The Life and Times of Archery Essays

The Life and Times of Archery Essays The Life and Times of Archery Essay The Life and Times of Archery Essay The Life and Times of Archery Introduction Have you ever shot a bow, would you like to? Well I really love to shoot a bow and hunt with one. Preview Today I would like to take you through the history of archery throughout the centuries. I’m going to give you three main points about archery; early bows, how bows were used in Europe throughout the middle ages and how archery has evolved today. Transition: The bow is born I. Early bows. The earliest bows known to date were discovered in what is today Africa. They were simple and made from small saplings and were stung with animal sinew, which is dried animal guts. The Chinese made bows out of bamboo and were strung with vines, needless to say these bows weren’t very accurate or effective. When used for hunting they injured many more animals than they would have actually killed. They had very simple feather fletching and crude stone or flint arrowheads. The bow was what came to replace the spear and when used together they cave early people a huge advantage in hunting. This was the main use for early bows. Transition: There is a new need for the bow. II. The bows use throughout the middle ages in Europe As the middle ages came, uses for the bow changed dramatically. Rather than hunting, bows were now being used in war to kill other people instead of animals. Bow designs changed as well they got longer and were made from heavier larger pieces of wood. This was to increase range and killing ability. These new bows could be as long as or taller than the archer himself, and were ironically called â€Å"longbows†. long lines of bowmen played a key role in warfare at this time and charging troops could be wiped-out very quickly. Bows also proved very effective when they were used by soldiers riding horses or riding in chariots. In England the use of the bow started to hit a decline somewhere in the 15th century. This was mainly caused by a shortage of wood for making the bows. A grown supply of wood was needed to ensure that the bow could stay in use. So the yew tree was grown in many areas. According to library. think quest. org, Charles VII, ordered that yew trees were to be grown in every Normandy churchyard, and the British who were large consumers of yew wood, made a trade agreement with Italy because Italian yew was the highest quality wood. Despite being an ancient weapon it has held a strong military significance in several countries until modern times. Transition: Archery†¦an American sport. III. Archery is a modern sport. Archery as a sport had a late arrival to America. The United Bowmen, which was founded in 1828 is where archery as a sport was rooted in American history. This Philadelphia based club still exists today. The sports popularity grew quite fast and soon in 1879 the National Archery Assn. was founded. Unfortunately the depression that soon followed all but stopped archeries growth. Fortunately shortly after the depression ended the growth kicked off right where it ended. Interest in archery grew along with techniques in bow making, scientists started to create new ways to make bows and the material of choice was laminated fiberglass. This hade a huge impact on the speed and accuracy of bows because the faster you can shoot an arrow makes the bow shoot a tighter group. Archery became an Olympic sport in 1900 at the Paris games. The only thing shot were hay targets and all competitors shot longbows. Unfortunately Olympic popularity in archery all but went away by the 1920 games. But in 1970 it was again set as an Olympic event for both men and women. The stands at the 1984 Olympics were filled to capacity with fans wanting to watch the archery event. Advances in archery have continued to increase at staggering rate. Transition: What’s next? Conclusion: Archery has been around for thousands and thousands of years and has been one of the most diverse activities, wheatear you are holing off a charging infantry, killing a deer, or winning the gold for your country it will survive for generations to come. Bibliography: www. library. thinkquest. org/archeryhistory