The complete bow discovered during this year's campaign. Credit: Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona
The process of the work was carried out at the La Draga site in Griona, Spain. Credit: Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona
Posted on 06/29/2012 2:01:29 PM PDT by Red Badger
The complete bow discovered during this year's campaign. Credit: Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona
The process of the work was carried out at the La Draga site in Griona, Spain. Credit: Universitat Autňnoma de Barcelona
GGG Ping!.............
SA-WEET!
we were just talking about this on another thread too.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2899837/posts
That's either an ICBM trail or an airliner condensation trail. Those other two long things look like 'rods from god'.
Ping!.........
Oh, I misread it my first time through it. I thought they said it was the oldest bow ever found in europe, which would make it the oldest ever found in the world. That just isn’t the case. Still pretty cool though. It makes a person wonder why the oldest bows are found in europe when common knowledge says civilization started in the fertile crescent...or the indus valley, or china...depending on your personal bias. But why is the oldest bow not found in one of these 3 places?
Hmmm?
Germans always make good stuff...........
Seriously though, wood does not fare well in those places. The Bible speaks of burning the enemies weapons so it must have been common practice in those areas. I would imagine that any bows that were used back then were eventually burned as firewood. Unless someone finds a long lost tomb, well preserved and sealed, any bows and arrows from those ares will not be forthcoming any time soon.
The Chinese have barely scratched the surface of excavating the tomb of Emperor Qin and may take a hundred years to do so.
But that would only date back to the 3rd century BC.......
Put a bow on that bow and take a bow. Very cool. We know very little about our ancient ancestors. FWIW I found an Indian spear point in my vegetable garden which (discovery) blew me away. I will always be in awe of the kid who found the mastodon tusk in his lawn. Buried treasure. That’s awesome. sd
those damn jerries! no wonder their stuff is better...they had a head start!
jk
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks Red Badger. I feel a little neolithic myself, it's been a long week. |
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I can recall reading about the early use of ochre and shell beads in South Africa some 85,000 ya. In the same cave system they found arrowheads at the 60,000 year level but no wood had survived. Arrowheads are so constructed that they would not be of any use in a larger tool like a spear or smaller throwing spear. Based on that logic, arrowheads have been found in the Middle East, Europe, India and the Far East from periods far before this bow. The Arians had bows and arrows when they came south into India and their religious myths tell of bows and arrows in their ancient past.
My colleague, "'Bodark' (Bois D' Arc) Phil" Cross, the famed Caddo Indian bowyer, makes "Osage Orange" bows that are much more slab-like (far less "tillering").
That little jewel looks fragile -- especially out on those slender tips...
The workmanship of early humans never ceases to amaze me. (How is it that some of the earliest Americans made projectile points (Clovis, Folsom) that are still considered to be the pinnacle of the flintknapping art?)
In some ways, it seems that man is DEvolving... ;-(
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Speaking of which, has any of you picked up on the stories of looting and destruction of early Egyptian artifacts since the Muzzie Brotherhood has taken over Egypt? I certainly hope those savages don't "turn Taliban" and start destroying all that "infidel art" in Egypt!
when that arrow head meant the difference between dining and starving, you can betcha every ounce of ingenuity was poured into it.
I’m a lithic technologist, and I take the opposite view: When your stomach is growling with hunger, anything pointed enough to poke a hole will do; when you are fat and happy, then (and only then) can you afford to take the time, effort (and risk) to turn out out a perfect, ultra-thinned work of art...
The atlatl (and "heavy caliber" 'dart points') served very well for a long span of time. As long as heavy game predominated, I would think there was little incentive to abandon the "30.06" (atlatl dart) for the ".223" (tiny arrowpoint)...
(It is enlightening and worth the exercise to look up the distance record for an atlatl dart throw...)
The arguement that the bow and arrow was initially used for small game and bird attracts my interest. For just the reasons you state, there was no crying need for arrows to bring down big game but getting squirrels out of a tree?
Thanks TXnMA.
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