| Whenever archers get together there are always | | | | first appearance in Europe late in this period |
| those among them who would have us believe | | | | between forty thousand and twenty-five |
| because our ancestors shot a bow five thousand | | | | thousand years ago and near the end of the |
| or fifty thousand years ago that we moderns can | | | | Fourth Glacial Age. |
| shoot a bow instinctively and all that we have to | | | | From ten thousand to twelve thousand years |
| do to hit a mark or bag our buck is to take a | | | | ago, Neolithic man migrated to Western Europe. |
| deep breath, look at the target, draw the arrow | | | | The Neolithic men of Europe were white men |
| back to the ear, and let fly. | | | | ancestral to the modern Europeans. This stage in |
| Well, if you buy that line, you will not be any | | | | culture is characterized in part by the abundance |
| better a marksman than your remote ancestors. | | | | of stone arrow heads. And so we conclude that |
| Legends about Robin Hood's merry men to the | | | | at this relatively recent stage in our human |
| contrary, your ancestors were inferior marksmen | | | | history our ancestors learned to use the bow. |
| by modern standards. With primitive equipment, | | | | The origin of the bow, however, is lost in the |
| they developed the art of stalking game to a high | | | | uncertainties of fixing exact dates for the |
| degree in order to close to point-blank-range to | | | | different cultures of mankind. Excellent drawings |
| register a hit. | | | | of archers are found in the Palaeolithic carvings at |
| In the thousands of years since man first stood | | | | Castellon, Spain and elsewhere. These carvings |
| on his feet and walked, the period in which he has | | | | date back according to anthropologists from |
| used missile weapons is of relatively short | | | | fifteen thousand to thirty-five thousand years. |
| duration. No one can fix the exact "time" of man's | | | | In Asia, during the early periods of recorded |
| arrival on earth and even as late as the year | | | | history, great military nations used a composite, |
| 1860, the majority of scientists believed man's | | | | reflexed bow of horn, wood, and sinew, that had |
| existence covered a span of less than 6,000 | | | | a drawing weight up to one hundred pounds. The |
| years. | | | | ancient Greeks, Assyrians, Turks, and Chinese, |
| Since that date, evidence of man's antiquity | | | | were adepts in the use of this type of bow. The |
| yielded through the discovery of ancient graves, | | | | metal bow, however, is a product of the |
| fossilized remains found in geological formations | | | | twentieth century, while one of the latest |
| laid down in the past, and excavations carried out | | | | developments in the bowyer's art is the |
| in the exploration of caves in France and | | | | fibre-glass bow. |
| elsewhere in Western Europe, permitted | | | | Even a casual reader or a student of history |
| archaeologists to establish that man was certainly | | | | must conclude that individual aimed fire of missile |
| in existence at the beginning of the Pleistocene | | | | weapons is a relatively modern development. The |
| period. Unfortunately no sure means of estimating | | | | tactics employed by the military nations of the, |
| the duration of these periods in terms of years is | | | | past in the use of missile weapons such as the |
| as yet known to geologists. Estimates vary from | | | | bow and in still more recent times, firearms, are |
| two hundred and fifty thousand years to one | | | | indicative of the little importance attached to |
| million and five hundred thousand years as the | | | | accurate individual marksmanship in the relatively |
| length of the period. The most reliable evidence | | | | recent past. |
| now at our disposal indicates that man made his | | | | |