western Scythian? be afraid...

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:36 am

What I see are three distinct construction methods. The Yanghai bows all seem to have a central standing lath of horn used as a nock post. The upper most pair appear to be spliced into a wooden construction lacking a standing horn core piece. The Altai pair appear to be overlaid onto the belly side of a wood construction.

In both latter cases, these pieces would be unnecessary if there had been a horn central core piece.

A useful item to make these horn hooks with would be the tips of an Ibex horn. This would further support your (Adam's) hypothesis that the Ibex lends inspiration to the bow type.

There was recently an indepth discussion on Trad. Asian Archery on FB showing another possible inspiration for the hook ends. A lituus is a hook shaped stick used to delineate a portion of the sky in preparation for divination. (Jurgen's discovery) These have been associated with Scythian type bows, and others. Just a side bar.

Pat Menzies · Post by **Pat Menzies** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 12:45 am

To me the hooks on the tips are mainly there to prevent the string slipping off at full draw which is always a distinct possibility with short bows bent to the max.

Adam Karpowicz · Post by **Adam Karpowicz** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:58 am

I would not put too much importance in the methods of construction, as long as the basic shape and the lengths are close. Some of the Yanghai shape bows did not have the central (vertical) horn laths. The scarf joints and all kinds of splices could be used depending on the material at hand for bows which come from the same region. If a bowyes did not have good horn for the central lath, then adding the belly overlays with the hook is a logical step. Even for bows with the central laths, the belly horn at the tips would be helpful for durability.

I see the splices as details to be solved at the level of a village bowyer (with a possible exception of the vertical V-splice). The overal shape however is defined by the regional preferences and traditions.

Adam

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:47 pm

Agreed. By hook I mean the entire recurve, lacking customary parts to identify as siyah, kasan etc. By nock post I identify the point of the string attachment, lacking a slot or etc.

I see the all wood limb version, with or without spliced in or overlaid hooks as especially useful for extreme cold weather applications.

Pic of Greek "Scythian type bow ?" without hooks.