G'day all. Although I don't post often, I visit daily to continue my education provided by those much more learned than me. Thankyou.
Question: After doing a site search on the history of archery (motivated by the St Crispin's Day - Agincourt thread) I began to wonder when and where sights, of any form, were first used on bows either for military purposes or recreational. Any knowledge or online references for research much appreciated. Thanks, Ant.
When and where were sights on bows first introduced?
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When and where were sights on bows first introduced?
Entropy is Time's Arrow...
I don't have any worthwhile reference sites to quote but I can shed a few acorns of knowledge (as opposed to pearls of wisdom).
The bow has served probably 3 key roles over history:
* as a massed volley weapon
* as a food gathering or close quarters weapon
* as a aimed tactical weapon.
At Agincourt and in most battles that featured massed archers, the bow wasn't used as a precision aimed weapon, rather it rained a constant heavy fire of arrows out to long distances. The volley fire was used to try and randomly hit anyone that got in the way. In this method, the weapon was "aimed" with sighting marks or even a staff in the ground to help the archer judge elevation. Rifles like the .303 and german Mauser 98 had a similar volley elevation on their sights for targets out at many hundreds of yards.
The bow was also used as a food gatheing or close quarters weapon and for this it was shot "instinctively", which in this sense means it was used by someone who had extensively practiced shooting like this to try and hit a target about a foot square at 20 to 30 yards. This would strike a human or deer, boar etc in a manner that would significantly maim it to enable a later killing blow or shot.
The bow is less commonly used in history as a precision weapon, though its use is very romantically recounted (eg "robin-hooded shafts" William Tell, etc). The issue of arrow spine on bulk produced shafts of dubious materials, shaft and point weights all point to less than accurate shooting out at longer distances. In a slightly odd irony, for all bar the clout shooters among us, this is the type of shooting we all strive for.
I would expect that aiming marks on a bow would be as old as bows themselves. I personally have no gripe with aiming marks or "sights". (My longbow has sighting marks on a strip of sticky tape). The new ones from DAS Kinetic on the www.3riversarchery.com look very interesting.
The bow has served probably 3 key roles over history:
* as a massed volley weapon
* as a food gathering or close quarters weapon
* as a aimed tactical weapon.
At Agincourt and in most battles that featured massed archers, the bow wasn't used as a precision aimed weapon, rather it rained a constant heavy fire of arrows out to long distances. The volley fire was used to try and randomly hit anyone that got in the way. In this method, the weapon was "aimed" with sighting marks or even a staff in the ground to help the archer judge elevation. Rifles like the .303 and german Mauser 98 had a similar volley elevation on their sights for targets out at many hundreds of yards.
The bow was also used as a food gatheing or close quarters weapon and for this it was shot "instinctively", which in this sense means it was used by someone who had extensively practiced shooting like this to try and hit a target about a foot square at 20 to 30 yards. This would strike a human or deer, boar etc in a manner that would significantly maim it to enable a later killing blow or shot.
The bow is less commonly used in history as a precision weapon, though its use is very romantically recounted (eg "robin-hooded shafts" William Tell, etc). The issue of arrow spine on bulk produced shafts of dubious materials, shaft and point weights all point to less than accurate shooting out at longer distances. In a slightly odd irony, for all bar the clout shooters among us, this is the type of shooting we all strive for.
I would expect that aiming marks on a bow would be as old as bows themselves. I personally have no gripe with aiming marks or "sights". (My longbow has sighting marks on a strip of sticky tape). The new ones from DAS Kinetic on the www.3riversarchery.com look very interesting.
Cant help you with dates but I had a mate who owned a book with a photogragh of a native american sinew backed bow from about the 17 th century with a small stick bound to it . The story on this setup was that the bow was used from a permanent blind constructed near a game trail .
I've lost contact with the mate who had the book which was not archery specific ,has anyone else seen this ? Sights are likely near as old as archery itself in my opinion
regards Perry
I've lost contact with the mate who had the book which was not archery specific ,has anyone else seen this ? Sights are likely near as old as archery itself in my opinion
regards Perry
"To my deep morticication my father once said to me, 'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.' "
- Charles Darwin
- Charles Darwin
Thanks for the info, gents. I suspected there may have a lower-limb mark or small stick (able to be moved for windage purposes) used in combination with a ground marker such as we shoot clout with now. Perhaps a close scrutiny of texts with medieval war scene tapestries might reveal something. And yes buzz, I have seen the new DAS sights- my thought was that (as the accompanying info states) it would take a lot of practise to become proficient with them.
Ant
Ant
Entropy is Time's Arrow...