Some questions relatng siyah.

[Stephen Selby]

Scythian bows and ibex horn.

I have remarked elsewhere that the limbs of the Subexi bows are reminiscent of ibex horns. I admit though that I can't prove that they were actually made of that horn. Although I have the technology to identify wood from cell structure (the wood used was smoky tamarisk), I have no technology to determine what animal horn or bone came from.

A very striking point, however, is that none of the Subexi-type bows I studied had long lengths of horn in their limbs. They were all mosaics of horn, by-and-large symmetrical in the manner that the horn was laid down.

Another minor interesting detail. Bodies, fabrics, wood and sinew were generally well-preserved in Subexi burials; but horn was invariably attacked by a small rodent or large insect that left minute striations in the bite marks.

[jack farrell]

This is one of a pair of Ibex horns I found at the bazaar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan; starting price $40. But no way would they pass customs so I left them there. Two pairs available.

These would be the type which were available to the maker of the Subeshi bow. There are many other kinds of Ibex.

Have i missed a published set of plans on this bow? There isn't enough information (dimensions, etc) being passed around in this discussion to tell heads from tails.

[redhawk]

Stephen, would you mind to post your recordings here or mail them to Jack?
I appreciate Jack?s experienced sense for history in general and especially for archery of the Central Asian Steppe very much.

Michael

[Stephen Selby]

I did some drawings, but they remained incomplete because the complexity of the bow and damage to the original made it difficult for me to do it properly. Also I drew in quite a large format and I will need to find a way to reduce them to a useful digital format.

[Bede]

Stephen,
I have a copy and can convert them into digital drawings on the weekend. If you like I can put them on the web site. I was preparing an article and it makes no difference to me when I do the drawings.

[Adam Karpowicz]

Jack mentioned that aged sinew layer expands and in the article by Andrew and Jack on Miran bows it was said the sinew was "puffed up" (great article by the way, congratulations!).

Are there any literature refs about this effect? Or is it the first time you have seen it in an old bow?

Adam

[jack farrell]

Adam; Thanks for the compliment. Andrew did a superlative job. Without him this would be a different kind of article. For those who have not seen it, the article is about two bows found on the Silk Road in Xinjaing, China. The article is in the latest JSAA.

This is the oldest bow I have seen in person, well over one thousand years old. I think you can see from illustrations 5 and 7 and others that things are coming apart.

McLeod talks about this problem discussing the Tut bows which are 3300 years old. A slightly different effect though.

[Adam Karpowicz]

Jack, would you mind expanding on this effect? What did McLeod say it was? Why do you say the layer is "puffed-up"? Do you see looseness of the sinew strands or signs of swelling of the layer?

Thanks
Adam

[Andrew Hall]

Thanks for the complements on the article, I am grateful to Jack for the opportunity to co-write on such interesting finds.

I look forward to seeing the drawings of the Scythian bow structure as information on these bows is hard to obtain. They would be an interesting type to attempt to reconstruct, and being made from a mosaic of horn would enable me to use some of the off-cuts I have from previous bowmaking.

The references to following the shape of the ibex horns probably implies that they did not use scarfed in solid wood siyahs like the find at Vengerovo-7 in Siberia (see http://history.novosibdom.ru/node/52 ). I wonder if the bows had the same variety of internal constructions as the Egyptian angular composites.

Andrew