The bow and
arrow predates written history. By the
time the last Ice age ended the
technology had spread to every inhabited
continent except Australia. The oldest
bows in one piece are the Elm Holmegaard
Bows from Denmark that date to around
9,000 BC. The last bows to be
dated to around that time period were
from northern Germany and called the
Stellmoor Fragments. Unfortunately they
were destroyed during the Second World
War. These bows weren’t aged using
carbon 14 dating but their age was
assumed to be the archeological
association. Believe it or not current
bows still use that same basic design. Since
its invention the bow has been an
important instrument for hunting and
warfare. People still use it today for
hunting but its use in warfare died out
mostly in Europe during the late 16
century. Whereas it continued to be used
in the new world by the natives until
the late 19 century. Up
until the early
1860’s late 1870’s
archery was fairly
small and not a
popular American
hobby in comparison
to its current
status today. In
1878, Maurice
Thompson published
the book The
Witchery of
Archery, which
inspired a lot of
people to pick up
the bow and arrow.
In 1879, the newly
founded National
Archery Association
(NAA) which formed
in Indiana held the
first U.S- sponsored
tournament.
In 1934 archery reentered the
Olympics. Holless Wilbur Allen
is a man well known in the
archery community. He felt that
bows could be adjusted using
cams and or levers to make them
more powerful. After several
attempts he found that the
mechanical advantages presented
by adding cams to either end of
the bow allowed one to draw a
bow and hold it there using less
energy than it took to draw it.
This gave hunters and
recreational archers a huge
advantage when hunting or in
competition. He
patented his idea in 1966 and of
the companies that bought rights
to his original patent only one
still exists, PSE (Precision
Shooting Equipment).