shooting with bows,
Panticapeum (modern
Kertch), 4th century BCE The oldest known evidence of the bow and arrow comes from South African sites such as
Sibudu Cave, where likely arrowheads have been found, dating from approximately 72,000–60,000 years ago. The earliest probable arrowheads found outside of Africa were discovered in 2020 in
Fa Hien Cave,
Sri Lanka. They have been dated to 48,000 years ago. "Bow-and-arrow hunting at the Sri Lankan site likely focused on monkeys and smaller animals, such as squirrels, Langley says. Remains of these creatures were found in the same sediment as the bone points." Small stone points from the
Grotte Mandrin in Southern France, used some 54,000 years ago, have damage from use that indicates their use as projectile weapons, and some are too small (less than 10mm across as the base) for any practical use other than as arrowheads. They are associated with possibly the first groups of
modern humans to leave Africa. After the
end of the last glacial period, some 12,000 years ago, the use of the bow seems to have spread to every inhabited region except for Australasia and most of Oceania. The reason for the absence of locally made bow and arrow technology from the Australian continent, when it was widely and commonly used elsewhere, has long been debated. It has recently been hypothesised that it is because the mechanical and physical properties of common Australian woods make them unsuitable for selfbows. The earliest definite remains of bow and arrow from
Europe are possible fragments from
Germany found at Mannheim-Vogelstang dated 17,500–18,000 years ago, and at Stellmoor dated 11,000 years ago.
Azilian points found in
Grotte du Bichon,
Switzerland, alongside the remains of both a
bear and a hunter, with
flint fragments found in the bear's third
vertebra, suggest the use of arrows at 13,500 years ago. Recent analyses of stone and bone projectile points from early
Upper Paleolithic contexts suggest that some European
Homo sapiens may have used bow-propelled arrows as early as 40,000–35,000 years ago, earlier than previously assumed. At the site of
Nataruk in
Turkana County, Kenya,
obsidian bladelets found embedded in a
skull and within the
thoracic cavity of another
skeleton, suggest the use of stone-tipped arrows as weapons about 10,000 years ago. The oldest extant bows in one piece are the elm
Holmegaard bows from
Denmark, which were dated to 9,000 BCE. Several bows from Holmegaard, Denmark, date 8,000 years ago. High-performance wooden bows are currently made following the Holmegaard design. The Stellmoor bow fragments from northern Germany were dated to about 8,000 BCE, but they were destroyed in
Hamburg during the
Second World War, before
carbon 14 dating was available; their age is attributed by archaeological association. of the historical Finnish province of
Savo The bow was an important weapon for both
hunting and
warfare from prehistoric times until the widespread use of
gunpowder weapons in the 16th century. It was also common in
ancient warfare, although certain cultures would not favor them. Greek poet
Archilocus expressed scorn for fighting with bows and
slings. The skill of
Nubian archers was renowned in
ancient Egypt and beyond. Their mastery of the bow gained their land the name
Ta-Seti, "Land of the Bow" in Ancient Egyptian. The bow was the national weapon of Persian kings, and images of them carrying it can be seen on
Persian coins. Beginning with the reign of
William the Conqueror, the
English longbow was England's principal ranged weapon until the end of the Middle Ages.
Genghis Khan and his
Mongol hordes conquered much of the Eurasian steppe using short bows. Native Americans used archery to hunt and defend themselves during the
European colonization of the Americas. Organised warfare with bows ended in the early to mid-17th century in
Western Europe, but it persisted into the 19th century in Eastern cultures, including hunting and warfare in the
New World. In the
Canadian Arctic, bows were made until the end of the 20th century for hunting
caribou, for instance at
Igloolik. The bow has more recently been used as a weapon of
tribal warfare in some parts of
Sub-Saharan Africa; an example was documented in 2009 in Kenya when
Kisii people and
Kalenjin people clashed, resulting in four deaths. The British upper class initiated a revival of archery as a sport in the late 18th century. Sir
Ashton Lever, an antiquarian and collector, formed the
Toxophilite Society in
London in 1781, under the patronage of
George IV, then
Prince of Wales. Bows and arrows have been used by modern
special forces for survival and clandestine operations. ==Construction==