THE ABORIGINAL BOW AND ARROW OF NORTH AMERICA AND EASTERN ASIA 1

Abstract

P REVIOUS studies of weapon culture in the region of the Pacific have been limited to local discussions or regional surveys of either Asia or America. Syntheses of material for continental areas have been made, such as Otis T. Mason's paper, North America Bows, Arrows and Quivers,2 the two papers of Bruno Adler, Der nordasiastische Pfeil3 and Die Bogen Norda-siens,4 and Edward S. Morse's Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow Release.' Of these the latter alone assumes an intercontinental scope; Mason's work being in the main confined to the western hemisphere and Adler's to the eastern hemisphere. The purpose of the following analysis is to begin an intercontinental comparison between America and Asia in regard to the culture complex of archery on a broader basis than arrow release alone, as undertaken by Morse. This introductory study of the Asiatic-American comparison is mainly confined to the analysis of archery with a view to classification and distribution. The form and construction of bows and arrows and methods of arrow release are considered. NEW AND OLD WORLD BOW TYPES Classification of bows-The technology of bow construction offers the following possibilities: (a) The bow may consist of a single strip of flexible material, most commonly wood. (b) The bow may consist of two or more materials attached throughout the entire length of the stave so as to form in effect a single piece. Bows made of wood with an overlayer of sinew, bows made of layers of wood, horn and sinew or of two or more kinds of wood are in this classification. (c) The stave may be wrapped with a tough substance such as sinew or rattan, or attached by wrappings to a sinew cable the length of the stave. 1 The findings of this paper were suggested by a study of the Joseph Jessop archery col-lection of the San Diego Museum, numbering some five thousand items. Grateful acknowledge-ment is here given to Dr. Edward L. Hardy, director of the San Diego Museum, for having made the collection available to the author for study. 2 Otis Tufton Mason, North American Bows, Arrows and Quivers (Annual Report, Smith-sonian Institution, 1893), pp. 631-679. 1 Bruno Adler, Der nordasiatische Pfeil, ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Anthropogeographie