Gengis Khan Exhibit-Houston

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:29 pm

Just got off the phone with the organizer of the Genghis Khan exhibit and both of these bows, arrows and quiver were borrowed from the National Museum in Mongolia. They came to the exhibit without provenance.

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:36 am

Jack,
Carrying on from what Adam said, I have pictures of Siberian bows which were made from laminated wood were tips were spliced in to be carved into nocks. At the time I saw these, I could not check the type of wood used to see if it was tougher than the limbs. It might have been used to get the extra thickness.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:52 am

oops!

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:06 pm

Now comes information from the National Museum of Mongolia about the bows. Both HMNS bows were found in a cave in Shiluustei sum, Zavkhan province in Western Mongolia. The materials are said to be ibex horn, sinew, birch wood, birch-bark and the arrows made of wicker.

I am attempting to find an archaeological report on the site. In the exhibit there is a desiccated corpse but without any mention of site association. Maybe there is a connection. Andrew Hall pointed out two other cave sites where bows were present.

The organizer of the exhibit points out an upcoming book on Mongols by Honeychurch, edited by Wm. Fitzhugh as a possible source of information. The book, due out July 15, has a prerelease price of $26.40 on Amazon. Fitzhugh is a former curator at the Smithsonian.

The museum does not appear to have a sophisticated knowledge of historic bowbuilding, by the reference. -j-

Dusan · Post by **Dusan** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:45 pm

Thank you Jack. Good work !

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Thu Jun 18, 2009 1:37 am

Jack,
I wonder what they meant by wicker. Generally it means something woven from osiers or twigs. The root in English is from an old Scandinavian word for willow.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:40 am

Bede; Allowing for some problems with translation, a stick was what I had in mind when I saw the arrows rather than something split from a log (lumber). Wicker would also be a synonym for withe, a slender stick. Note on my drawing that I wrote red ozier next to the quiver bent stick parts, p.3. Reminded me of red ozier dogwood, not willow.

Maybe there is an ozier dogwood in Mongolia good for arrows? -j-

mongolianarcher · Post by **mongolianarcher** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:17 pm

jack farrell wrote:New exhibit opening in Houston, Texas. 200 items of the era. Two bows, nine arrows, one quiver.

http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_ex ... gh.asp?r=1

If you can enlarge the picture of the arrows one can see on four or five arrows that the cock feather is at 90 degrees to the nock. However,the fletches go all the way to the nocks like a Turkish arrow. To me this would suggest a thumb release because of little space to hold the arrow for another release.

The upper bow is like other Mongol bows known, such as Stephen's. The lower bow however has much more bent recurves though the rest is as before. Very stout, thick limbs. The upper bow has been more "shot in".

Cost to see the exhibit is $22. They are very proud of the material. Bet they do not allow photography. Museum going is getting more like theatre every day.

I am sorry for bringing up such a late topic but, were the arrows around 30 inches long not including the large points?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:25 am

Lucas; If I said 30" I meant the shaft. -j-

mongolianarcher · Post by **mongolianarcher** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:59 pm

OH so the yuan dynasty didnt use the long draw did they. Maybe they just drew to the ear. What do you suppose? Since the huns had similar designs, did they have similar length draws around 30inches ?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Tue Oct 27, 2009 11:40 pm

Lucas; Complex question. The Hunn arrows in the SRMS may be just a touch longer than the Mongol arrows. I would not say for sure that the Mongol arrows were drawn fully. If you can imagine a huge factory operation making arrows for tens of thousands of archers then you might expect arrows to be generic, maybe most being as long as necessary. maybe not all archers fully drew their allotment of arrows. Maybe an arrow was most fully drawn on some instance but not always.

Maybe we can expect that the typical Mongol was not as tall as a typical modern person.

I think I remember you saying that you are tall so you must decide if your bow will be proportionally larger than an original or equal to the original. -j-

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:03 am

Jack,
Have your drawings been dropped from this thread?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:41 am

Whoops; But you can find two drawings in the proceedings of the WTAF seminar 2009, p 67. It shows four horn slats but there turned out to be 6!

Bede · Post by **Bede** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:49 pm

Thanks Jack.
It is valuable work.

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Wed Jun 29, 2011 2:16 pm

This exhibit has now moved on to Irving, Texas, between Dallas and Ft. Worth. Apparently the bows and arrows are part of the display.

http://stephaniesuesansmith.com/genghis ... is-summer/

This is the first exhibit in my knowledge to bring Mongol period archery gear to the USA. There were two different period bows, numerous arrows and a birch bark quiver in the display. The admission cost is now $12. Almost half of the Houston price!

Gengis Khan Exhibit-Houston

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