Mesolithic Bows from Denmark and Northern Europe

Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark Mesolithic Bows from Denmark and Northern Europe The Kingdom of Denmark is a comparatively small Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. Its mainland is bordered to the south by Germany, to the East by the Baltic and to the West by the North Sea. The country consists of a large peninsula, Jutland (Jylland), and many islands, most notably Zealand (Sjælland), Funen (Fyn), Vendsyssel-Thy, Lolland, Falster and Bornholm as well as hundreds of minor islands often referred to as the Danish Archipelago. People lived in the area of present-day Denmark more than 100,000 years ago, but probably had to leave because of the ice-cap spreading over the land during the period of the Weichsel glaciation (ca 70,000 to ca 12,000 BC). Traces of permanent human habitation in Denmark exist from around 12,000 BC. A discontinuous but quite extreme rise in mean temperature from ca 10,000 BC on led to the melting of the glaciers, a rise in sea levels and changes in flora and fauna. The widespread glacial tundra gave way to forests, and while reindeer, elk and wild horses moved further north, the freshly grown woodlands were inhabited by wolf, bear, boar and deer as well as small game and birds. Late Palaeolithic people of the Ahrensburg culture and the Bromme culture lived here as hunter-gatherers, roving the land, and left traces of their existence in form of tools. They formed distinct groups that preferred certain areas where they began to erect seasonal settlements. Hunting methods started to change: instead of herds, the hunters now concentrated their efforts on individual animals. Also small game and fish played increasingly important roles in the peopleʻs diet. Changes in lifestyle, use and manufacture of tools, hunting methods, and spread of semi-constant settlements marked the beginning of the Mesolithic age. The Mesolithic Age in Northern Europe In the region in question, the Mesolithic age lasted approximately from 8,000 BC until 4,200 BC. Typical remains from that period are small arrowheads made of flint called microliths, and shafted axes with flint heads. Generally however, archaeological finds from the Mesolithic age are not too numerous, not only because tools and equipment were made from perishable materials, but also because they were lost or destroyed when the later Neolithic cultures developed agriculture and dug up the ground for that purpose. In Denmark, three distinct Mesolithic cultures succeeded one another. Because of their preferred locations for settlement they are also known as the Danish coastal cultures. The earliest (from ca 8,000 to 6,000 BC) is called Maglemose culture, after the Magle Mose („Great Moor“) on the west-coast of Zealand near Mullerup. This culture was also native to England, Northern Germany, Southern Sweden and the Baltic coast. These people still lived as hunter-gatherers, but they also built huts in seasonal settlements. Typical finds are microlithic blades and arrowheads, bone spearheads, and different forms of flint axe heads. The Maglemose people also left the oldest known paddles, curved fishing-hooks and drills, and they experimented with pottery. Around 6,000 BC the coastlines of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea altered. The mean summer temperature rose to 20°C, the last ice caps melted, sea levels rose, and the climatic change led to changes in fauna and flora as well. The primeval forests grew dense with oak, alder, ash, linden, and elm. Denmark was inhabited by animals that have died out today or moved to more southerly regions in Europe. The Kongemose culture (from ca 6,000 to ca 5,200 BC) built coastal settlements and added mussels, sea birds, seals, porpoise and small whales to their diet. They used traps and nets for fishing and big and heavy flint arrowheads of rhombic shape for hunting. Decorated daggers of bone with inserted flint blades have been found frequently. The p. 1 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark Kongemose people also inhabited Denmark as well as England, southern parts of Scandinavia and the coastal regions of Middle and Eastern Europe. They were succeeded by the Ertebølle culture, the last of the Mesolithic cultures in Northern Europe (ca 5,200 to ca 4,100 BC). Remains of settlements have been found in coastal regions, some of them submerged, but also inland, for example Ringkloster, Muldbjerg I (Zealand) or Ellerbek in Schleswig-Holstein (Northern Germany). Archaeological finds there included fishing hooks, spears, nets, fish traps, remains of boats and paddles, and most characteristic, transverse or chisel shaped arrowheads. Mesolithic bows A considerable number of bows or fragments dating to the Mesolithic Age have been discovered at different sites in Northern Europe, most of them in what is now Denmark (DK). All are made of elm wood, and while they show great similarity in general design, they differ in detail. The finds from the Mesolithic site Holmegård IV in Zealand/DK – one complete bow, one fragment – are dated to ca 6,500 BC, making them the oldest bows in the world discovered to date. They were made of elm wood (Ulmus glabra) with very narrow growth rings, indicating the trees had grown in a shady place. Since they are of very distinctive design, later bows of similar shape are often said to be of the „Holmegård type“. Characteristics of this design are: • • • • deep and narrow grip section wide and flat limbs the widest parts of the limbs above and below the handle, tapering towards the ends cross-section of a flat D shape, with rounded back and flat belly Roughly one dozen complete bows of this design and a number of similar fragments dating from ca 6,500 BC to 1,700 BC have until now been found in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Unfortunately not all finds have been published yet, and even of those published, not all have been examined and described in detail. Moreover, dates and measurements given for certain artefacts differ quite a lot in recent literature, and sometimes it isnʻt even clear if statements refer to one and the same bow or two different ones. The following overview of some of the bows from Mesolithic Denmark has been compiled from a variety of sources, sometimes contradicting each other, and tries to present the most reliable data and facts concerning these artefacts. The bows are labelled according to their find sites and presented in chronological order. Holmegård One almost complete, one broken bow. Elm (Ulmus glabra). Nationalmuseets København/ DK. PROVENANCE Holmegård IV, Zealand/DK. DATE ca 6,500 BC (Maglemose culture) DESCRIPTION p. 2 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark The complete bow measures app 152 cm in length. The handle section is 2.7 cm wide and 2.5 cm thick, with a length of ca 14 cm. Beyond the deep grip section, the limbs become flat (1.8-1.9 cm) and wide (ca 4.4 cm) to constantly taper toward the narrow tips. The limbs show a flat D-shaped profile, the convex side facing outwards. The bow was obviously cut from a small elm trunk app 5 cm in diameter, its debarked naturally convex surface forming the back of the bow. The string was probably attached to small shoulder nocks. The fragment of the second bow from Holmegård is broken shortly above (or below) the grip, near the widest part of the limb. It measures app 90 cm in length, the widest part of the limb is ca 6 cm wide. The original bow may have been ca 165-180 cm long, and with its wider limbs was probably considerably stronger than the complete surviving specimen. COMMENTS The artefacts from Holmegård moor on Zealand/DK are the oldest surviving bows or fragments discovered thus far. Their special design has led to other specimen of similar make to be classified as „Holmegård type“ bows. Their tips were not stiff, as has been postulated, but the whole limb bent in a segment of a circle. Given the size of Mesolithic skeletons or mummies, these bow can be considered to be of a manʻs height and can thus truly be called „longbows“. REFERENCES Becker 1945; Clark 1963; Rausing 1967 (1997), pp. 39f.; Bergman 1993, pp. 97-99; Comstock 1993, pp. 87-90; Stodiek/Paulsen 1996, pp. 40f; Junkmanns 2001, pp. 14-16. FIG X: The complete bow from Holmegård/DK. Ringkloster (Almost?) Complete bow. Elm (Ulmus glabra). PROVENANCE Ringkloster, Jutland/DK. DATE ca 5,400-3,600 BC (Ertebølle culture) DESCRIPTION The bow is ca 154 cm long, one limb being almost 5 cm longer than the other. The grip is app. 2.3 cm wide, but only 1.5 cm deep. One limb measures 3.4 cm, the other 3.1 cm at their widest parts – shortly above and below the grip. Edges are almost parallel for the most part of the limbs, and the thickness is between 1.5 cm and 1.65 cm throughout. The outermost 20 cm of each limbs are significantly narrower (about ⅔), tapering in depth from 1.7 to 1.1 cm at one end and from 1.5 cm to 1.05 cm at the other. The tips show no traces of notches or other means to fasten a string. The rounded surface of a small stave of elm wood forms the back of the bow, its outer growth ring obviously left untouched. The edges are rounded to form a flat-oval cross-section. COMMENTS The dimensions of the handle section and the lack of means to fasten the string lead to the assumption that this bow has never been put to use. Some kind of „riser“ might have been fastened to the grip to give it more depth, but there are no traces of any sort (i.e. glue, p. 3 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark binding) to give credibility to that theory. Unfortunately this find is not well documented, but it appears like some experimental (but unsuccessful) variation of the Holmegård design. REFERENCES Journal of Danish Archaeology 12 (1994/95). FIG. X: The Bow from Ringkloster/DK. Møllegabet Fragment of a bow. Elm (Ulmus glabra). Langelands Museum, Rudkøbing/DK. PROVENANCE Møllegabet/DK. DATE ca 5,400 BC (Kongemose/Ertebølle) DESCRIPTION The recovered fragment indicates that the bow originally measured ca 115 cm. The handle section is deep and narrow, the limbs wide and flat, with almost parallel edges up to the last third of their length. Then there is a „shoulder“, the width is reduced to app ⅓ while thickness increases again, making the tips stiffer, but not inflexible. The profile is planoconvex in the lower ⅔ of the limb, almost circular in the tips. Shoulder nocks. COMMENTS For whatever reason, the bow from Møllegabet has been widely confused in literature with the one from Holmegård, so many modern so-called „Holmegård“ replicas are in fact bows of Møllegabet design. Dimensions indicate that this might have been a bow for children or juveniles, but it is very finely made and certainly not the work of a child or juvenile. It is the only example of this particular shape discovered to date. Most of the work is done by the lower ⅔ of the limbs, the narrow tips increasing speed of cast. REFERENCES Junkmanns 2001, p. 14. FIG. X: The bow from Møllegabet/DK. Tybrind Vig Complete bow and fragments. Elm (Ulmus glabra). PROVENANCE Submerged settlement of Tybrind Vig, West Funen/DK. DATE ca 5,300-4,000 BC (Ertebølle culture) p. 4 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark DESCRIPTION The complete bow from Tybrind Vig is ca 167 cm long, cut from a young elm stave with its bark peeled off, the natural curve of the surface forming the back of the bow. It is 3.2 cm deep and 3 cm wide in the grip, with an egg shaped profile. The handle section proper is only about 5 cm long, with dips of 2-3 cm on either side. The widest part of the limbs is 3.8 cm wide, app. 13 cm above and 17 cm below centre. The limbs taper constantly to a width of ca 2.4 cm below the nocks. The depth is ca 2 cm at the widest parts of the limbs and 1.2 cm at the nock ends. The profile is flat where the limbs start and becomes more rounded towards the nocks. The lower nock is of bulbous shape, the upper one features a tenon with side notches above a similar bulb. COMMENTS Albeit 1,000-2,000 years younger, the bow from Tybrind Vig follows the same general outline as the bows from Holmegård: rounded back, flat belly, pronounced deep and narrow grip, and wide limbs tapering constantly towards the nocks. The main difference lies in the shape of the nocks, which is unique among the Mesolithic bows from Denmark. REFERENCES Alrune 2001; Søren H. Andersen, A Preliminary Report on a Submerged Ertebølle Settlement on the West Coast of Fyn, in: Journal of Danish Archaeology 4 (1985), pp. 52-69; Bergman 1993, p. 98. FIG. X: The bow from Tybrind Vig/DK. The Technology of the Mesolithic bows Of all European bow woods, elm is inferior only to yew (Taxus baccata), which didnʻt spread in these northern parts until ca the third millennium BC. A way of mitigating the risk of breakage in a powerful bow is „overbuilding“, i.e. making the limbs broad so that the stress is distributed over a wider surface. Since stress is distributed unevenly in a bent bow – more of it close to the middle and lesser towards the ends – the limbs can be made to taper towards the nocks, reducing their mass and therefore increasing cast. (This principle has been applied in a somewhat extreme way in the childʻs bow from Møllegabet.) Also with wide limbs there is no need for a rounded, high stacked belly. To ascertain a comfortable grip and to account for the so called „archerʻs paradox“ the handle section needs to be narrower and deeper than the limbs, making this part of the bow rigid and so preventing it from „kicking“ in the hand when shot. Stone tools are less efficient than metal ones, which is a benefit in that they mitigate the risk of cutting off too much material unintentionally. On the other hand, they make bow building a tiring, arduous, and time-consuming exercise. Therefore a bowyer would naturally strive to keep the amount of work applied to a single stave as limited as possible. This includes using a trunk of comparatively small diameter and utilising its de-barked, but otherwise untouched natural surface as the rounded back of the bow-to-be while removing material only from one side, the belly. This method also makes sure the outer growth ring is not damaged, a fact that further mitigates the risk of breakage under tensile stress (cf. Bergman 1993, pp. 101f.). Mesolithic bows with their growth rings still visible show that this method was the common way of building a wide limbed flat-bow from straight, knot-free elm trunks of small diameter that had grown slowly in the shade, thus producing a very narrow rain. So the bowyers in Mesolithic Denmark obviously made use of the best bow wood available to them in the most efficient manner. In fact the Holmegård design and its variations p. 5 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark seems to have been so successful that even when yew wood became available in Northern Europe, bowyers made use of the new material but kept the traditional shape with wide and flat limbs and deep and narrow grip. The following table lists bows of Holmegård or similar design that have been recovered from sites in Denmark (8), the Netherlands (2), and Germany (4). The list is by no means considered a complete one, but it gives an idea of the spread both in geography and in chronology this particular design was subject to. Name/Location Date Wood Length max. Width Notes Holmegård 1 (Holmegård IV, Zealand/DK) ca 6,500 BC (Maglemose culture) Elm ca 152 cm ca 4.4 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip Holmegård 2 (Holmegård IV, Zealand/DK) ca 6,500 BC (Maglemose culture) Elm ca 170 cm (Fragment ca 90 cm) ca 6 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip Blak (Submerged ca 6,000-5,000 BC Elm? site, Roskilde Fjord, (Kongemose culture) Zealand/DK) 140-150 cm? ca 2 cm (6 (handle) fragments) Ringkloster,Jutland/ ca 5,400-3,500 BC DK (Ertebølle culture) Elm 154 cm ca 3.4/3.1 cm Probably never been in use: no nocks and grip too flat Møllegabet/DK ca 5,400 BC (Ertebølle culture) Elm ca 115 cm (Fragment ca 35 cm) ca 3.3 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip, narrow tips; childʻs bow Tybrind Vig, West Funen/DK ca 5,300-4,000 BC (Ertebølle culture) Elm ca 167 cm ca 3.8 cm One complete bow, some fragments HardinxveldGiessendam/NL ca 4,900 BC Elm Fragment ca ? 100 cm Holmegård design, shoulder nocks Ronæs Skov, Gamborg Fjord/DK ca 4,300-4,100 BC (Ertebølle culture) Elm ? ? Complete bow; no further information Agernæs, Funen/DK Ertebølle culture Elm ? ? Complete bow; no further information Vedbaek, Ertebølle culture Maglemosegård/DK Elm ca 194 cm ? Flat limbs, deep and narrow grip, rounded nocks Bodman, Bodensee/ ca 4,000-3,000 BC GER (Neolithic) Yew ca 150 cm ca 3.7 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip Muldbjerg, Åmosen/ ca 3,000-2,750 BC DK (Neolithic) Elm ca 160 cm ca 3.6 cm Holmegård design Förstermoor, Satrup, Ertebølle-Ellerbek Schleswig-Holstein/ culture GER Elm ca 115 ca 3 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip p. 6 of 8 Simple longbow with elliptical cross-section. Childʻs bow? Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark Name/Location Date Wood Length max. Width Notes Vrees, Lower Saxony/GER ca 3,000-2,000 BC (Neolithic) Yew ca 172 cm ca 5 cm Flat and wide limbs, deep and narrow grip (2 fragments) Ochsenmoor, Diepholz, Lower Saxony/GER ca 2,500-2,300 BC (Neolithic) Yew ca 146 cm and ca 126 cm ca 3 cm and Two almost complete ca 3.3 cm Bows of Holmegård design De Zilk/NL ca 2,000-1,700 BC (Neolithic) Yew ca 160 cm ca 5.2 cm Holmegård design In the find reports from Ronæs Skov and Agernæs mention is only made of „one complete bow“ each. These can be considered as being of the same general design well established for that period, i.e. the flat-bow of the Holmegård type, otherwise the deviance in shape would certainly have been noted. The bow from Bodman (GER) stands out in that its find spot lies app 1,000 km further south than all the other sites from which bows of this design have been retrieved to date. The grip section is not as pronounced on the belly side as seems to have been the custom in the north. From a maximum depth of 2.85 cm in the grip the limbs taper constantly towards the nock ends, the maximum width of ca 3.7 cm is reached halfway through the limbs. With its rounded back and flat belly it still resembles some of the other specimen well enough to be included in the list. The table clearly shows that bows of Holmegård design have been in use for at least roughly 5,000 years in an area that seems to cover Denmark, Northern Germany, and the Netherlands. From the singular find from Blak it can be assumed that other bows of more simple design were also in use, but these can not have been as strong and effective as those of the flat-bow type. It seems also obvious that when yew wood became available in these northern parts of Europe, bowyers noticed its superior qualities but stuck to the well established design of bows with wide and flat limbs at first, not making use of the natural properties of sapwood and heartwood as practised much later in the famous English Longbow design (cf. Bergman p. 101ff.). In more southerly parts of Europe, mostly in modern day Switzerland, yew wood had been available earlier, from ca 5,000 BC on, and seems to have been used as the only material to build bows from that time on. Swiss sites have yielded more than 50 Neolithic bows or fragments so far, making the small country holder of the world record in prehistoric bow finds (cf. Junkmanns 2001, pp. 36-48). All of them have been made of yew wood and are of markedly different design than those from the north. With their high stacked and narrow limbs, rounded belly, and lacking a pronounced grip, they are of much simpler shape and resemble more the classic longbow design. There is no way to tell whether this „new“ way of making bows from yew wood spread from south to north, or if it was developed independently in different areas. Fact is, no flat-bows either of elm or yew wood younger than ca 1,500 BC have been discovered in northern Europe until today. The Holmegård type bow had its heyday from ca 6,500 BC to ca 1,500 BC when it dominated the northern scene as the superior and most sophisticated weapon for hunting and probably warfare as well. As is so often the case with archaeology we know not where it came from, or who first invented it, and we donʻt know the reasons why it fell into disuse after app 5,000 years of successful career. Luckily enough, we have a number of artefacts speaking to us of a time at the very dawn of archery history. p. 7 of 8 Jan H. SACHERS M. A. – Mesolithic Bows from Denmark References: Flemming ALRUNE, Pfeil und Bogen vor 6000 Jahren, in: Flemming ALRUNE et alii, Das Bogenbauerbuch. Europäischer Bogenbau von der Steinzeit bis heute, Ludwigshafen 2001, p. 13-37. Christopher A. BERGMAN, The Development of the Bow in Western Europe: A Technological and Functional Perspective, in: Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association IV/1 (1993), pp. 95-105. J. G. D. CLARK, Neolithic Bows from Somerset, England, and the Prehistory of Archery in North-west Europe, in: Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society XXIX (1963), p. 50-98. Paul COMSTOCK, Ancient European Bows, in: Jim HAMM (ed.), The Traditional Bowyerʻs Bible Vol. II, Guilford 1993, p. 81-112. Jørgen JENSEN, The Prehistory of Denmark, London 1982. Jürgen JUNKMANNS, Pfeil und Bogen. Herstellung und Gebrauch in der Jungsteinzeit, Biel 2001. J. N. LANTING, B. W. KOOI, W. A. CASPARIE and R. VAN HINTE, Bows from the Netherlands, in: JSAA 42 (1999), pp. 7-10. Gad RAUSING, The Bow. Some Notes on its Origin and Development , Lund 1967. Ulrich STODIEK and Harm PAULSEN, Mit dem Pfeil, dem Bogen … – Technik der steinzeitlichen Jagd, Oldenburg 1996. Acknowledgements: I am deeply indebted to Jack Farrell, Andrew F. Hall, Wulf Hein, and Thót Zoltán Henrik for sharing their knowledge and their experience, and also to Meinrad Pohl M. A. for help with Danish pronunciation and translation. p. 8 of 8