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60-579: Escalade consists of attacking soldiers advancing to the base of a wall, setting ladders, and climbing to engage the defending forces. Though very simple and direct, it was also one of the most dangerous options available; escalade would generally be conducted in the face of arrow fire from the battlements , and the defenders would naturally attempt to push ladders away from the wall. Heated or incendiary substances such as boiling water, heated sand, and pitch -coated missiles were sometimes poured on attacking soldiers. This made it difficult for attackers to reach

120-584: A nock for engaging the bowstring . A container or bag carrying additional arrows for convenient reloading is called a quiver . The use of bows and arrows by humans predates recorded history and is common to most cultures . A craftsman who makes arrows is a fletcher , and one who makes arrowheads is an arrowsmith. The oldest evidence of likely arrowheads, dating to c. 64,000 years ago, were found in Sibudu Cave , current South Africa . Likely arrowheads made from animal bones have been discovered in

180-408: A window sill or balcony , are often used in this capacity. Arrow An arrow is a fin -stabilized projectile launched by a bow . A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers called fletchings mounted near the rear, and a slot at the rear end called

240-416: A better position to contribute to an understanding of the evolution of the modern mind. Some of these hafted points might have been launched from bows. While "most attributes such as micro-residue distribution patterns and micro-wear will develop similarly on points used to tip spears, darts or arrows" and "explicit tests for distinctions between thrown spears and projected arrows have not yet been conducted"

300-474: A hot electrically heated wire. It is crucial that all the feathers of an arrow have the same drag, so manual trimming is rarely used by modern fletchers. The burning-wire method is popular because different shapes are possible by bending the wire, and the fletching can be symmetrically trimmed after gluing by rotating the arrow on a fixture. Some fletchings are dyed. Two-toned fletchings usually make each fletching from two feathers knit together. The front fletching

360-446: A lathe-like tool called a cresting machine, usually for the purpose of personalization. Like wraps, cresting may also be done to make arrows easier to see. An arrow symbol (→) is a simple graphical or typographical representation of an arrow, consisting of a triangle or chevron at the end of a straight line. It is used to indicate a direction, such as on signs and as road surface markings . A symbol often used by aromantic people

420-416: A left-twist for left wing. This rotation, through a combination of gyroscopic stabilization and increased drag on the rear of the arrow, helps the arrow to fly straight away. Artificial helical fletchings have the same effect. Most arrows will have three fletches, but some have four or even more. Fletchings generally range from two to six inches (50 to 150 mm) in length; flight arrows intended to travel

480-429: A nock, most often a slit was cut into the end of the shaft, and a sliver of harder material, the same width as the shaft, was glued into the slot. The arrow was then rotated 90 degrees, and a shallower slot was cut for the string. When made in this manner, the string actually pushed the wood or bone insert rather than the soft wood itself, preventing the shaft from splitting. Another method of preventing nocks from splitting

540-663: A pattern whereby innovations are not further and progressively developed, but arise and then disappear. For instance, the shell beads occur in the Still Bay layers, but are absent from the Howiesons Poort ones, in Sibudu, and elsewhere. This challenges the idea that the early development of technology by early humans was a process of accumulation of improvements. In discussing the findings of artefacts at Sibudu researchers have commented that they: can hardly be used to support

600-458: A swift conclusion, or if they had an overwhelming superiority in numbers. Otherwise, less costly siege tactics were often preferred. Escalade is no longer common in modern warfare, as new technologies and tactics have essentially made escalade obsolete; for example, most fortified walls that would have required attackers to use escalade may now simply be destroyed by explosives or nullified by military aircraft . However, escalade still exists as

660-443: A viable (albeit niche) combat tactic, and is occasionally used by police tactical , counterterrorist , and special forces units to raid a structure through its upper levels, either to avoid a barricaded entrance or line of sight, or to breach the structure from multiple points. Mechanical assault ladders, typically installed on the roof of vehicles and featuring ramps that can extend or angle themselves to reach an entry point such as

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720-403: A wide range of spines. However, most traditional bows are not center-shot and the arrow has to deflect around the handle in the archer's paradox ; such bows tend to give most consistent results with a narrower range of arrow spine that allows the arrow to deflect correctly around the bow. Bows with higher draw weight will generally require stiffer arrows, with more spine (less flexibility) to give

780-420: Is Port Orford Cedar . The stiffness of the shaft is known as its spine , referring to how little the shaft bends when compressed, hence an arrow which bends less is said to have more spine. In order to strike consistently, a group of arrows must be similarly spined. "Center-shot" bows, in which the arrow passes through the central vertical axis of the bow riser, may obtain consistent results from arrows with

840-628: Is about 8,000 years old, found in the Holmegård swamp in Denmark. Archery seems to have arrived in the Americas with the Arctic small tool tradition , about 4,500 years ago. Arrow sizes vary greatly across cultures, ranging from eighteen inches to five feet (45 cm to 152 cm). However, most modern arrows are 75 cm (30 in) to 96 cm (38 in) in length. Arrows recovered from

900-418: Is an important Middle Stone Age site occupied, with some gaps, from 77 000 years ago to 38 000 years ago. Evidence of some of the earliest examples of modern human technology has been found in the shelter (although the earliest known spears date back 400 000 years). The evidence in the shelter includes the earliest bone arrow ( 61 000 years old), and the earliest stone arrows (64,000 years old),

960-463: Is arrows or an arrow as the word arrow is a homophone to the shortened word aro used by aromantic people to refer to themselves. Ancient Indian astronomers often associate the interdependent trigonometrical components with the picture of a bow and arrow, the arrow ( utkrama-jyā ) equivalent to the present day secant . Sibudu Cave Sibudu Cave is a rock shelter in a sandstone cliff in northern KwaZulu-Natal , South Africa. It

1020-399: Is common to say "nock an arrow" when one readies a shot. A nock is a notch in the rearmost end of an arrow. It helps keep the arrow correctly rotated, keeps the arrow from slipping sideways during the draw or after the release, and helps maximize the arrow's energy (i.e. its range and lethality) by helping an archer place the arrow at the fastest-moving place on the bowstring. Some archers mark

1080-413: Is generally preferred as it makes the points self-tighten. In traditional archery, some archers prefer a left rotation because it gets the hard (and sharp) quill of the feather farther away from the arrow-shelf and the shooter's hand. A flu-flu is a type of fletching normally made by using long sections of full length feathers taken from a turkey; in most cases, six or more sections are used rather than

1140-507: Is implied. The employment of snares also would demonstrate a practical understanding of the latent energy stored in bent branches, the main principle of bow construction. The use of Cryptocarya leaves in bedding indicates that early use of herbal medicines may have awarded selective advantages to humans, and the use of such plants implies a new dimension to the behaviour of early humans at this time. Artefacts such as piecing needles, arrows, and shell beads at Sibudu and elsewhere occur in

1200-453: Is often camouflaged, and the rear fletching bright so that the archer can easily track the arrow. Artisans who make arrows by hand are known as "fletchers", a word related to the French word for arrow, flèche. This is the same derivation as the verb "fletch", meaning to provide an arrow with its feathers. Glue and thread are the traditional methods of attaching fletchings. A "fletching jig"

1260-401: Is often used in modern times, to hold the fletchings in exactly the right orientation on the shaft while the glue hardens. Whenever natural fletching is used, the feathers on any one arrow must come from the same wing of the bird, the most common being the right-wing flight feathers of turkeys. The slight cupping of natural feathers requires them to be fletched with a right-twist for right wing,

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1320-420: Is the primary structural element of the arrow, to which the other components are attached. Traditional arrow shafts are made from strong, lightweight wood , bamboo , or reeds , while modern shafts may be made from aluminium , carbon fibre reinforced plastic , or a combination of materials. Such shafts are typically made from an aluminium core wrapped with a carbon fibre outer. A traditional premium material

1380-525: The Mary Rose , an English warship that sank in 1545 whose remains were raised in 1982, were mostly 76 cm (30 in) long. Very short arrows have been used, shot through a guide attached either to the bow (an "overdraw") or to the archer's wrist (the Turkish "siper"). These may fly farther than heavier arrows, and an enemy without suitable equipment may find himself unable to return them. The shaft

1440-603: The Fa Hien Cave in Sri Lanka which are also the oldest evidence for the use of arrows outside of Africa dating to c. 48,000 years ago. The oldest evidence of the use of bows to shoot arrows dates to about 10,000 years ago; it is based on pinewood arrows found in the Ahrensburg valley north of Hamburg . They had shallow grooves on the base, indicating that they were shot from a bow. The oldest bow so far recovered

1500-468: The Ottomans . The arrowhead or projectile point is the primary functional part of the arrow, and plays the largest role in determining its purpose. Some arrows may simply use a sharpened tip of the solid shaft, but it is far more common for separate arrowheads to be made, usually from metal, horn, or some other hard material. Arrowheads are usually separated by function: Arrowheads may be attached to

1560-524: The "classic" out of Africa scenario, which predicts increasing complexity and accretion of innovations during the MSA, determined by biological change. Instead, they appear, disappear, and re-appear in a way that best fits a scenario in which historical contingencies and environmental, rather than cognitive, changes are seen as main drivers. The idea that environmental change was responsible for this pattern has been questioned, and instead it has been suggested that

1620-437: The "cock" feather, is at a right angle to the nock, and is normally nocked so that it will not contact the bow when the arrow is shot. Four-feather fletching is usually symmetrical and there is no preferred orientation for the nock; this makes nocking the arrow slightly easier. Natural feathers are usually prepared by splitting and sanding the quill before gluing. Further, the feather may be trimmed to shape, die-cut or burned by

1680-725: The Natal Museum (unpublished work). Lyn Wadley of the University of the Witwatersrand started renewed excavations in September 1998. The occupations at Sibudu are divided into pre-Still Bay, Still Bay ( 72 000 –71 000 years ago), Howiesons Poort (before 61 000 years ago), post-Howiesons Poort ( 58 500 years ago), late ( 47 700 years ago), and final Middle Stone Age phases ( 38 600 years ago). There were occupation gaps of approximately 10 000 years between

1740-614: The Sibudu Cave became a part of the World Heritage Site of Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa. Sibudu Cave is a rock shelter , located roughly 40 km (25 mi) north of the city of Durban and about 15 km (9 mi) inland, near the town of Tongaat . It is in a steep, forested cliff facing WSW that overlooks the Tongati River in an area that is now a sugar cane plantation. The shelter

1800-427: The archer more visible. Fletchings are traditionally made from feathers (often from a goose or turkey ) bound to the arrow's shaft, but are now often made of plastic (known as "vanes"). Historically, some arrows used for the proofing of armour used copper vanes. Flight archers may use razor blades for fletching, in order to reduce air resistance. With conventional three-feather fletching, one feather, called

1860-423: The area most likely to break, the arrow is more likely to survive impact, while maintaining overall flexibility and lighter weight. A barreled arrow shaft is one that tapers in diameter bi-directionally. This allows for an arrow that has an optimum weight yet retains enough strength to resist flex. Barreled arrow shafts are considered the zenith of pre-industrial archery technology, reaching their peak design among

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1920-421: The arrow would slip into the ring. The arrow could be drawn and released as usual. Then the enemy could collect the arrows, yet not shoot them back with a conventional bow. Also, since there was no nock, the nock could not break, and the arrow was less expensive. A piece of battle advice was to have several rings tied to the bowstring in case one broke. A practical disadvantage compared to a nock would be preserving

1980-568: The artisan had to think about the correct position for placing stone inserts on the shafts.... Although fully modern behaviour is recognisable relatively late in the MSA, the circumstantial evidence provided here implies that people who made compound adhesives in the MSA shared at least some advanced behaviours with their modern successors. In a commentary upon this research it has been suggested that instead of focusing upon language, with activities that tax reasoning ability and are also visible archaeologically, such as shafting, archaeologists are in

2040-517: The back of the arrow and act as airfoils to provide a small amount of force used to stabilize the flight of the arrow. They are designed to keep the arrow pointed in the direction of travel by strongly damping down any tendency to pitch or yaw . Some cultures, for example most in New Guinea , did not use fletching on their arrows. Also, arrows without fletching (called bare shaft ) are used for training purposes, because they make certain errors by

2100-460: The base of a wall), machicolations (which facilitated attacks on enemy soldiers while they climbed), and talus walls (which could weaken ladders or were too tall for ladders to reach the top of). Because of the difficulties involved, escalade was typically very costly for the attackers. Two critical factors in determining the success or failure of escalade were the number of ladders and the speed with which they could be arranged. A slow attack gave

2160-405: The bowstave, the arrow's aim will be thrown off. Wooden arrows have a preferred bending-plane. Synthetic arrows have a designed bending plane. Usually this plane is determined by the grain of the wood of the arrow, or the structure of a synthetic arrow. The nock's slot should be rotated at an angle chosen so that when the arrow bends, it avoids or slides on the bowstave. Almost always this means that

2220-483: The correct amount of flex when shot. The weight of an arrow shaft can be expressed in GPI ( grains per inch ). The length of a shaft in inches multiplied by its GPI rating gives the weight of the shaft in grains. For example, a shaft that is 30 inches (760 mm) long and has a GPI of 9.5 weighs 285 grains (18 grams ). This does not include the other elements of a finished arrow, so a complete arrow will be heavier than

2280-407: The defenders too much time to pick off the attackers with arrows, while having too few ladders meant that the number of troops would be insufficient to capture the battlements. A third important factor was the estimation of the height of the wall. If the ladders were made too long, they could be pushed over by the defenders, and if they were too short, the attackers would not be able to reach the top of

2340-558: The driving factors were changes in the social networks related to changes in population density. In 2015, the South African government submitted a proposal to add the cave to the list of World Heritage Sites and it has been placed on the UNESCO list of tentative sites as a potential future 'serial nomination' together with Blombos Cave , Pinnacle Point , Klasies River Caves , Border Cave , and Diepkloof Rock Shelter . Three of

2400-561: The earliest needle ( 61 000 years old), the earliest use of heat-treated mixed compound gluing ( 61 000 years ago), and an example of the use of bedding ( 77 000 years ago) which for a while was the oldest known example (an older example from 200 000 years ago was recently discovered at Border Cave , South Africa). The use of glues and bedding are of particular interest, because the complexity of their creation and processing has been presented as evidence of continuity between early human cognition and that of modern humans. In 2024,

2460-671: The fabrication of this adhesive, researchers concluded that the Middle Stone Age (MSA) humans at Sibudu would have required the multilevel mental operations and abstract thought capabilities of modern people to do this. Artisans living in the MSA must have been able to think in abstract terms about properties of plant gums and natural iron products, even though they lacked empirical means for gauging them. Qualities of gum, such as wet, sticky, and viscous, were mentally abstracted, and these meanings counterpoised against ochre properties, such as dry, loose, and dehydrating. Simultaneously,

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2520-438: The maximum possible distance typically have very low fletching, while hunting arrows with broadheads require long and high fletching to stabilize them against the aerodynamic effect of the head. Fletchings may also be cut in different ways, the two most common being parabolic (i.e. a smooth curved shape) and shield (i.e. shaped as one-half of a very narrow shield) cut. In modern archery with screw-in points, right-hand rotation

2580-430: The nock end of an arrow, primarily as an aid in bonding vanes and feather fletchings to the shaft. Wraps can also make the eventual removal of vanes and vane-glue easier. Additionally, they add a decorative aspect to arrow building, which can provide archers an opportunity to personalize their arrows. Brightly colored wraps can also make arrows much easier to find in the brush, and to see in downrange targets. In English it

2640-461: The nock position with beads, knots or wrappings of thread. Most compound bow shooters use a D-loop, a length of string material (or sometimes a metal bracket) attached to the string above and below the nocking point. A release aid is typically attached to the D-loop in preparation for a shot. The main purpose of a nock is to control the rotation of the arrow. Arrows bend when released. If the bend hits

2700-502: The optimal rotation of the arrow, so that when it flexes, it does not hit the bowstave. The bend direction of the arrow might have been indicated by its fletching. "Some arrow materials like hollow cane/bamboo/reed shafting lend themselves to nock inserts. Softer woods like pine or cedar also required some sort of reinforcement of hardwood, bone or horn which kept the string from splitting their shaft upon release. Hardwood such as oak and ash did not need additional reinforcement. To reinforce

2760-405: The period after the Howiesons Poort for hunting weapons, such as the tips of spears. Use–trace analysis suggests that many of these points were hafted with ochre-loaded adhesives. The replication of shafted tool manufacture using only methods and materials available at Sibudu has enabled the identification of the complexity of the thought processes that it required. The stone spear was embedded in

2820-520: The post-Howiesons Poort and the late Middle Stone Age stage, and the late and final Middle Stone periods. There was no Late Stone Age occupation, although there was an Iron Age occupation about 1000 B.C. Evidence suggests these were dry periods and the shelter was occupied only during wet climatic conditions. The pre-Still Bay occupation had a lithic flake -based industry and made few tools. The Still Bay occupation, in addition to such flakes, made bifacial tools and points . Trace use analysis on

2880-417: The researchers find "contextual support" for the use of these points on arrows: a broad range of animals were hunted, with an emphasis on taxa that prefer closed forested niches, including fast moving, terrestrial and arboreal animals. This is an argument for the use of traps, perhaps including snares. If snares were used, the use of cords and knots, which also would have been adequate for the production of bows,

2940-462: The segment of an orange, with a sharp cutting edge on the straight lateral and an intentionally blunted and curved back. These were attached to shafts or handles by means of ochre and plant adhesive or alternatively fat mixed with plant material. Segments often were made with a cutting edge along their entire length, which required that they be attached to their hafts without twine and so, calls for particularly strong adhesive glue. Points were used in

3000-432: The shaft alone. Sometimes a shaft will be made of two different types of wood fastened together, resulting in what is known as a footed arrow. Known by some as the finest of wood arrows, footed arrows were used both by early Europeans and Native Americans . Footed arrows will typically consist of a short length of hardwood near the head of the arrow, with the remainder of the shaft consisting of softwood . By reinforcing

3060-405: The shaft with a cap, a socketed tang , or inserted into a split in the shaft and held by a process called hafting . Points attached with caps are simply slid snugly over the end of the shaft, or may be held on with hot glue . Split-shaft construction involves splitting the arrow shaft lengthwise, inserting the arrowhead, and securing it using a ferrule , sinew, or wire. Fletchings are found at

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3120-495: The slot of the nock must be perpendicular to the wood's grain, viewed from behind. Self nocks are slots cut in the back of the arrow. These are simple, but can break at the base of the slot. Self nocks are often reinforced with glued servings of fiber near the base of the slot. The sturdiest nocks are separate pieces made from wood, plastic, or horn that are then attached to the end of the arrow. Modern nocks, and traditional Turkish nocks, are often constructed so as to curve around

3180-414: The string or even pinch it slightly, so that the arrow is unlikely to slip off. Ancient Arab archery sometimes used "nockless arrows". In shooting at enemies, Arabs saw them pick up Arab arrows and shoot them back. So Arabs developed bowstrings with a small ring tied where the nock would normally be placed. The rear end of the arrow would be sharpened to a point, rather than slit for a nock. The rear end of

3240-771: The tips of the points finds evidence of compound adhesives on their bases where they would once have been hafted to shafts. Various examples of early human technology have been found: The plant bedding consisted of sedge and other monocotyledons topped with aromatic leaves containing natural insecticidal and larvicidal chemicals. The leaves were all from Cape laurel ( Cryptocarya woodii ) which, when crushed, are aromatic and contain traces of α- pyrones , cryptofolione , and goniothalamin , chemicals that have insecticidal and larvicidal properties against, for example, mosquitoes. Cryptocarya species are still used extensively in traditional medicine. The Howiesons Poort occupation manufactured blade tools. These blades are shaped like

3300-406: The top of the wall, and those that did would often quickly be overwhelmed by the defenders on the walls, only being able to push into the defenses after suffering heavy attrition. Fortifications were often constructed in such a way as to impede escalade, or at least to make it a less attractive option. Countermeasures to escalade included moats (which prevented ladder-bearing soldiers from reaching

3360-443: The traditional three. Alternatively two long feathers can be spiraled around the end of the arrow shaft. The extra fletching generates more drag and slows the arrow down rapidly after a short distance of about 30 m (98 ft) or so. Flu-flu arrows are often used for hunting birds, or for children's archery, and can also be used to play flu-flu golf . Wraps are thin pre-cut sheets of material, often vinyl or plastic, used to wrap

3420-476: The wall. Tactics employed included getting as many men as possible on the ladder at the same time (the more men that were on the ladder at the same time, the heavier it became, making pushing it over difficult), attacking by night, or scaling a remote section of the wall. Escalade was, in essence, an attempt to overwhelm defenders in a direct assault rather than sit through a protracted siege. Attackers would generally attempt escalade if they had reasons for wanting

3480-494: The wood using a compound adhesive made up of plant gum, red ochre, and to aid the workability, possibly a small amount of beeswax, coarse particles, or fat. This preliminary mixture had to have the correct ingredient proportions and then, before shafting, undergo a controlled heat treatment stage. This heating had to avoid boiling or dehydrating the mixture too much, otherwise it would weaken the resulting mastic . The maker also had to reduce its acidity . By experimentally recreating

3540-451: Was formed by erosional downcutting of the Tongati River, which now lies 10 m (33 ft) below the shelter. Its floor is 55 m (180 ft) long, and about 18 m (59 ft) in width. It has a large collection of Middle Stone Age deposits that are well preserved organically and accurately dated using optically stimulated luminescence . The first excavations following its discovery in 1983 were carried out by Aron Mazel of

3600-611: Was to bind the arrow between the nock and the back of the fletch with sinew and hide glue or a rough cord such as silk attached with adhesive, whether it be fish glue or birch tar." Arrows are usually finished so that they are not softened by rain, fog or condensation. Traditional finishes are varnishes or lacquers . Arrows sometimes need to be repaired, so it's important that the paints be compatible with glues used to attach arrowheads, fletchings, and nocks. For this reason, arrows are rarely protected by waxing. Crests are rings or bands of paint, often brightly colored, applied to arrows on

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