Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Composite bow
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Disadvantages=== Constructing composite bows requires much more time and a greater variety of materials than self bows, and the [[animal glue]] used can lose strength in humid conditions; the 6th-century [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] military manual, the ''[[Strategikon of Maurice|Strategikon]]'', advised the cavalry of the [[Byzantine army]], many of whom were armed with composite bows, to keep their bows in leather cases to keep them dry. Karpowicz suggests that crafting a composite bow may take a week's work, excluding drying time (months) and gathering materials, while a self bow can be made in a day and dried in a week.<ref name="ottoman-turkish-bows.com"/> Peoples living in humid or rainy regions historically have favoured self bows, while those living in temperate, dry, or arid regions have favoured composite bows. [[Medieval European History|Medieval Europeans]] favoured [[self bow]]s as hand bows, but they made composite [[Crossbow#Construction|prods]] for crossbows. The prods were usually well protected from rain and humidity, which are prevalent in parts of Europe. Ancient Mediterranean civilizations, influenced by Eastern Archery, preferred composite recurve bows, and the Romans manufactured and used them as far north as [[Roman Britain|Britannia]].<ref>Coulston, J.C. "Roman Archery Equipment. The Production and Distribution of Roman Military Equipment". Ed. M.C. Bishop. Oxford: B.A.R. International Series, 1985. pp. 202-366.</ref> The civilizations of [[India]] used both self bows and composite bows. The Mughals were especially known for their composite bows due to their Turko-Mongol roots. Waterproofing and proper storage of composite bows were essential due to India's extremely wet and humid subtropical climate and plentiful rainfall today (which averages {{convert|38|-|58|in|mm|abbr=in|order=flip|disp=or}} in most of the country, and exceeds well over {{convert|100|in|mm|abbr=in|order=flip|disp=or}} per year in the wettest areas due to monsoons).<ref name="eldoradoweather.com">{{Cite web|url=https://www.eldoradoweather.com/climate/world-maps/world-annual-precip-map.html|title=World Average Yearly Annual Precipitation|access-date=1 April 2019|archive-date=1 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401150157/https://www.eldoradoweather.com/climate/world-maps/world-annual-precip-map.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The civilizations of [[China]] also used a combination of self bows, composite recurve bows, and laminated reflex bows. Self bows and laminated bows were preferred in southern China in earlier periods of history due to the region's extremely wet, humid, and rainy subtropical climate. The average rainfall in southern China exceeds {{convert|38|in|mm|abbr=in|order=flip}}, averaging {{convert|58|-|97|in|mm|abbr=in|order=flip}} in many areas today.<ref name="eldoradoweather.com"/>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)