Global Sports: Archery And Its' History

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Archery And Its' History

By George Watson


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 conceived within the later Paleolithic period, or maybe earlier Mesolithic period. The first indication to its' utilization in European countries is from the Stellmoor (de) within the Ahrensburg valley (de) to the north of Hamburg, Germany and dates from the late Paleolithic, around 10,000-9000 BC. The arrows were crafted using pine and comprised a main shaft in addition to a 15-20 centimeter (6-8 inches) long fore shaft that had a flint point. There are no definite records of bows preceding this period. Pointed shafts are known to have existed prior to this time, but might have been launched by spear-throwers rather than shot by archers. The earliest acknowledged bows thus far were sourced from the Holmegrd swamp in Denmark.

The archer eventually replaced the spear-thrower as the prevalent way of launching shafted projectiles, in every continent other than in Australasia.

Bows and arrows were associated with Egyptian culture since its' predynastic origins. In the Levant, artifacts which may be arrow-shaft straighteners are recognized to have existed in the Natufian civilization, (c. 12,800-10,300 before present) onwards.

Ancient civilizations, notably the Assyrians, the Persians, Parthians, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese and the Turks fielded large numbers of archers within their armies. The English longbow showed its' importance for the first time in Continental rivalry at the Battle of Cercy in Bourgogne, northern France. In the Americas, archery became widely used because of European influence.

Archery was greatly established throughout all of Asia. The Sanskrit phrase for archery, dhanurveda, came to refer to forms of martial arts as a whole. In East Asia, Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, was actually well-known because of its' regiments of exceptionally competent 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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