Archery origins
Revival as a sport
Bow types
Shooting types
Origins and ancient archery
Archery is older than recorded history. The oldest known evidence of the bow and arrow is from South Africa, where the remains of bone and stone arrowheads have been found dating approximately 72,000 to 60,000 years ago. The earliest definite remains of bow and arrow from Europe are possible fragments from Germany dated 17,500 to 18,000 years ago, and at Stellmoor dated 11,000 years ago.
Classical civilizations, notably the Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, Persians, Parthians, Romans, Indians, Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese fielded large numbers of archers in their armies. Egyptians referred to Nubia as "Ta-Seti," or "The Land of the Bow," since the Nubians were known to be expert archers. The Bronze Age Aegean Cultures were able to deploy a number of state-owned specialized bow makers for warfare and hunting purposes from the 15th century BC. The Welsh longbow proved its worth for the first time in Continental warfare at the Battle of Crécy, and in the Americas archery was widespread at European contact.
Medieval archery
The medieval shortbow was technically identical with the classical era bows, having a range of approximately 100 yards (91 m). It was the primary ranged weapon of the battlefield through the early medieval period. Around the tenth century the crossbow was introduced in Europe. Crossbows generally had a longer range, greater accuracy and more penetration than the shortbow, but suffered from a much slower rate of fire. During the late medieval period the English army famously relied on massed archers armed with the longbow, while the French army relied more on the crossbow. The longbow had a range of up to 300 yards (270 m). However its lack of accuracy at long ranges made it a mass weapon rather than an individual one. Significant victories attributable to the longbow, such as the battles of Crecy and Agincourt resulted in the English longbow becoming part of military lore.
The development of firearms rendered bows obsolete in warfare, although efforts were sometimes made to preserve archery practice. In England and Wales, for example, the government tried to enforce practice with the longbow until the end of the 16th century. Almost every culture that gained access to even early firearms used them widely, to the neglect of archery. Due to the lower skill level required, armies equipped with guns could provide superior firepower, and highly trained archers became obsolete on the battlefield.
Revival as a sport
Throughout the 17th and 18th century, archery was generally little more than a pastime; early recreational archery societies included the Finsbury Archers and the Ancient Society of Kilwinning Archers. The Royal Company of Archers was formed in 1676 and is one of the oldest sporting bodies in the world. In the late 18th century the sport experienced a fashionable revival among the aristocracy, however the extravagant social and ceremonial events were largely kept for the nobility, complete with flags, music and 21-gun salutes for the competitors. It was often consciously styled in the manner of a Medieval tournament with titles and laurel wreaths being presented as a reward to the victor. The societies were also elitist, and the new middle class bourgeoisie were excluded from the clubs due to their lack of social status.
After the Napoleonic Wars, the sport became increasingly popular among all classes, and it was framed as a nostalgic reimagining of the preindustrial rural Britain.
A modern sport
The 1840s saw the second attempts at turning the recreation into a modern sport. The first Grand National Archery Society meeting was held in York in 1844 and over the next decade the extravagant and festive practices of the past were gradually whittled away and the rules were standardized as the 'York Round' - a series of shoots at 60 yards (55 m), 80 yards (73 m), and 100 yards (91 m).
Towards the end of the 19th century, participation declined as alternative sports such as croquet and tennis became more popular among the middle class. By 1889, just 50 archery clubs were left in Britain, but it was still included as a sport at the 1900 Paris Olympics. From the 1920s, professional engineers took an interest in archery, previously the exclusive field of traditional craft experts. They led the commercial development of new forms of bow including the modern recurve and compound bow. These modern forms are now dominant in modern Western archery; traditional bows are in a minority. Archery returned to the Olympics in 1972.
Types of bow
While there is great variety in the construction details of bows, all bows consist of a string attached to elastic limbs that store mechanical energy imparted by the user drawing the string. Bows may be broadly split into two categories: those drawn by pulling the string directly and those that use a mechanism to pull the string.
Directly drawn bows may be further divided based upon differences in the method of limb construction, and also by the bow shape of the limbs when unstrung; in contrast to traditional European straight bows, a recurve bow and some types of longbow have tips that curve away from the archer when the bow is unstrung. The cross-section of the limb also varies; the classic longbow is a tall bow with narrow limbs that are D-shaped in cross section, and the flatbow has flat wide limbs that are approximately rectangular in cross-section.
In different cultures, the arrows are released from either the left or right side of the bow, and this affects the hand grip and position of the bow. In Arab archery, Turkish archery and Kyūdō, the arrows are released from the right hand side of the bow, and this affects construction of the bow. In western archery, the arrow is usually released from the left hand side of the bow for a right-handed archer.
Compound bows are designed to reduce the force required to hold the string at full draw, hence allowing the archer more time to aim with less muscular stress. Most compound designs use cams or elliptical wheels on the ends of the limbs to achieve this. A typical let-off is anywhere from 65% to 80%. For example, a 60-pound bow with 80% let-off only requires 12 pounds of force to hold at full draw.
Because of this, and the character of the acceleration of the arrow being smoother, for a given archer, compound bows can both provide more energy to the arrow and allow a steadier aim, allowing the archer to shoot with considerably greater accuracy.
Types of shooting
There are generally three types of shooting in modern recreational archery.
Target archery involves shooting from a single shooting line towards the target with several dozen arrows making up a full round. Each round can be divided into several distances which are shot from the longest distance down to the shortest distance. This is the kind of archery which takes place at the Olympic Games and a single round can take up to an entire day to complete.Field archery involves shooting a few arrows at each of many targets while walking around a carefully laid out course similar to playing golf. Finally, clout Archery has archers shooting some of the longest distances trying to hit a single target over 100 yards away. Each discipline has different requirements and attracts different kinds of Archer.
Compound bows are designed to reduce the force required to hold the string at full draw, hence allowing the archer more time to aim with less muscular stress. Most compound designs use cams or elliptical wheels on the ends of the limbs to achieve this. A typical let-off is anywhere from 65% to 80%. For example, a 60-pound bow with 80% let-off only requires 12 pounds of force to hold at full draw.
Because of this, and the character of the acceleration of the arrow being smoother, for a given archer, compound bows can both provide more energy to the arrow and allow a steadier aim, allowing the archer to shoot with considerably greater accuracy.