Stone Age man invented the bow
Q: When was the bow and arrow invented? I have been told it was invented less than a thousand years ago?
A:  A simple bow is a slender, straight-grained wooden shaft tapered from the center to each tip and bent into an arc by a
cord shorter than the wood. An inspired Stone-Age man invented it and became the most efficient hunter on Earth. Flint
arrows date back 25,000 to 50,000 years ago but no doubt men made arrows without stone points for untold ages before
that.
Right: [SARC, Univ of Oslo] The simple bow
"Certainly by the upper Palaeolithic [Age] (c. 30,000 to 35,000) we have smaller, pointed tools with impact damage
consistent with use as arrow points-- though not all small, pointed tools are arrow points as is often assumed," says
archeologist Roger Grace of the University of Oslo, Norway.
The earliest archeological evidence comes from Western Europe sites dated about 40,000 years ago. Later, in 30,000 B.C., artists left cave paintings of the
bow and arrow.
"Material evidence for bows and arrows, i.e. remains of bows, are not found until the Mesolithic [Age] (c.10,000) but that is a matter of preservation,"
continues Grace.
(Answered by April Holladay, science correspondent, June 20, 2001)
Further Surfing:
SARC, Univ of Oslo: Stone tool technology
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