Study pinpoints when bow and arrow came to North America

Radiocarbon results suggest a single origin and rapid diffusion through cultural transition networks.

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[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

This is making me think about how the Makah on the far northwestern tip of Washington State have no tradition of using the bow and arrow but in the excavations of Ozette village, a Makah settlement that was catastrophically buried in a landslide in the 18th Century, at least one bow and arrow set was found. So apparently for them it's a technology that had been adopted and then later abandoned. I wonder how common that might be over time and geography.

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

I do question how much of the relatively poor biomechanics is due to the downward direction of the throw, versus due to the guard rails on the scissorlift getting in the way.

It's interesting that in the last photo the thrower is wearing a safety harness that appears to be anchored to someone sitting on the lift platform. In my 20s I used scissor lifts quite a bit and never really trusted the railings, despite my rational brain knowing they are very secure. Depending on how much slack that harness is allowing it could affect the throw.

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

It is worthwhile to remember that holding a taut bow is tiring, in a way that holding a loaded atlatl is not. I can't really think of a situation where that's a major issue, but it's good to be alert to those kinds of trade-offs, lest we assume a newer technology is universally better.

Certainly didn't seem to be a problem at Agincourt where the slower to load but easier to keep loaded until sighted on a target crossbows underperformed the rapid fire longbows.