I've been wondering lately who were the first people to have bows and arrows in history?

I'm finding it really hard to believe that Indians (or Native Americans, for those who prefer that term) and Europeans both came up with the concept of the bow. Someone had to come up with it first, but I can't imagine who. And I have no idea where online to look for this type of info.

According to archaeologists, the bow and arrow were already in use over 30.000 years ago, by basically every race in those days. Read this article about the bow and arrow. It doesn't answer your question, but it's interresting nonetheless.

Found some more, maybe this will answer some questions. From what i understand the very first people who used the bow and arrow were possibly Western Europeans, but i'm not sure,i wasn't there. :D

Wow... those are really neat! Thanks for the links. I thought bows had been around for a while, but I had no idea it was THAT long...

*gives the V-salute* :D

They have been around long i wish they would be used instead of guns...

Agreed. I also wish they'd go back to swords and hand to hand combat. Guns and bombs are so... *ahem* I was gonna use a bad word there. But yeah, they're for chickens and require so little skill.

Honestly, I think there'd be a lot less killing if people had to put a little more effort into it. I bet a lot of people would feel really guilty if they knew they had to get close enough to see blood and *gasp* possibly get hurt themselves.

But that's just me. And guns n'stuff are here to stay, I've accepted that... sad as it is. :(

yeah, i agree also. It would be sooo cool to have wars with swords and stuff, well maybe not so cool, but then there would be little terrorism and the world might be better...

ah, wistful thinking for a utopian society. too bad it can only be wistful, but then I am a pessimist and don't really have a high opinion of our species ;)

but that bow and arrow thing makes sense since (assuming the theory is correct) the native north americans would have crossed over the Bering Land Bridge roughly 10 000 yrs ago (I don't remember the exact time period just know that it's was terribly recent, nor was it a really long time ago, so I'm just guess-timating)

Impersonal? :D Yes, you have to really want someone dead to kill them with melee weapons. Bows, however, are nothing to laugh at. I read somewhere English longbowmen could consistently peg targets from ranges of 100 to 300+ meters. [img]graemlins/wow.gif[/img] That's hard with a good gun and scope.

As for who had them first, I think Johnny's answer that "they all did" is most correct. The American Indians are known to have decended from the same direct ancestor as present-day people found in Mongolia and similar regions. They likely brought the "technology" with them when they crossed the Bering Strait.

Timber, your right, English Bowmen were extremely deadly. I think its what Britian known for back then, they could launch an arrow really far, and never miss.