Eskimo archery

The Eskimo archery material culture produced unique and notable adaptions for archery uses in defense and hunting requirements. Because of a lack of wood resources, alternatives for bows and arrows were adapted in the Arctic environment.

Bows

Spruce, the most common wood used in Eskimo bows, is not considered a good wood for bows, but is the best they have. Esquimo bowyers also used driftwood and sometimes antlers from caribou or musk ox horns.

The Eskimo Bowyer makes a Cable-backed bow when he wraps cables around the bow, made of Reindeer sinews, twisted into cables about a half inch thick. The wide shaft of the bow, over two inches wide, relieved the tension in the wood when it is bent, and stores the energy which snaps back when the arrow is released. This is preferred to animal glue, which jells almost instantly in freezing air.

There are several examples and images of Eskimo produced cable backed bows in the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. "Southern type of Eskimo bow. To make the bow more elastic a quantity of small lines, each composed of a plot of three sinews, is secured to the back and to the knobs at each end. When unstrung this type of bow is generally sprung towards the back. Found among Haida and Tlingit- Alaska Eskimo."

The bows were sometimes Reflex bows. "Reflexed refers to the shape of a bow, which, when unstrung, forms a “C” that opens away from the hunter. The reflexed Western Arctic type of bow was first described by ethnographer John Murdoch as one commonly used by Eskimo cultures of northern Alaska and the Bering Strait."

The bows could be very powerful. "The Eskimo design took available material, which many would consider unacceptable for a hunting bow, and produced a weapon that could work in extreme cold and was powerful enough to take large animals as well as fight enemies. Early explorers reported that little Eskimo bows could almost drive an arrow through a caribou."

Arrows

Arrows used included special ones with ivory barbed tips with a red string attached. Used for hunting Sea otters, the barb detached from the arrow shaft and held together with a long red cord. The hunter would look for the floating bright red shaft, and would be able to then pull the sea otter up after he was exhausted from the chase.

Arrows used for fowl had similar tips. "Geese, gulls, and other large fowls were shot with arrows that had long, five-sided heads of walrus ivory, not very sharp and barbed on one edge, while for hunting small birds they used an arrow with a blunt, club-shaped head made of reindeer antler. Such an arrow kills a small bird or little animal like a lemming or ground squirrel by stunning it, and does not tear a great hole in it. The boys' arrows nowadays are often headed with empty copper cartridge cases, and I have seen one of these shot clean through the body of a small bird."

Eskimo hunter and polar bear slain with bow and arrow

Arrows used for hunting polar bear were powerful enough, if they didn't touch bone, to penetrate completely through the body of the bear. Arrows used to hunt reindeer also had detachable arrowheads. "For hunting the reindeer the arrow had a long, sharp, bayonet-shaped head made of antler, barbed on one edge and fitted loosely into the shaft. As the Eskimos told us, when they hit a deer with one of these arrows the shaft could drop out, leaving the barbed head in the wound, and the deer would go off, "sleep one night, and then die."

Quivers

However, the sinew-backed bows reacted to wet weather and humidity. One sealskin case protected the bow and arrows against moisture, but also had ivory implements to twist, tighten and adjust the bow and cable if needed.

In the late 19th century, sealskin cases to protect the bows and sealskin Quivers were noted. "The bow was carried, strung ready for use, in a sheath of tanned sealskin slung across the shoulders in such a way that it could easily be drawn out under the right arm. Nowadays they carry their rifles in similar sheaths. Attached to the sheath was a quiver, also of sealskin, in which they used to keep an assortment of arrows, some of each kind, according to the hunter's needs."

Bibliography

• Grayson, Charles E., Mary French, and Michael J. O'Brien. Traditional archery from six continents the Charles E. Grayson Collection. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007. Abstract: An overview of one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of European and non-European archery-related materials in the world. This book presents color photos and descriptions of some 300 items - including bows, arrows, quivers, and thumb rings- that represent traditional archery techniques, practices, and customs from around the world.
• Grønnow, Bjarne. 2012. "An Archaeological Reconstruction of Saqqaq Bows, Darts, Harpoons, and Lances". Études/Inuit/Studies. 36, no. 1: 23-48. Abstract: Les vestiges trouvés lors des fouilles de deux sites du Saqqaq (vers 3900-2600 BP), enfouis dans le pergélisol de la baie de Disko, à l'ouest du Groenland, offrent une perspective unique sur le travail du bois durant le début de la Tradition microlithique de l'Arctique. L'utilisation du bois flotté a joué un rôle déterminant dans la culture matérielle sophistiquée de la société saqqaq. Les analyses de plus 15 000 artéfacts, fragments et copeaux de bois permettent de reconstituer les procédés de travail du bois et de fabrication de toutes les catégories d'objets présents dans la trousse d'outils des chasseurs du Saqqaq. Cet article propose une reconstruction archéologique de cette trousse d'outils, remarquablement diverse et technologiquement avancée, qui inclut des javelines, des harpons, des lances, ainsi que des arcs et des flèches — comptant parmi les plus anciens spécimens conservés du Nouveau Monde. Permafrost-preserved materials from two Saqqaq sites (ca. 3900-2600 BP) in Disko Bay, West Greenland, have provided unique insight into woodworking in the early Arctic Small Tool tradition. Use of driftwood played a decisive role in the complex material culture of Saqqaq society, and analyses of more than 15,000 artifacts, fragments, and wood shavings enable us to reconstruct the woodworking processes and all categories of toolkits. This article presents an archaeological reconstruction of the remarkably diverse and technologically advanced Saqqaq hunting toolkit, which includes darts, harpoons, lances, and bows and arrows—among the earliest preserved specimens in the New World.
• Hamilton, T. M. 1970. "The Eskimo Bow and the Asiatic Composite". Arctic Anthropology. 6, no. 2: 43-52.
• Murdoch, John. A Study of the Eskimo Bows in the U.S. National Museum. [Zug, Switzerland]: [Inter Documentation Co.], 1970. Notes: Reproduced from the Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884.
• Murdoch, John. ESKIMO BOWS AND ARROWS. Popular Science Monthly. Volume 51. September 1897. Page number not given.
• Stordeur-Yedid, Danielle. Harpons paléo-esquimaux de la région d'Igloulik. [Paris]: A.D.P.F., 1980. Abstract: A study of arrow-heads from sites near Igloolik, including a morphological analysis based on a functional definition of the objects, a typology and a technical study showing how bones, ivory and antlers were chosen and manufactured during each period and for each type.
• US Government. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/gaar/learn/historyculture/upload/Nigu_Bow_info_sheet_2010.pdf Eskimo Hunting Bow.]" National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Reserve.
• Wissler, Clark. Harpoons and Darts in the Stefánsson Collection. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1916.

External links

• Replicating Eskimo Bow Technology – Is close enough good enough? March 13, 2012.
• American Indian Archery. 1991. Volume 4 - Page 35
• Fadala, Sam. Traditional Archery. "Eskimo Bow." Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2011.