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Many bow designs have been used in different
cultures and time periods. Common designs are;
solid wood (the English longbow), laminated wood
(Japanese and Sami bows) and bone-wood-hide composite
(Middle East, India, Mongols).
In modern times, the plastic composite and compound
bows dominate for sport and hunting practices.
Although the bow is nowadays thought of primarily
as a weapon, it is not clear whether this was
its original use. It may have started life as
a musical instrument and only later used to shoot
arrows. The bow is still used as a musical instrument
in some cultures today. It is usually referred
to as a musical bow when used in this way, both
to distinguish it from the weapon, and from the
kind of bow used to play string instruments. The
berimbau is a Brazillian instrument that probably
developed from the bow.
Modern-day use of bows for hunting is a matter
of controversy in some areas but is common and
accepted in others. Bow hunting is also still
practiced in traditional cultures worldwide.
The bow seems to have been invented in the late
Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic. The oldest indication
for its use in Europe come from Stellmoor in the
Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg, Germany and
date from the late Palaeolithic Hamburgian culture
(9000-8000 BC). The arrows were made of pine-wood
and consisted of a main-shaft and a 15-20 cm (6-8
inches) long fore-shaft with a flint point. The
oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård
swamp in Denmark. In the 1940s, two bows were
found there. They are made of elm-wood and have
flat arms and a D-shaped midsection. The middle
part is biconvex.
The complete bow is 1.50 m (5 ft) long. Bows of
Holmegaard-type were in use until the Bronze Age;
the convexity of the midsection decreases through
time. Mesolithic arrows have been found in England,
Germany, Denmark and Sweden. They were often rather
long (up to 120 cm [4 ft.]) and made of hazel
(Corylus avellana), wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana)
and chokecherry (Cornus alba). Some still have
flint arrow-heads preserved; others have blunt
wooden ends for hunting birds and small game.
The ends show traces of fletching, which was fastened
on with birch-tar.
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