'PRIMITIVE' BOWS
The word 'primitive' has a negative connotation, but bows made by so-called 'primitive' peoples were far from crude sticks!
The Holmegaard bow from Denmark, the Meare heath Bow from England, the Penobscot bows of America and the sinew cable-backed and bound bows of the Inuit illustrate how the technology of the day was pushed to its limit by the bowmakers and archers who depended on the bow for their survival. SPTA encourages the study and making of such bows, through disseminating information to it's members and holding occasional winter workshops introducing would-be bowmakers to the principles of bow design and bowmaking. 'Meare Heath' bow (c. 2500BC). Found in Somerset, England
(photos: copyright H Greenland)

 'Aschcott' bow A contemporary of the Meare Heath, also found in Somerset, England
(photo: copyright H Greenland)

TOP: A rare photograph of this yew half-bow, taken by Hilary Greenland who surveyed it in 1999. The decorative bindings were added after the bow was finished, toolmarks on the back show where the diagonal binding had been trimmed. There is no sapwood evident.
BELOW: A yew half-bow of 'English longbow' design (known as the Ashcott bow) found nearby, and is dated within 100 years of this flatbow -evidence of the variety of bow designs used by ancient peoples.
Please refer to the article 'Meare Heath Enigma' by Hilary in 'Instinctive Archer' (Winter 99) for more information.

NEWS (Oct 2002)
See the wessex archaeology website: http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/amesbury/archer.html
for information on the important finds from a 4,500 year old archer burial site from Wiltshire, known as 'The Amesbury Archer"

Some 'approximations' of primitive bows made by SPTA members are shown below.

Decorated ash cable-backed flatbow. Elm Holmegaard. Hickory Meare Heath bow.

SPTA Founder Hilary Greenland and Allan Course took part in the BBC 2 programme 'Meet the Ancestors' (episode: 'Hunter of the Plain')
Hilary's yew flatbow was taken to Stonehenge at  Winter Solstice. Allan is shown being filmed testing the bow.

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