Bede; I apologize if my tone was unfriendly. However, if you read the thread just a few posts up I call for a citation. The author of the Arcat Del dissertation has stated that the bow was broken before being put in the grave. I have stuck my neck out and offered that another scenario is more likely. Having heard several times on this forum that nomads were afraid of the spirits of their ancestors, I call for a citation from a noted author on the subject.
You may have been present at WTAF when I presented a paper on just this subject, belief systems of ancient peoples concerning archery. In that paper I published a considerable bibliography on the subject. Possibly you have those proceedings already in your library.
Nowhere do I remember it being stated that in these belief systems that ancients were afraid of their own family spirits. What I am looking for is a citation to the contrary to support the intentional breaking of burial goods especially this bow.
This is the scientific method by which we begin to validate belief systems. This is exactly the place to discuss this topic.
Mongol bow and quiver find in Tsagaan Khad
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jack farrell
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Uli
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jack farrell
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Dr. Erdenebat has come to the logical conclusion. The great majority of Mongolian graves are in the soil and there is plenty of moisture in Mongolia so that bows placed in the graves disintegrate down to the bone grip plate. In other places the soil composition might even eat this up. There are only several conditions under which an ancient bow might survive and one is a dry burial in a dry place. These are comparatively rare so the archaeologist has little opportunity to compare existing bows from burials.
In the Arcat Del burial all the grave goods are complete- except the bow. It might not occur to the archaeologist that the bow failed, possibly, a year AFTER the burial. So he concludes-rightly- that the bow was broken before the burial.
I offer the other bow which he shows, the Novgorod bow, as evidence. One tip is twisted at 90 degrees to its limb. It would be far greater likelihood that this also occurred in the grave than before.
A survey of ancient bows from Central Asia and Mongolia shows that they have sustained damage consistent with having been left strung in the grave. This is my hypotheses; but the question is why.
Only certain cultures buried people with weapons. Christians generally do not, nor do Jews, nor Moslems. Shamanists do however as do Tengrinists; these are Mongolian worshippers of a sky god and others. Buddhists have been known to bury warriors with weapons. This must be predicated on the notion that these will be useful/necessary in the next life. To bury a relative with a weapon that is intentionally disabled would seem to be counter productive.
I have myself seen Native Americans buried with disabled weapons, the purpose of which, I assume, was to allow the weapon to follow the owner to the next level. This is also done to any number of objects such as ceramics, prayer objects and etc., but the damage done is usually superficial.
In the case of the Arcat Del burial, only the bow is damaged and nothing else, not the arrows, nor the saddle. So I must discount this theory also.
My current thesis is that the deceased was expected to need his bow immediately after the funeral when he met the awaiting spirits of his deceased enemies and prepared to do battle as he did on the terrestrial level. The stringing of the bow is the ultimate good will gesture to a traveling relative.
In the Arcat Del burial all the grave goods are complete- except the bow. It might not occur to the archaeologist that the bow failed, possibly, a year AFTER the burial. So he concludes-rightly- that the bow was broken before the burial.
I offer the other bow which he shows, the Novgorod bow, as evidence. One tip is twisted at 90 degrees to its limb. It would be far greater likelihood that this also occurred in the grave than before.
A survey of ancient bows from Central Asia and Mongolia shows that they have sustained damage consistent with having been left strung in the grave. This is my hypotheses; but the question is why.
Only certain cultures buried people with weapons. Christians generally do not, nor do Jews, nor Moslems. Shamanists do however as do Tengrinists; these are Mongolian worshippers of a sky god and others. Buddhists have been known to bury warriors with weapons. This must be predicated on the notion that these will be useful/necessary in the next life. To bury a relative with a weapon that is intentionally disabled would seem to be counter productive.
I have myself seen Native Americans buried with disabled weapons, the purpose of which, I assume, was to allow the weapon to follow the owner to the next level. This is also done to any number of objects such as ceramics, prayer objects and etc., but the damage done is usually superficial.
In the case of the Arcat Del burial, only the bow is damaged and nothing else, not the arrows, nor the saddle. So I must discount this theory also.
My current thesis is that the deceased was expected to need his bow immediately after the funeral when he met the awaiting spirits of his deceased enemies and prepared to do battle as he did on the terrestrial level. The stringing of the bow is the ultimate good will gesture to a traveling relative.