Archery

The bow and arrow are known to have been invented by the end of the Upper Paleolithic. Projectile points (used on spears or atlatl darts) are known from earlier prehistory, dating to the Middle Paleolithic. Bows eventually replaced spear-throwers as the predominant means for launching sharp projectiles on all continents except Australia.

Archery was an important military and hunting skill before the widespread and efficient use of firearms, throughout classical antiquity and the medieval period. Arrows were especially destructive against unarmored masses and the use of archers often proved decisive. Mounted archers combined range with speed and mobility. Archery is also featured prominently in the mythologies of many cultures.

Mounted Archery

Central Asian tribesmen (after the domestication of the horse) and American Plains Indians (after gaining access to horses) became extremely adept at archery on horseback. Lightly armored, but highly mobile archers were excellently suited to warfare in the Central Asian steppes, and they formed a large part of armies that repeatedly conquered large areas of Eurasia. Shorter bows are more suited to use on horseback, and the composite bow enabled mounted archers to use powerful weapons. Empires throughout the Eurasian landmass often strongly associated their respective “barbarian” counterparts with the usage of the bow and arrow, to the point where powerful states like the Han Dynasty referred to their neighbors, the Xiong-nu, as “Those Who Draw the Bow”.

Decline of Archery

The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare. Despite the high social status, ongoing utility and widespread pleasure of archery in Armenia, China, Egypt, England, America, India, Japan, Korea, Turkey and elsewhere, almost every culture that gained access to even early firearms used them widely to the neglect of archery. Early firearms were vastly inferior in rate-of-fire and were very susceptible to wet weather. However, they had longer effective range and were tactically superior in the common situation of soldiers shooting at each other from behind obstructions. They also required significantly less training to use properly, in particular penetrating steel armor without any need to develop special musculature. Armies equipped with guns could thus provide superior firepower and highly trained archers became obsolete on the battlefield. However, the bow and arrow is still an effective weapon and archers have seen action in the 21st century. Traditional archery remains in use for sport and for hunting in many areas.

Eighteenth Century Revival

Early recreational archery societies included the Fins bury Archers and the Kilwinning Papingo, established in 1688. The latter held competitions in which archers had to dislodge a wooden parrot from the top of an abbey tower. The Company of Scottish Archers was formed in 1676 and is one of the oldest sporting bodies in the world. It remained a small and scattered pastime, however, until the late 18th century when it experienced a fashionable revival among the aristocracy. Sir Ashton Lever, an antiquarian and collector, formed the Toxophilite Society in London in 1781, with the patronage of George, the Prince of Wales.

Mythology

Deities and heroes in several mythologies are described as archers, including the Greek Artemis and Apollo, the Roman Diana and Cupid, the Germanic Agilaz, continuing in legends like those of Wilhelm Tell, Palnetoke or Robin Hood. Armenian Hayk and Babylonian Marduk, Indian Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Eklavya, Karna, Bhishma, Drona, Parashurama Rama and Shiva and Persian Arash were all archers. Earlier Greek representations of Heracles normally depict him as an archer. The Nymphai Hyperboreioi were worshiped on the Greek island of Delos as attendants of Artemis, presiding over aspects of archery; Hekaerge , represented distancing, Loxo , trajectory and Oupis aim.

In East Asia, Yi the archer and his apprentice Feng Meng appear in several early Chinese myths and the historical character of Zhou Tong features in many fictional forms. Jumong, the first Taewang of the Goguryeo kingdom of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, is claimed by legend to have been a near-godlike archer. Archery features in the story of Oguz Khagan. In West African Yoruba belief, Osoosi is one of several deities of the hunt who are identified with bow and arrow iconography and other insignia associated with archery.

History