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As someone who owns a bow (old bowtech patriot) and has spent countless hours in the woods with bows, this guy is a gymnast, not an ancient archer. (1) Archery
by sandworm 12y ago
As someone who owns a bow (old bowtech patriot) and has spent countless hours in the woods with bows, this guy is a gymnast, not an ancient archer.
(1) Archery has never been about speed. You don't need to be a hunter to appreciate that hunting does not involve any bouncing around like a woodland sprite.
(2) Arrows are not bullets. The do not kill quickly. Shooting at people five or ten feet away is suicide. Even if you hit them through the chest, they will live long enough to get you back. Only in hollywood do targets ever fall down dead when hit with arrows.
(3) The "ancient" archery this guy idolizes never existed. Arrows made from natural substances (wood, bone etc) are not this accurate. Ancient hunters shot very close to animals, so close that they did worry about the animal turning on them (see 2 above). In war, using indirect fire to cover distance, archers always fired en mass. They also drilled to create consistent trajectories in order to concentrate fire. They did not aim at specific targets.
(4) Leveling an arrow on the left of the riser (bow) doesn't require more movements than on right. The arrow is drawn by passing the pointy bit through the bow, between the string and riser, and then drawing it back. One motion, never letting go of the arrow. This is how I was taught to shoot fingers. As for holding extra arrows in your bow hand, this is certainly possible, but you better be careful when pulling them through a closed fists. This guys is using dull target heads, not the bladed tips used when actual trying to kill things.
(I say "fire" but the proper term is "loose", for releasing an arrow).
- cgh 12y ago"The "ancient" archery this guy idolizes never existed." In the video, he says he picked up his ideas from old manuscripts and so forth that show such archery techniques in action (arrow on the right side of the bow, arrows carried in the shooting hand, etc.) and quotes one source (Babylonian? Can't remember) saying these archers had to be able to loose three arrows in 1.5 seconds. Also, he makes a case for close-quarters combat. I think possibly he's studied this stuff more than you have? His basic claim is that he's re-discovering forgotten techniques so it makes sense your mainstream knowledge of archery wouldn't cover these things.
- ashark 12y agoTeucer from The Iliad certainly makes a lot more sense to me if I imagine him fighting like this.
- Zibulon 12y agoConcur. Besides, he is probably shooting less than 30 lbs which is enough for his stunts, when you want to be shooting 70-80 lbs for hunting. Given his technique, I'd like to see him pull that. As for "war", I've seen medieval estimates of 140 lbs, which always left me wondering, because after 20 years pulling 45 lbs myself, 140 lbs just means "injury" to me.
- narag 12y agoWhen I was a boy we visited... not sure, Granada I think. There were both a museum and shops around that sold swords, of the old broad type. They weigthed a lot. The teacher made us notice the size of armour. That people were very short and still could wield 15 kg effectively.
- IndianAstronaut 12y agoI am very skeptical of your claims. Turkish archery and bison hunting were very much about speed and being able to shoot from a mobile target at relatively close enemies.
- lutorm 12y agoI don't know much about archery, but it seems Mongol-style horseback archery would differ a lot from longbow-style stationary shooting in terms of speed and being able to shoot on the move (just like snipers are very different from cavalry in that sense when it comes to rifles.)
- vacri 12y agoIn war... archers always fired en mass There are more kinds of battle in war than set-piece battles between large hybrid armies.