History Of Archery

In order to understand a sport fully it is very important to look at archery history and understand how it emerged to be the way it is today. This helps in understanding various sides of a sport and various techniques in the light of historic events. Archery is believed to have a history that dates back to 9000-8000 BC in Germany. The history of archery bows however dates back to the time of late Paleolithic (Stone Age) or early Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). The history of archery bows indicates that the bow was invented in these prehistoric and primitive eras and has been in use ever since although it has evolved with time. However, the oldest bows have been found in Denmark.

Archery history has seen many ups and down. Many cultures have made their contribution in the evolution of archery. Turkish and Japanese archers from Asia have made contributions worth mentioning. A short history of archery account will include the way in which archery was used. Initially the Stone Age man used archery for hunting and it was used for that purpose for a very long time. Soon, history was archery proves that archery started being used in fights and wars. It was only when guns and ammunition were introduced that archery was replaced. However archery history accounts that Parthian became unbeatable horsemen and archers while Mongols are known to be famous mounted archers.

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Archery history facts point towards something interesting. Americans were expert archers before their culture was ever influenced by Europeans. Although Americans had archery as a sport (initiated in Philadelphia) the archery tournaments have been found to be initiated by Europeans.

Archery became an Olympic game in 1900 in Paris. It continued to be so till 1920 but was discontinued because it was not a famous sport and there was never enough audience to watch the archers shoot. Another reason that can be observed from archery history and facts is that different countries followed different formats and to conduct the sport was too much a hassle. The game again became a part of the Olympics in 1972.

In studying the archery history if we observe the history of medieval archery we notice that in the medieval ages it was the second was or Adrianople that changed the style of medieval archery for times to come. It was this war that proved that mounted cavalry was superior to the ground forces and required for the medieval archers to adapt to the mounted archery styles. European English longbows became famous archers of the medieval era. History of medieval archery was put to an end by technological and social changes. Standing armies took over the mounted armies and archery was replaced by arms and ammunitions.

Archery was kept alive for all these years through the name and contributions of the famous archers. If we look at the history of archers it had been affected by the changing archery styles. History of archers bears witness to these changes. Initially archers only hunted for food. Later archers joined armies and fought besides footmen, archers had the advantage that they didn’t have to get too close to the enemy in order to aim and hit. The archery styles have changed from on foot archers to mounted archers and then after standing armies put an end to the medieval era archers faded due to technological changes.

Some of the famous archers in history of archery are William Tell who was a crossbow archer, European English longbows and Parthians. These archers had major influences on the archery styles and techniques.