First Nations Archery

Ice Age man crossed the Bering straight from Asia into the unknown lands of the Americas some 20,000 years ago. With him, he brought the valued tools of his trade, hunting. Among his hunting tools, the bow and arrow played a significant role. Gradually these early hunters had dispersed throughout both North and South America and fragmented into a variety of languages and individual cultures. These cultures were modified and adapted to the varied geographies of the Americas, but the one thing that they shared in common was the practice of Native American Archery.

 

 

Native American Bow and Arrow

All Native American tribes included the use of the bow and arrow in one form or another. By the time of European contact in 1492, the bow and arrow were nearly universal in the Americas. The weapon varied from tribe to tribe according to customs and the abundance of certain materials. The Aztecs for example, almost excluded archery, preferring instead to use a spear-throwing device known as the atl-atl. Simple self-bows were quite common, yet sinew backed bows and other composite designs were known to be used.

 

What Were Native American Bows and Arrows Made Of?

The materials and bow designs varied from tribe to tribe and region to region. Some popular woods were ash, hickory, mulberry, Osage orange, cedar, walnut, and birch to name a few. Fairly long self bows, almost indistinguishable from the English Longbows of medieval Europe, were slowly replaced by shorter, sinew backed bows after the adoption of horses by the Indigenous peoples of North America. Eventually, many tribes turned living off the plains, with their vast herds of buffalo. Some of the indigenous tribes armed with bows and arrows and riding on horseback included the Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, and Comanche to name a but few.

The natives of the eastern woodlands typically used long self bows. The western Plains natives, on the other hand, used woods of ash, mulberry, osage orange, or cedar which was reinforced with animal sinew. Another type of bow, found among the Sioux consisted of several strips of mountain sheep horn, cow horn or elk antler.

 

 Native American Bow Draw Weight

It is generally believed that the draw weights of most bows in Native American archery are lighter than the extremely heavy draw weights of English war bows or Manchu bows. Approximately 50 pounds is usually enough for most game. The Native Americans were known to be excellent hunters. They were able to stalk their prey and get their shots off at a relatively short distance. Some of the sinew backed horse bows of the plains Indians could have been approaching 80 pounds. A bow would have to have some considerable power to be able to pass through a Bison.