The early history of the crossbow

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Hi Thomas,

Pretty cool drawings!! Why is the recess to hold the bow in the stock that deep? Also 36 cm drawlength does not seem a lot for a bow 90 cm wide.

There is another thing puzzling me. Neither of the two pictures show the bow being fastened with lashings. What are your thoughts on the way the bow was fastened to the stock. Is there an ancient text that descrides such a lashing and does it indeed apply to this type of crossbow.

The haute-loire shows a partly-round, slightly recurve self bow...

I looked at some images of gastraphetes reconstructions and they seem to show the bow inserted through like a hole or something in the stock, and glued in. However I doubt you could do this without breaking the bow.