11-24-2009, 03:15 AM
Quote:My only serious disagreement with the experiment was their short draw of 60-65 cm. Apparently some Greek art shows short draws, but the Munich wood, an Achaemenid seal carving published in The Ancient World at War p. 69, and one of the seal impressions at Persepolis all show long draws with Scythian bows (by long I mean that the right hand is pulled back past the ear). Perhaps short arrows were used on the steppes, if most of the finds are short. I'm not familiar with the archaeological evidence for short arrows, but I don't know much about steppe archaeology. If anyone can give me references I'll add them to my reading list.
I looked up some info on arrowshaft lengths after reading this thread, and it seems that while it was the norm in the east during the Scythian period for arrows to be c. 80 cm in length, in the west among the late Scythians and Sarmatians well-preserved arrowshafts which have been found are between 50 and 60 cm long.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
