The Archaeology Of Archery; Origins DOCX

Title	The Archaeology Of Archery; Origins
Author	Michael Hoadley
Pages	5
File Size	27 KB
File Type	DOCX
Total Downloads	247
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Summary

1 The Archaeology Of Archery Origins by Michael Hoadley (12th Anniversary Lecture, The Ancient World Society 2015) The technological stages in man’s evolution can, in a real sense, be encapsulated in the phrase “toward a better mousetrap”. Cognition is not merely recognition but involves a process t...

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1 The Archaeology Of Archery Origins by Michael Hoadley (12th Anniversary Lecture, The Ancient World Society 2015) The technological stages in man's evolution can, in a real sense, be encapsulated in the phrase "toward a better mousetrap". Cognition is not merely recognition but involves a process that includes the ability to develop and adapt that knowledge toward one or more ends. Microlith-tipped projectile weapons effectively extended the range of the pre-historic hunter and they were clearly the consummation of a long process of adaption and experimentation. Such weapons also conferred a substantive advantage to modern humans as they left Africa. The bow and arrow also extended the range of lethal interpersonal violence. For instance, Neanderthal man with his hand cast spear would have been out-classed by Homo sapiens with bow and arrows. Although the emergence of the bow and arrow has had such great significance in the development of mankind, nothing to date has provided a reasonable explanation of the origin of this particular weapon. There are no known remains of bows and arrows before the late Upper Palaeolithic/Mesolithic transition period. It is my assertion that this is with good reason. I see the advent of the bow and arrow as a direct response to a shift in available prey species. In the late Palaeolithic the only materials available for making bows and arrows were wood, bamboo, the muscles, tendons and sinews of animals, and certain plant fibres. Under natural conditions, bows and arrow shafts of these materials just would not survive 20-30,000 years. Only the arrow heads made of stone and, rarely, of bone can be used to irrefutably prove the existence of arrows. Their presence on late Palaeolithic sites is only an indication of the latest stage in the process of invention. The catapult principle employed with the bow and arrow has no counterpart in the physical world. Many of man's earliest 'tools' have physical counterparts but there is nothing in nature that man could have copied that corresponds to the shape and catapult mechanism of the bow. However, even if we found the perfectly preserved remains of a primitive bow and arrow we would still be no nearer the answer to the question of how it came to be invented. As such, the existence of the bow and arrow demonstrates an enormous leap in the cognitive abilities of Homo sapiens. J.D. Bernal suggested that ancient people invented the bow and arrow through an accumulation of their experiences in hunting. Ma Guang Yan, however, has suggested that the bow and arrow originated in the fishing gear of ancient people. This rests entirely on an interpretation of Chinese pictograms that use fishing symbolism (1). While the harpoon is a very ancient development, its use does not involve the catapult mechanism. That comes much later with the use of a crossbow to fire harpoons. Bernal was essentially right but he did not develop his explanation. Bernal also took the view that, after an initial invention, the use of the bow and arrow spread all over the world. This is a diffusionist explanation that no longer...