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Bows were made by working down a wooden stave so that the heartwood formed the bulk of the bow, giving it its strength, while a layer of sapwood was retained along the bow’s back to give the bow more elasticity under tension and to help prevent it from breaking. <br>

Many of the bows were extremely simple and we have a number of finds of bows that still have the bumps and branch accretions left from the removed branches along their backs (Wassenaar, Hedeby). <br>

===Bow Grips===

None of the bows found in the Viking Age have any distinct swelling around the area of the handgrip or show any evidence of having a separate handgrip attached. The bow-staves run roughly parallel along their entire length. The only unique finds of bows that do have a distinct handgrip come from the C7th Alemannic graves at Oberflacht in southern Germany.

In Charlemagne’s armies it became an essential weapon: ‘lanceam, scutum et arcum cum duas cordas, sagittas duodecim’ Capitulary of Aarchen of 802/3, c 9. This instruction is most likely the result of the Carolingian wars against the Avars who we know from grave finds used composite bows with bone lathes [Manley 1985: p.226]. <br>

We have evidence from <><> and manuscripts that in battle archery was often performed by two men working together, one firing while the other supplied arrows.

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===Horse Archery===

It appears that archery was not performed in Britain from horseback but it might have been done in France and the rest of mainland Europe. Byzantium warriors were known to ride backwards while shooting [Nicolle 1984].

== References ==