How Good of Archers Were Native Americans? Part Two:	by Scott Chandler
Central States Archaeological Societies 2024 April Journal	Sarasota, Florida

Towards A Balanced View:
Weaker Bows in Other Areas
The accounts mentioned in Part One of this article may imply that natives primarily had strong bows in antiquity. But that assessment, based on an incomplete textual record, doesn’t represent all of reality. There are descriptions where arrows shot from western bows barely penetrated several inches and the victims felt little injury. In a suggestive reference to weak bow power, Thompson comments on two tribes near the Missouri River: “southeastward of [the Pawnee] were the Sioux Indians...their stone headed arrows could do little injury.” And to “the northeast were the Chippeways in possession of the Forests; but equally weak.”(225) As a former chief and one who had encounters with many tribes, Beckwourth says that for the native to “kill with their arrows, they must be near their mark. They often shoot their arrows...and, unless they are very near their object, they seldom take effect.”(56)

These photos of Ishi, the last known wild native in the United States, documents him using a pinch grip, chest draw and a diagonal bow position with the palm up, not down

One factor that may have contributed to weaker arrow penetration is technique. David Thompson’s data collection system allowed him to make a sweeping anthropological statement about bow technique on the continent: “All the Natives of North America, except the ‘Dinnae’ [which includes many dialects of the Chippewa tribes] in drawing the Arrow, hold the Bow in a vertical or upright position which gives to the arms their full action and force; but the Dinnae, or Chepawyans, hold the Bow in a contrary, or horizontal position, the Arrow is held on the string, by two fingers below and the thumb above and with the bow string thus drawn to the breast, which does not allow the Bow two thirds of its force; practice has made them good marksmen, but the arrows are feeble in effect.”(166) It seems that the vertical draw position was widely used and more powerfulyet Thompson bookmarks specifically that the Dinnae exercised the notably weak chest draw. Though the horizontal draw position preferred by some did not allow for full extension, Thompson states that accuracy was not compromised, as they were still “good marksmen” (see Figs. 20, 21) Thompson had already been told by northern natives that their ancestors came from the east or Greenland, perhaps

This early photo of an Inupiaq hunter in Alaska shows a 45 degree bow position, the tilt allowing for the arrow to remain in position

evidence for the Atlantic theory of migration. With the mind of an anthropologist, he then wonders if bow technique was also similar in the east, a possible signal to the eastern origin of some tribes: “Do any of the people of Greenland, Iceland, or the northern nations of Europe, or Siberia, handle the bow in this manner? If so, some inference may be drawn from it.”(166) The horizontal draw position (and all angles in between) has been reported among some southwest tribes as well. If, as Thompson says, penetration was diminished on weaker bows or because of technique, accuracy was a different issue and remained true. We will see that natives may have compensated for power issues by placing poison on arrows (Fig. 22).

From the selective data preserved, it seems some western bows could be weaker with lesser tension than those of native Florida or some Canadian tribes. Accounts reveal that victims of arrow shots could manage to survive and/or still defend themselves. Ross Cox writes of northwest natives that a “Mr. Stewart was dangerously wounded by two arrows, one of which entered his left shoulder, and the other penetrated between his ribs close to the heart, notwithstanding which he succeeded in shooting two of the savages dead.”(102) Captive Fanny Kelly noted that the bow power of the 1864 Hunkpapa Sioux was commensurate with shooting distance: “the depth of the wound depends on the distance of the aim, but the ...

 

 

Read the complete "A Projectile Point Collection from the James River and Virgin Bluff Locale in Stone County, Missouri" column in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2024 April Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2025