The

History
and
Sport of
Archery

Elaine Reiter
Senior Project
Mr. Copeland
Spring 2015

[Document subtitle]

Elaine Reiter 1
Mr. Copeland
Senior Project
Spring 2015

In many civilizations archery was one of the main ways people used to hunt
for food and for protection. Today archery is used for more than just hunting and
protection including for game hunting, sport competition and just for fun. Archery
has a very interesting history starting with hunting and warfare, then involving into
sport. There are many different types of bows and equipment required to shoot an
arrow. One must know safety and the proper skills to play. To best understand
archery one must learn its history.
Although archery probably dates to the Stone Age (around 20,000 BC), the
earliest people known to have used bows and arrows were the ancient Egyptians,
who adapted archery at least 5,000 years ago for purposes of hunting and warfare.
(worldarchery.org). Throughout history many civilizations discovered and used the
bow and arrow. Some of the earliest civilizations to use archery were the
Babylonians for warfare in 2340BC (business2community.com) and in China during
the Shang dynasty around 1766-1027 BC (worldarchery.org). Archery didnt become
a powerful weapon prior to the invention of the compound, or composite bow
around 1500 BC on the steppes of Central Asia (infoplease.com). Sport archery
tournaments were something nobles at court attended being accompanied by music
and infused with elegant salutations during the ensuing Zhou (Chou) dynasty

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around 1027-256 BC (worldarchery.org). Archery was what Hannibal used as he
spread his empire outwards around 260 BC (planetseed.com). Archery has had an
overriding influence on later etiquette and techniques in Japan when introduced by
the Chinese in the 6th century (worldarchery.org). During the Walsh War of Edward
the First in the late 13th century the longbow became prominent after it had been in
use in Wales in the 12th century (infoplease.com) and at the end of the 13th
Century the use of the crossbow had declined (infoplease.com). Some of the most
famous archers in history would be the Mongols because Genghis Khan led his army
out from the plains of Mongolia making a large and bloody empire. The Mongols
were the best horsemen who could stand high up in the stirrups and shoot arrows in
all directions and at its height the Mongol empire went from Austria to Syria, Russia,
Vietnam and China in 1208AD (planetseed.com). At the end of archery in warfare
the English used the longbow right up to the middle of the 17th century even after
armies took to firearms. However the bow as a weapon of war faded from use as
pistols and rifles became more accurate and reliable (planetseed.com). In the First
Sino-Japanese War the Chinese developed the repeating crossbow that proved
fruitless against repeating rifles (infoplease.com).
In recent times archery is used more for sport. The modern Olympic recurve
bow is based on a design from 1500 BC (likeabossarchery.com). Archers had the
rare opportunity of competing in the Panathinaikos Stadium where the first Olympic
Games of the modern era took place in 1896 in Athens (worldarchery.org). Archery
first made an appearance in the Olympics in 1900 in Paris, but was later dropped for
many years, as there was no fixed set of international rules (planetseed.com) and it
reappeared in 1972 after 50 years of being dropped
(likeabossarchery.blogspot.com). Archery was one of the first sports to include

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women (worldarchery.org). The most decorated archer in Olympic history is Hubert
van Innis from Belgium with six gold medals and three silvers in 1900 and 1920
(worldarchery.org). In 1972 archery was re-introduced to the Olympic program with
individual events for men and women, in which John Williams and Doreen Wilber, of
the USA, captured gold medals (worldarchery.org) and it now features four events in
the summer Olympics: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team, and
Women's Team (planetseed.com). For the first time in Barcelona 1992 that archery
featured the exciting head-to-head elimination competition (worldarchery.org). The
Atlanta 1996 Games marked a new milestone for the exposure of archery.
Spectators were able to watch archery live on television or in the stands as 54,680
spectators attended the competition and the Atlanta archery coverage won the
Golden Rings Award from the IOC for the best Olympic Sports coverage
(worldarchery.org). The 2008 Olympic and Paralympics games were held in China
which was a very strong and competitive nation in archery that constructed a
dedicated, temporary, venue facility , north of Olympic Park (worldarchery.org). The
30th Olympiad, aimed to inspire a generation was a success in terms of
participation, broadcast and legacy and the London 2012 saw record participation
from the women who made up approximately 44 percent of the Games competitors
in which this is certainly obvious in archery with an equal split, of 64 men and 64
women (worldarchery.org). As archery has grown in sport so there have been many
new types of bows.
There are 3 different types of bows. Alexandra Tait an archery teacher in West
Asheville said a recurve bow is the best bow to start with when you are just
starting out. The earliest known bow was made out of a flexible wooden sapling
that was bent into a D shape with an animal sinew string. The arrow they would

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have used was made out of a straight stick that was sharpened at one end, with a
simple notch at the other end (David F. Butler said on page 36). The recurve bow
has 4 main parts, the riser, limbs, and string. The riser is the part of the bow that
the archer holds onto, the limbs are the parts of the bow that store the energy of
pulling the string back before the archer release, there are two that attach to the
top and the bottom of the riser, and the string is the part which the archer pulls
back, it is attached between the tips of the limbs (instructables.com). The recurve
bow is fairly basic and is a good bow to start archery with as it is not too
complicated, it is easily fired and is reliable. The compound bow is much more
different from a recurve bow, because in most cases it cannot be taken apart for
storage, so it stays as one unit and it may also be easier to fire than a recurve bow
as when the string is pulled back past a point, the force is taken in by the cams at
the tips of each limb. Making this type of bow good for hunting, as the archer can
keep it held back for as long they like before release (instructables.com). Compound
bows are usually used with release aids, a trigger which is clipped onto the string
and when the archer needs to fire the bow, the archer clicks a button or pull a
trigger and the string will release and the compound bow is made up of two limbs
with cams at the tips, a riser and a string, the string is much more different from a
recurve as well because it would round the cams, making it longer
(instructables.com). Last but not least the longbow is one of the first types of bows
to become popular, and it is still used today and are only made up of two pieces,
the string and the bow itself. Also the longbows can be considered the most difficult
bows to aim and fire because the archery is only dependent on a rubber band for
aiming (instructables.com). A recurve with sights is a style archers would use a
recurve bow with a sight attached, the sight would be aligned with the target to

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help with aiming. This is the more common way of shooting a recurve bow and the
recurve bare bow is shooting a recurve bow with no sights or any aiming devices
attached to the bow the archer is using. This is a more challenging style of shooting
recurve and can be similar to shooting a longbow (instructables.com). A compound
with sights is a style archers would shoot a compound bow with a sight attached
and a compound bare bow is a compound bow with no sights or aiming devices
attached (instructables.com). Just has there are many different types of bows there
are different types of arrows as well.
There are 3 different types of arrows. Carbon arrows are very light, but they
are less stiff than their counterparts, and they are considered more dangerous as
carbon fiber doesn't bend and snap, it splinters into lots of small shards that could
cause damage to the archer and their bow, if they aren't used properly. Aluminum
arrows are slightly heavier than carbon arrows but they are stiffer and break less
easily, they are a lot safer because they dont splinter and another advantage of
aluminum arrows are that they are easier to cut to size if the archers make their
own arrows (instructables.com). Last but not least the wooden arrows are the most
basic type of arrow, they were the first used with early bows and wooden arrows are
used with longbows and some low power recurve bow. Wooden arrows cannot be
used with the higher power recurve bows or compound bows because they could
break much too easily and wooden arrows use feather flights rather than the plastic
vanes of carbon or aluminum arrows and this makes them less durable
(instructables.com).
To make archery a safer sport there are some rules to follow. There are 3 lines
that are there to keep the archer safe. The waiting line is a line that keeps archers in
a designated waiting area until it's their turn to begin shooting. In reality, this line

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can be a few yards or several feet behind the shooting area, but it is almost always
clearly designated (archery360.com) and the shooting line marks where archers
stand when actually shooting their bows and in the World Archery and USA Archery
sanctioned target archery tournaments, archer stand with one foot on either side of
this line but in the National Field Archery Association tournaments, archers stand
directly behind the line. Last but not least the target line is often present at archery
ranges and is a line about 3-4 feet in front of the target, which acts as a "speed
bump" for younger archers approaching the targets to pull their arrows while some
instructors will ask archers to wait at the target line and take turns advancing to
retrieve their arrows (archery360.com). There is a way of communicating between
archers and the pro shop staff or coaches and this is done using a whistle system.
Two whistle blasts: archers may proceed from the waiting line to the shooting line.
One whistle blast: archers may place an arrow on the bowstring and begin shooting.
Three whistle blasts: archers may walk forward to the targets and pull their arrows.
Four or more whistle blasts: archers must stop shooting immediately.
(archery360.com) Archers are always expected to walk on the archery range and
when they are retrieving their arrows, archers must approach the target slowly and
go to either the right or left side of the target to pull their arrows. Also archer should
always look behind them carefully before pulling each arrow (archery360.com).
Safety is the most important part of archery and once it is mastered one most learn
the skills needed.
There are 10 basic steps to archery. The first step is the stance and the basic
stance is performed by placing one foot on each side of the shooting line. If the
archer is shooting a right hand bow the archer will put their left foot forward of the
shooting line and if the archer is left handed they will place their right foot forward

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of the shooting line (learn-archery.com). The archer should space their feet
approximately shoulder width apart and the archer should rotate their feet into the
"square stance" meaning their feet are parallel to the shooting line. The archer
should stand up straight and rotate their chin over the shoulder or as close as
possible with their bow arm/hand (learn-archery.com) and the archer should rotate
their hips so they are tucked or rolled under their upper body so that their lower
back is flat. The archers chest and ribs should be lower and downwards towards
their stomach with their shoulders pushed downwards (learn-archery.com)
The second step is nocking the arrow where the archer holds the arrow shaft
close to the nock behind the fletching or vanes and place the arrow shaft so the
index vane is pointing in the right direction. In the recurve bow the index vane
should be pointing away from the riser, in other words, rotate the shaft until the
index vane is between the archers body and the riser and in a compound bow
archers will index the arrow differently depending on the type of arrow rest installed
on their bow (learn-archery.com). If the index vane is properly aligned or orientated,
the archer will snap the nock of the arrow onto the bowstring under the nock locator
or nock-set or between the locators if the archer uses two nock sets. This process is
the same for compound archers unless their using a "D-Loop". When the archer is
nocking an arrow on the bowstring with a D-Loop, the knock on the shaft goes
between the upper and lower knot of the D-Loop (learn-archery.com). If there is a
gap left after the arrow is snapped into position, the nock on the arrow shaft should
be pushed toward the top of the D-Loop.
In the third step setting the archer sets their bow hand on the grip so that the
grip is placed in the meaty part of the hand just below the thumb and the grip
should be located in the web of the hand between the thumb and index finger. Also

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place the thumb so that it is pointing at the target when the bow is raised in the
next step. The archer should relax the remaining fingers and gently fold them to
where the index finger can wrap toward the front of the bow but still it must be
relaxed (learn-archery.com). When the bow is raised, the knuckles on the arrow side
of the bow should create an approximate 45 degree angle. The archers bow hand
must stay in place through the entire shot process and remain relaxed even after
the bowstring is released (learn-archery.com) and gently wrap the first 3 fingers of
the archers bowstring hand (the hand that draws the string back) below the arrow
shaft (all 3 fingers go below the arrow shaft for beginners. The string should be
located at the first groove of these fingers. Only the top knuckle of the string fingers
should form the hook around the string and make sure that the index finger is
pushed up against the nock of the arrow. It is important to keep the back of the
drawing hand relaxed and flat (learn-archery.com).
In the fourth step set-up where the archer hooks their fingers around the
bowstring and the bow hand settled into the proper grip position, the archer
extends their bow-arm forward. The elbow of the archers bow-arm should be
rotated vertically and it is important that the archers bow-arm shoulder remains
lowered during the next action where the archer forearm of their drawing hand
(bowstring hand) should move and remain as close to "in-line" or parallel to the
arrow during the next action (learn-archery.com). The archer should raise their bowarm up slightly above their point of aim (slightly above nose level and pointing in
the direction of the target) and move their drawing arm behind the arrow so the
forearm is "in-line" with the arrow shaft. As the archer raises the bow, the archer
should rotate their chest and shoulders so their upper body is parallel to the arrow
(perpendicular to the target). The archers hand should be on the bowstring and

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raised to the approximate level of their nose. The archer should check their bowarm elbow so that it is rotated where the inside joint at the elbow is straight up and
down (learn-archery.com).
The fifth step draw and load is where the archer draws the bowstring back
toward the side of their face and their bowstring hand is started slightly above the
level of their nose at the end of the set-up step (learn-archery.com). As the archer
draws the bowstring back toward their face in a straight line it should end in a
position at the side of their face and their index finger on the bowstring hand will be
near the corner of their mouth. When the archer is loading the arrow on the
bowstring they draw their bowstring arm back toward their face, and move their
shoulder (drawing-arm) back and down as far as possible. This action is known as
the positioning the shoulder and scapula so that the back muscles can "take over"
the draw weight of the bow in a later step called transfer and hold (learnarchery.com). The archer should think of rotating the shoulder blade around from
the front of their body toward the back and as they rotate the shoulder back, it
should also move down as low as possible. The archer should move their drawing
arm elbow until it is directly behind and parallel to the arrow shaft (learnarchery.com). If the archer isnt able to get their elbow directly behind the arrow it is
okay as long as the elbow is slightly higher than the arrow the archer is in a good
position but the elbow should not be below the arrow (learn-archery.com).
The sixth step is the anchor where the archer draws the bowstring back
toward the side of their face the remaining distance until the tip of the index finger
can be placed on the corner of their mouth (learn-archery.com). The archer should
point their thumb down into the palm of their hand and the thumb should be tucked
into the palm but relaxed at the same time. Then the archer should fold their little

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finger toward the palm of their hand and keep the finger relaxed. The archer should
pre their hand snug against the side of their face (learn-archery.com) and their
index finger should be on the corner or crock of their mouth. The anchor must be
solid-many new archers "float" the anchor meaning they do not have firm contact
with the bowstring hand against the side of the face and note that the bowstring
should be located just off the side of the archers face. The archer should be holding
the full draw weight of the bow in this step (learn-archery.com).
In the seventh step transfer and hold the archers from the full draw position,
transfer the draw weight of the bow from their arms and shoulder into their back
and to achieve this action the archer will align the bow arm and shoulder through
their chest to be in-line with the drawing arm shoulder. The archer should put a
slight rotation of the upper torso (chest and ribs) will aid in aligning the shoulders
(learn-archery.com). This action will also require rotating the scapula of the drawing
arm toward the spine and move their drawing arm elbow directly behind the arrow.
The archer should hold this position with their back muscles and their forearm and
the back of their drawing hand should be relaxed (learn-archery.com).
The eighth step is the aim and expand the archer starts off from the transfer
and hold step where they begin the aiming process by looking down the shaft of the
arrow and placing the point on the target. The archer should pause for a couple of
seconds to re-focus on their overall form (learn-archery.com). The archers weight
should be evenly distributed on both feet, their hips should be over their knees and
feet, their lower back should be flat and chest down and they should check that
their grip is not tight (relax the grip fingers) and make certain their bow arm elbow
is rotated. The archer should carefully sight up the bowstring and line it up with the
center of the bow limbs (learn-archery.com).

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The ninth step is the release the archer starts off from the aim and expand
step where they begin the release process by expanding further from the center of
the chest outward toward their shoulders. The archers bow arm shoulder should
remain stationary and the expansion of the chest should feel similar to taking a
deep breath which rolls the major pectoral muscles outward (widening the chest)
(learn-archery.com). But at the same time, the archer should allow the bowstring to
leave their fingers and push their fingers out of the way of the bowstring. The
archer should continue the expansion of their chest and increase the intensity of
their back muscles at the same time and during the release, the scapula should
continue to move toward the spine (learn-archery.com).
The tenth step is the follow through where after committing to the release,
the archers fingers of the drawing hand should be relaxed and continue to engage
their back muscles so the scapula continues to move toward the spine and the
drawing arm shoulder rolls around toward their back (learn-archery.com). The
archers drawing hand should move straight back along the side of their face and
stop slightly below and behind the ear. The archers bow arm should continue to
hold the bow up and remain in this position until the end of the follow through and
continue to apply back tension until the arrow his the target. The archer should
lower their bow arm and drawing arm and rest (learn-archery.com).
In conclusion archery has been around since 64,000 years ago. It has been
used for multiple things like hunting, protection, game hunting, sport competition
and just for fun. Archerys history is very unique with its many different types of
bow and arrows. Archery over time will grow to include many new types of bows
and arrows.

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