African bowery. It seems that,in some areas, the wood may not be totally suitable and leather is used to re-inforce the bow.

All the best
David

[Congoblades]

1 Lake Tumba men-1900.
2 Marungu - Tanganika.
3 Pygmée