[Archers] History Blog: Ötzi the Iceman's Archery Kit

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends of the Bow,

Today the History Blog offers a fascinating summary description Ötzi the
Iceman's bow, arrows, and tackle. The article is a summary of a more
scholarly study published in the *Journal of Neolithic Archaeology*. I was
unable to access the actual article.

In summary of the summary, Ötzi was carrying an partly finished yew longbow
with a deerskin quiver holding ten unfinished viburnum shafts and two
completed arrows. The two completed arrows have stone points, and are
self-nocked and 3-fletched with nettle whipping. In addition, he had a
coiled sinew bowstring, and more sinew material which might have been
intended for another string. All of his equipment is in excellent
condition, considering it is something like 5,000 years old.

After blowing up the photo of the arrows and the shafts, I was both
surprised and delighted to note that one of his finished arrows shows the
point was mounted on a detachable section of shaft. This allowed the
fletched portion of the shaft to detach after hitting a game animal, and
another short section with a point to be inserted for the next kill. The
short section with the point would be recovered during butchering. This
technology was demonstrated in the early 20th century by Ishi, the Yahi
Native American to archeologist Theodore Kroeber and the famous archer
Saxton Pope.

The story with photos can be read at
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/57376 .

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
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