History Of Archery

The history of archery dates back to Paleolithic cave paintings depicting hunting scenes, which shows that the bow had a marked use at this time.

A good example can be found in the Cave of the horses Valltorta, in Valencia where the men are naked, with ornaments on the head, arms, waist, legs .. and holding the bow and arrow

 The bow and arrow tools have always been critical to the survival of humanity, because they became man and though the bow hunter may have been invented for use in hunting, later adopted as an instrument of war. The arches finally finished replacing the atlatl as the predominant means for launching projectiles.

Some authorities date the origin of archery around 25,000 years before the modern era. Among the first people of the on record have used the bow and arrows are the Egyptians, who brought the gun at least 5,000 years ago and during the time of the first pharaohs practiced archery for hunting and combat the Persians who were armed with spears and slingshots. Soon after, however, its use became widespread in the ancient world, and in the Old Testament there are several references to the Jews who had skill in archery.

Frieze of archers from Susa real:

Classical civilizations, especially the Persians, Macedonians, Nubians, Greeks, Parthians ..., using a large number of archers in their armies.

In the Louvre are preserved fragments of the frieze that adorned the royal palace of Darius I (522-486 BC). These include the frieze depicting the archers. The royal archers were the most powerful body of the Persian army. Armed with spears, bows and arrows were the best trained army Achaemenid.

In the frieze of Susa are represented in rows of about five feet high over the shoulder carrying the bow and quiver, presenting as a gesture of greeting spears.

Arrows proved exceptionally destructive against tight formations, and the use of them was often decisive.

The Romans owed much of its military superiority to his fearsome army of archers, without embaro peridodo early medieval, the Romans were defeated by Goths, Huns and Vandals, very adept at using the bow.

During this peridodo, the most notable archers were the English, his prowess in purely sporting competitions, fights and hunts in medieval ballads were sung.
William Tell. (Not imitate)

According to legend, the Swiss archer William Tell XIV century was commanded by an Austrian governor to shoot with a bow and arrow at an apple placed on the head of his own son. Also appearing in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth story of Robin Hood, an outlaw who was glorified by robbing the rich to give to the poor and became famous for his marksmanship with the bow, being able to split a arrow with another. The gradual introduction of gunpowder left the bow and arrow obsolete, especially in western Europe from the sixteenth century.

During the Middle Ages, archery in warfare was not as decisive and dominant in Western Europe. The archers were the lowest paid soldiers in the army or were conscripted from the peasantry. This was because the bow and arrow were much cheaper than the equipment of a military man with good armor and a sword. Professional archers required a long training and expensive bows to be effective, so it was quite strange to see them in Europe.

However, archery was an important development in Asia and the Islamic world. The horse archers were one of the main military forces of the army of Genghis Khan. In modern times, yet is still practiced in some Asian countries, but not at the level of international competition. Certain peoples of Central Asia were especially skilled in archery on horseback being the national sport in the kingdom of Bhutan and Mongolia. In China, archery dates back to the Shang Dynasty (1766 - 1027 BC)
The advent of firearms made to bows obsolete in warfare. The first gun had very little range, speed and power of penetration on a good bow, but instead, it was much easier to train the troops in their use. Thus, armies equipped with muskets offered a far greater fire power by sheer force of numbers and eventually specialized archers became obsolete.

Types of arcs:

A longbow is a long arc type (similar to or greater than the height of the keeper), is recurved, and has relatively narrow limbs that are circular or in the form of "D". The traditional English longbow is made so that its thickness is at least ⅝ of its width. If the thickness is less than ⅝ of its width, is considered flatbow. Typically a longbow is widest at the handle. Longbows have been used in hunting and in war, by many cultures around the world, especially in the English longbow, during the Middle Ages.
A shortbow is a much smaller version of the longbow. Although it is lighter, manageable, it also has less power and therefore, less powerful. However, do not need as much strength training as the longbow and was sometimes used in battles for inexperienced soldiers.
The recurve bow is the only type of bow used in Olympic Games. Its operation is similar to the traditional bow. Its main feature is that the blades (limbs) have a double curve in the form of "S" (hence the name), which increases the strength of the bow and smoothens the draw.
 

The compound bow is designed to reduce the force that the archer must practice at the time of pointing. The higher power reaches approximately the halfway of the opening. At the end of the opening, due to the pulley system, power is reduced by 60% to 80% depending on the model of pulley, which keeps the tension and aim more time with much less effort. This feature allows arcs of great power, which has made them very popular for hunting. Contrary to other types of arc, in which the greater the power the greater opening of the arc, the compound always reaches the same maximum power and in addition, it can be adjusted more or less in a wide range. Because the pulley system imposes a cap on the opening, it is regulated by different systems to adapt to the anatomy of the goalkeeper. The other arcs have a wide opening angle, the only variation is an increase or decrease in the final power, proportional to the degree of openness.

A crossbow is a variation of the overall design of an arch. Instead of the blades are vertical, mounted horizontally on a stock much like that of a rifle. The design of the blade can also be compound or recurve shooting but the concept is the same. The rope is pulled back either manually or with a device to reduce the force applied to crash. The string remains in this position held by the nut, maintained only by mechanical means while the energy stored in its limbs is released by a trigger mechanism, firing the projectile.

While bow and crossbow may be similar to the untrained eye, the shoot is vastly different, since, once loaded the crossbow, the shooter only makes an effort to keep it in position and pull the trigger, while the goalkeeper must remain pointed while holding the rope and therefore "retains" the arc power.