Neolithic and Bronze Age Archery Equipment from Alpine Ice-Patches: A Review on Components, Construction Techniques and Functionality

The alpine ice-patch sites of Tisenjoch (I), Schnidejoch and Loetschenpass
(CH) brought to light the most complete archery equipment
known from European Prehistory.
From the end of the last glaciation until the Middle Ages, bows and
arrows were the most important weapons for hunting and warfare.
The first verified artefacts of archery equipment are the arrows from
Stellmoor, Northern Germany, which date to 10,000 BC, while the
oldest bows found so far are still the two elm bows from Holmegard
in Southern Denmark, dated to ca. 8000 – 6500 BC (Junkmanns 2013).
During the Neolithic, bows were made almost exclusively from
yew wood (Taxus baccata). Despite their different shapes, all prehistoric
bows found in Europe are simple man-tall bows made from a
single piece of wood with a more or less D-shaped cross-section and
a flat belly side. Arrows were made from split wood or thin saplings
and equipped with different types of points made from stone, bone/
antler material or the wood itself, according to their specific intended
purpose. The manufacturing process can be described from several
finds of unfinished bow blanks, as in the case of the Tisenjoch
finds.
Neolithic arrows were made from shoots of hazel (Corylus avellana),
guelder rose (Viburnum sp.) or other hardwoods. They were straightened
by heat and are generally longer and thicker than modern
sporting arrows for increased weight and penetration power. Their
fletching with three split feathers is practically the same as fletching
used today. Bowstrings are extremely rare in European archaeological
sites. Only two assured samples, stemming from the Tisenjoch
and the Schnidejoch ice-patches, are known to date. They were
made from animal sinew fibres, which are not preserved in non-frozen
sites. Although there was almost certainly a need for a cover to
protect a bow against bad weather, there is only one example of a
Neolithic bow case known to date. The cover, made from water resistant
birch bark measuring a little longer than the bow carried inside
it, was found on Schnidejoch. It incorporates a carrying system
of leather straps, which enabled the user to wear it over the shoulder,
keeping the hands free for other tasks. It is supposed that other bow
cases, which very probably existed in the Neolithic, were made from
animal hide or leather which did not survive in waterlogged sites.
That there were protective carrying devices for archery gear is also
generally testified by the leather arrow quiver found on Tisenjoch
and by numerous other ethnographic and historic examples.