The word archery originates from the Latin ‘arcus’. In the past, archery has been used for hunting as well as in combat, whilst in more modern times, its’ principal usage is that of a leisure pastime. Someone who participates in archery is generally named an “archer” and also “bowman”, and one who is fond of or perhaps a specialist at archery might be referred to as a “toxophilite”.
The bow appears to have been invented in the later Paleolithic or perhaps earlier Mesolithic period. The oldest clue for the use of bow and arrow within Europe arises from the Stellmoor (de) within the Ahrensburg valley (de) to the north of Hamburg, Germany and dates back to the late Paleolithic, about 10,000-9000 BC. The arrows were crafted from pine wood and were comprised of a primary shaft and a 15-20 centimeter (6-8 inches) long fore shaft which had a flint point. There are no definitive earlier bows; preceding pointed shafts are known to have existed, but may have been released by spear-throwers as opposed to shot by bows. The oldest bows known up to this point in time originated from the Holmegrd swamp in Denmark.
The archer sooner or later supplanted the spear-thrower to be the predominant means for launching shafted projectiles, on virtually every continent other than within Australasia.
Bows and arrows were evident in Egyptian culture since its’ predynastic beginnings. In the Levant, artifacts that could be arrow-shaft straighteners did exist within the Natufian civilization, (c. 12,800-10,300 before present day).
Some societies, specifically the Persians, Assyrians, Indians, Parthians, Turks, Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese, fielded numerous archers within their armies. The English longbow confirmed its’ worthiness for the very first time in Continental combat at the Battle of Cercy in northern France. Whereas, in the Americas, archery grew to be a prevalent hunting and combat tool following the early European landings.
Archery grew to become very highly progressed in Asia. The Sanskrit name for archery, dhanurveda, was used to make reference to fighting techniques in general. In East Asia, Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, was respected due to its’ regiments of remarkably skilled archers.
The Downfall of Archery
The development of firearms made bows relatively redundant in combat. In spite of the high social standing given to the accomplished archer, continuing utility of the bow, and wide-ranging gratification for archery in a variety of countries such as Armenia, China, Egypt, England, America, India, Japan, Korea, Turkey and other places, almost every civilization that obtained the means to access even the earlier firearms utilized them widely, to the disregard of archery.
Very early firearms were significantly substandard in rate-of-fire, and also were extremely prone to damp weather conditions. However, they had much longer effective range and were tactically supreme in the typical situation of soldiers firing at each other. Furthermore they called for a lesser amount of learning to make use of them relatively skillfully. Armies with guns could thus provide enhanced firepower, and highly-trained archers became obsolete fairly quickly within the battlefield. Even so, the bow and arrow is still an effective type of weaponry to this day. Conventional archery remains in use for sports, as well as for hunting in lots of countries worldwide.
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