Oldest Known Bow Recreated by Professional Bowyer 

@@gregfromguam I can’t thank you enough for the support. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! Everything this channel makes is reinvested into creating more and better quality videos. 🙏🏼🏹

Many of the step-by-step bow building tutorials online can help you produce a good Holmegaard bow, since it's got a profile fairly similar to the common "pyramid bow".

Using modern tools or flint and bone tools? That’s the impressive part to me.

I'm obsessed with that mollegabet style. It just looks so awesome. And of course, it's genius, engineered, fantastic. But it's got such a unique design compared to the humble elnglish Longbow yew stick.

7:43 Chalk, was a very cool tip.

15:12 The permanent knocks, are jute twine? Fascinating. I kinda love that.

I really appreciate that! Thank you!

Nice work. Interesting. How did the event go?

@@freyatilly The event will take place next September. I still have time to make and test more bows & arrows :-)

Love it!

@@rudolffaustmann1416 Aha, wo umd wann genau? Prost aus Wien!

He

@@johnfisher7143 We can be sure that if a woman invented the bow, or the wheel, or making friction fire a man took the credit!

The bow was invented multiple times independently throughout many separate regions in the world. If your neighbors had them and they were nice you could learn it from them. Later some pastoral people got creative in bow making techniques and made upgraded composite bows.

@@asmith7876 There is a long list of female inventors going back to the antiquity.

Footprints on the moon, interspace phone call....the 60's and 70's tech was so much better.

Very much appreciated!

😅😅😅

Imagine using only stone and bone tools to make this.

Machinery dilutes the romance of the craft, in my opinion! Thank you for the support!

@@organicarchery Agreed. I build railroad cars, modelled on the Colorado three-footers, in 1/20.3 scale. Apart from the necessary hardware, the car-body is made from coffee stirrers and lolly sticks. Two gold medals and a silver tell me they look okay.

Hand tools that are orders of magnitude above what the ancient bowyer had. Plus I would think the bowyer had to make his own tools. NTL, really enjoyed the vid and especially impressed by the shooting skill.

Creative energy flows better through a tidy shop. Feng Shui.

A neat workspace is the sign of a sick mind! Just teasing!

Glad you enjoyed it!

@@gregfromguam an osage bow with horn and sinew is no small task for a first bow build. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out, but I enjoyed your story nonetheless, Greg! I’m not really a serious person but can see how my “determined” eyebrows while working make it seem so! Thanks again for your contribution to the channel! I’ve been immersed in our last few bowmaking workshops of the year and haven’t had time to film, but there are more videos coming in the very near future.

Greatly appreciated! Thank you for the support.

Sounds like you need a proper Viking bow!

That would be a very nice addition!

Would still like to see you make a Bhutan bow bro

Saw a video of a guy which made a bronce axe with primitive tools, then used it to build a primitive bow just with wood and stone tools (took him months to dry the wood) and then used it with wooden arrows and stone heads and sinew to funt a deer...

I got the chance to shoot my personal 53# Holmegaard through a chrono recently. It averaged 165 fps with a 580 grain arrow. In my opinion, that's a good speed for a hunting bow with a heavy arrow and heavy string!

Agreed! Glued backings complicate things!

@@kelvinsparks4651 very much appreciated!

I appreciate the support! Tied on nocks were quite common historically. They're relatively easy to make, remarkably durable, and simple to replace if one were to get damaged in rough country.

Wrapped nocks were fairly common on Prehistoric and Native American bows. They're remarkably durable and would be easily replaced if damaged. If a cut-in nock is damaged, the only option is to pike the bow and carve a new nock!

I believe they're far older than we anticipate, too!

Homo Sapiens left the African continent first time 65.000 years ago. Other species were around the planet, Pygmie species and Neanderthals and more but I do not think anyone ever have documented bows from species earlier than Homo Sapiens. The largest brain size documented from any "human style species" have been Homo Sapiens and our brain development from apes came with 3 different periods of brain evolve/enlargement stages also affecting the skull. I am in no way insightful into bow history but I am not sure I find it plausible that Homo Sapiens should have invented the bow thousands of years before leaving African continent for the first time if going with your higher end estimate. There have been found cave drawings on at least 2 continents that have been interpreted as Homo Sapiens driving animals into cornered cliff edges and/or ravines to have them corned so close proximity injuries could be applied or they were killed by falling into their death. Had bows been invented at that time of plenty these animals could have been taken down as need for meat arose. Indicators like these tells me it were most unlikely bows were present. One could also wonder separately that we also know that the Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens had sex and reproduced, we have around 3% Neanderthal DNA in us even today because of it, and would it not have been a more likely outcome that they had died out long before if Humans had ability to hunt from the distance thus had less need for the Neanderthals "lesser brains/ more muscles" characteristics? You could be right but I would say there are major indicators that point to that it are not so. Just my 5 cents. If you have some backed up facts from finds or circumstantial indicators indicating otherwise I would like to read and learn and develop my knowledge base.

@@organicarchery Really enjoyed this production, both video and bow. Please see my comment to earthknight60. If you have any suggestions of finds or circumstantial indicators that you can share to date the bow long back (as long as you believe you have indicators for) I would love to learn more. But read my 5 cents and comment if you like. As said my bow, and bow history insights are low. I just find the comments timeline unfounded based on my insights. I will happily adjust my beliefs if presented with anything plausible. No doubt the Holmegård bow are not a first generation bow but....there´s a long way from 7000 BC to pre leaving African continent for the first time.

@@Mike-zx1kx A few corrections. Neanderthals had larger brains than H. sapiens, and we don't know about Denisovans yet, but given some of the remains we have found it's likely they were on a par with Neanderthals size-wise. For H. sapiens, 65,000 years ago was just the last major exodus from Africa. INcreasingly it's looking like H. sapiens we leaving Africa in decent numbers from around 120,000 years ago in waves separated by roughly 20,000 years, probably as a result of the cyclical nature of the Sahara being wet or dry. The first hybridizing between early H. sapiens and Neanderthals was around 200,000-250,000 years ago, so there were at least some waves of H. sapiens leaving Africa even back then. Pygmies are not different species of humans, they're fully within H. sapiens. They're just a result of local genetic changes that are not enough to result in them being a different species.

@@Mike-zx1kx Neanderthals had larger brains than Homo Sapiens.

The technique of making a bow hasn't changed. Take away any wood that isn't a bow; then scrape the stiff areas until the bend is even. It was just much slower with stone tools.

Welcome aboard and thank you for the support!

Shoots as good as it looks is the mantra for every bow! :)

Good luck with your builds and don't be discouraged if the first coupe don't work. Take what you've learned and apply it to the next. Before you know it, you'll have a keeper.

I couldn't believe it either! It's unfortunate, but it is what it is!

@@organicarchery Uh, well, if you have any left you can send them to ME! 😂😂😂. Gorgeous work!