Earliest bow and arrow depicted

[Greg Laden]

Does anyone happen to know:  What is the earliest reasonably well dated depiction of a) the bow and arrow; or b) something that could be interpreted as representing a bow and arrow.

Thanks.

GTL

[Bob Stimson]

There are many off-hand references to the bow and arrow being invented anywhere from 35,000 to 10,000 years ago, but specific refernces to illustrations in paintings or engravings are not forthcoming. If you go to usatoday.com and search for "stone-age people invented bow and arrow" you will get an article by April Holladay that says [Western European] artists left cave paintings of bows and arrows in 30,000 BC. This would seem to refer to Chauvet, but a Google image search for Chauvet does not show paintings with bows and arrows. Nor do Lascaux,  Altamira or other well-known caves, although Lascaux has a bison with what looks like javelins or arrows sticking out of it, and also a horse. Perhaps you could query Ms. Holladay for her source. The article also quotes Roger Grace regarding pointed tools with impact damage consistent with use as arrow points by 35,000-30,000 BP. I've also seen references to rock engravings in Africa (I think North) at 20,000 BP and also in South Africa, but they are not specific, and I can't find actual images of humans with bows and arrows. I've seen at least one of stick figures; don't remember where but remember it had a primitive "African" or "Austrailian" look.  As a lower limit, Klein 2nd ed. p.540 cites actual fragmentary bows or arrows between 12,000 and 10,00 ya. Unfortunately all the references seem rather circular.

[colin]

There is a clear depiction of a figure clutching a bow in a wall painting at Catal Huyak in Turkey, dated at 8000 bp. But there must be something earlier out there, surely?
Cheers
Colin

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

There is a clear depiction of a figure clutching a bow in a wall painting at Catal Huyak in Turkey, dated at 8000 bp. But there must be something earlier out there, surely?
Cheers
Colin

Do you happen to have an exact reference for the "figure" you are talking about?

Jacques Cinq-Mars

[Bob Stimson]

Does anyone happen to know:  What is the earliest reasonably well dated depiction of a) the bow and arrow; or b) something that could be interpreted as representing a bow and arrow.

Thanks.

GTL

Okay, second try. A Google newsgroup search for "prehistoric art bow and arrow" yields an article from alt.paranormal titled "Re: thread 28," which states, "... in the prehistoric past. In a cave near Alpera, in Spain, there are drawings representing people like American Indians, hunting ibex with bow and arrow."

A Google image search for "alpera" yields an image titled "Alpera.gif" which depicts the drawing. Click on the image to get a larger version with caption "A New Stone Age hunting scene from Alpera, southern Spain. The bow may have appeared as a weapon about 12000 BC." The art itself is not dated beyond the New Stone Age, whatever that may mean in this context.

If this process does not work, you can find the image directly at http://nimibus.ocis.temple.edu/~jlockeno/c63/prehistory/alpera.gif.

[Jacques Cinq-Mars]

Does anyone happen to know:  What is the earliest reasonably well dated depiction of a) the bow and arrow; or b) something that could be interpreted as representing a bow and arrow.

Thanks.

GTL

Okay, second try. A Google newsgroup search for "prehistoric art bow and arrow" yields an article from alt.paranormal titled "Re: thread 28," which states, "... in the prehistoric past. In a cave near Alpera, in Spain, there are drawings representing people like American Indians, hunting ibex with bow and arrow."

A Google image search for "alpera" yields an image titled "Alpera.gif" which depicts the drawing. Click on the image to get a larger version with caption "A New Stone Age hunting scene from Alpera, southern Spain. The bow may have appeared as a weapon about 12000 BC." The art itself is not dated beyond the New Stone Age, whatever that may mean in this context.

If this process does not work, you can find the image directly at http://nimibus.ocis.temple.edu/~jlockeno/c63/prehistory/alpera.gif.

The address you came up with does not seem to be functional. To me, anyway. Instead,

try this URL

It will give you access to one or two fairly good images (rather rare on the Web) of   prehistoric (proto-Neolithic or early Neolithic) bow hunting. Needless to say, more interesting discussions on and associated visual evidence for "earliest" bow and arrow technology are to be found in the printed literature. If I have time, I'll try to pass on more on this later.

Jacques Cinq-Mars

[colin]

Hi Jacques
There is a photo of the figure - a detail from a larger mural - in the Cambridge Illustrated History of Archaeology, edited Paul Bahn, CUP 1999, p317. The excavation at Catal Huyuk was carried out by James Mellaart, but I have no other references.
Cheers
Colin

[Mikey Brass]

I used Mellart's books back in 1998 - the original photo will have been reproduced in there. Bear in mind that Catal Huyuk has and is subsequently being re-excavated by Ian Hodder, with its own website.

[Bob Stimson]

If this process does not work, you can find the image directly at http://nimibus.ocis.temple.edu/~jlockeno/c63/prehistory/alpera.gif.

The address you came up with does not seem to be functional.

Oops. Boo-boo. Try http://nimbus.ocis.temple.edu/~jlockeno/c63/prehistory/alpera.gif

[colin]

Hi Greg, Jaques, anyone interested,
I find that Mellaart published an overview of the excavations in:
"Catal Huyuk: a neolithic town in Anatolia" Thames & Hudson, 1967
This may be one of the books that Mikey refers to in his post.
Cheers
Colin

[Mikey Brass]

Although this is not a statute or rock art depiction, Peter Mitchell's newly released "The archaeology of southern Africa" (November 2002; Cambridge University Press) contains interesting information on some of the earliest arrows found in SA.

Figure 7.9 on page 174 is of "wooden arrows from Faraoskop, Western Cape, South Africa (curtousy Tony Manhire). Some of these found retain their original fletching".

Faraoskop is 30km north-east of Elands Bay, above Cape Town, and dates to the Terminal Pleistocene.

Mike.

[Bob Stimson]

The 20,000-BP-old African rock art that I alluded to above is discussed in Schwann, "The Mystery of the White Lady of the Brandberg in Namibia," sci.archaeology, 1995-30-05. Some of the pictures in the group are thought to be as old as 20,000 years. The White Lady holds a sceptre in one hand and and a bow and arrow in the other.