THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

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Dennis La Varenne
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THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#1 Post by Dennis La Varenne » Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:09 am

Here is a short article from one of the magazines in my collection of pre-1970 archery magazines. The magazine itself is the National Field Archery of America's own magazine called 'ARCHERY'. The article is by one Eugene Robinson on pages 4 and 5 of the April 1951 edition.

Figure 3 of the article needs to be closely followed during reading to understand what is being explained. The diagramme has many small direction markers to different parts of the bow's construction which can be a bit difficult to follow.

The bows themselves are very sophisticated indeed. I had not realised how complicated they were. Characteristically with many eastern composite bows, they were basically a composite of sinewed back, horn belly and a core of wood with a difference in this case reminiscent of the construction of the Japanese Yumi. How the handle was spliced has always been a question in my mind. The bend in the diagrammes do not suggest that it was heat bent, but rather that the limbs were spliced in the same manner of the siyahs of the mongol and other asiatic bows. the author does not explain how this was done presumably because he was not able to examine a bow without its protective coverings. Where the horn was sourced is not discussed. If it were from the Asian buffalo, it begs the question of how widespread was ancient Egyptian trade and whether they were in trade contact with south eastern Asia, or was the horn used that from their very long horned domestic cattle commonly seen on public building reliefs.

The other bow I would like to have seen discussed at some time was the standard military issue bow which apparently from some sources I recall reading was made from indigenous Acacia but which had the ends well bent into deflex presumably to lessen the bending load on the wood which would have been very dry from the Egyptian climate, while still allowing their long draw to or past the ear. It did not make it to this article of course, but would have been interesting.

Anyway, the article has been made into PDF format for members to read and/or download.
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE BOW.pdf
(872.25 KiB) Downloaded 157 times
Dennis La Varénne

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longbow steve
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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#2 Post by longbow steve » Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:53 am

Thanks for posting the article Dennis. The Angular bow is on my list of bows to make, probably a sinew backed bamboo belly replica. Thanks Steve

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perry
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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#3 Post by perry » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:39 am

Thanks for sharing this Dennis, a very interesting read. I think they have found Composite Bows that date a few hundred years earlier than those discussed in the article in recent years.

I have always been fascinated with the Ancient world and the extent of Trade. 3800 to 3500 year old mummified remains of European People have been in China which highlights how well established the Trade Routes of the Ancient World where.

The last paragraph where they mention replicating one from modern Materials, Glen Newell's Defiant was directly inspired by these Egyptian Angular Bows.

regards Jacko
"To my deep morticication my father once said to me, 'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.' "

- Charles Darwin

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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#4 Post by greybeard » Wed Apr 02, 2014 5:08 pm

Part of the video features Mike Loades discussing and shooting the Egyptian Angular bow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXj-Gb8ptUQ

Daryl.
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For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#5 Post by toby » Wed Apr 09, 2014 5:51 am

300fps from a replica horse bow? They must be some light arrows.
Lyonel

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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#6 Post by greybeard » Wed Apr 09, 2014 1:52 pm

toby wrote:300fps from a replica horse bow? They must be some light arrows.
I think 200 fps would be stretching the imagination.

Daryl.
"And you must not stick for a groat or twelvepence more than another man would give, if it be a good bow.
For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
[Ascham]

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” [Einstein]

I am old enough to make my own decisions....Just not young enough to remember what I decided!....

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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#7 Post by GrahameA » Wed Apr 09, 2014 2:52 pm

Afternoon All.
greybeard wrote:
toby wrote:300fps from a replica horse bow? They must be some light arrows.
I think 200 fps would be stretching the imagination.
From the Video the quote is
... probably close to 300 feet per second ...
What is of "interest" is :

There is no accurate measurement of the arrow velocity and the bow that is shot is a modern "replica"/look alike/whatever of a "Mongolian Bow" - made from GRP, etc.

IMHO take all of it with a grain of salt.

There is a video of a couple of German Archeologists shooting some replica Egyptian bows - and it is good but a very sequence on the bows being shot.

The other big questions involve what the arrows made of I would suggest there is a good chance they were 'River Cane" with a separate foreshaft and nock and what was the draw like I would suggest that it was long, more like a Yumi archer than a modern archer.
Grahame.
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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#8 Post by greybeard » Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:23 pm

Dennis La Varenne wrote:The other bow I would like to have seen discussed at some time was the standard military issue bow which apparently from some sources I recall reading was made from indigenous Acacia but which had the ends well bent into deflex...
Dennis, is it similar to the bow in the foreground of the photograph?
Egyptian Bow With Deflex Tips.jpg
Egyptian Bow With Deflex Tips.jpg (29.47 KiB) Viewed 1701 times
The selfbows on the right of the photograph are interesting in as much that appear to be modelled on a longbow and rigid recurve tips have been added.
Various Egyptian Bows.jpg
Various Egyptian Bows.jpg (132.96 KiB) Viewed 1701 times
Some interesting reading;

Ballistic properties in ancient Egyptian arrows by P.H. Blyth, Ph. D.

http://web.archive.org/web/200702122223 ... ptian.html

Ancient Composite Bows by C.N. Hickman

http://web.archive.org/web/200609290923 ... omposites/

Daryl.
"And you must not stick for a groat or twelvepence more than another man would give, if it be a good bow.
For a good bow twice paid for, is better than an ill bow once broken.
[Ascham]

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” [Einstein]

I am old enough to make my own decisions....Just not young enough to remember what I decided!....

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GrahameA
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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#9 Post by GrahameA » Thu Apr 10, 2014 7:13 am

Morning Daryl.

Those links are to archived pages of the old Sag'' site. A better link for those articles is: http://sagittarius.student.utwente.nl/artikel/
Grahame.
Shoot a Selfbow, embrace Wood Arrows, discover Vintage, be a Trendsetter.

"Unfortunately, the equating of simplicity with truth doesn't often work in real life. It doesn't often work in science, either." Dr Len Fisher.

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Re: THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN COMPOSITE ANGULAR BOW

#10 Post by perry » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:31 am

The discussion rang a Bell for me and I remembered an Article from a "Glade Magazine" I read Years Ago that did a test on a Horn and Sinew Composite.

I don't have a copy of the Magazine but this link to a thread I posted Years ago has the numbers the Testers achieved.

http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5839

So my reply is a little more credible I will poke around through my Collection later on and see if I can find a Photo Copy of the Article I have a vague memory of making when I borrowed it from the owner. Perhaps someone here has a Glade Magazine collection and knows the Article. I don't think the Egyptian Composite could compete with the figures in the link but it is an insight into the performance capabilities of a Horn and Sinew Composite

regards Jacko
"To my deep morticication my father once said to me, 'You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.' "

- Charles Darwin

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