Scythian-Style Bows Discovered in Xinjiang

SCYTHIAN-STYLE BOWS

DISCOVERED IN XINJIANG

From the photographs and drawings of Stephen Selby.

By Bede Dwyer

Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries 2003 71

Introduction.

This article is an attempt to give a historical context to the

bows recorded by Stephen Selby at the museum in Urumqi

from the cemetery at Subeishi in Shanshan County Xinjiang.

They have not been widely published in Chinese or English,

but they are very significant for the study of archery history.

Stephen Selby supplied me with the descriptions, but my

imagination supplied the reconstructions. I also redrew his

sketches so any errors are mine.

The Location

Shanshan County, to the east of Urumqi, is on the Northern

Route of the Silk Road, which splits in two to pass the

extremely arid Takla Makan Desert. To the east is the Gobi

Desert; to the west is the Tarim Basin, which drains the

mountains to the north. Its watercourses eventually

evaporate in the Takla Makan. Subeshi (Subeixi) is situated

to the east of the famous Silk Road town of Turpan (Turfan).

Since early exploitation by foreign archaeologists in the

nineteenth and early twentieth century, the area has

continued to reveal amazing relicts of the past. Modern

Chinese archaeologists have revealed more details of the

ancient inhabitants and their ways of life. The unique dry

conditions have preserved usually perishable artefacts and

even the bodies of some of the people buried there.

What have surprised many in the West were the European

features of some of the bodies. However, ancient Chinese

historians had recorded the variety of races on their north-

western border as far back as the Han Dynasty. This area

was both a trade route and the point of contact many people

from different environments and cultures. People farmed

and traded in the oases and nomads visited both for trade

Below: A Scythian style bow from Subeishi in Shanshan County, Xinjiang

72 Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries 2003

and warfare.

The Artefacts

Stephen Selby examined several bows in Urumqi that were

of various designs and from several periods. One type of

great significance to the history of archery was very similar

to bows familiar in the West from Greek, Persian and

Scythian1 art. I will discuss why this is not so surprising

below, but firstly I will describe one of the bows.

The bow in question possessed a feature that is no longer

common in modern composite bows. It was thick and

narrow in the cross-section of that part of the limb where it

bends. Unlike later bows, with their broad lenticular or

rectangular bending sections, this bow had a triangular

section with the apex on the belly side of the limb. The back

of the bow was slightly convex and formed the base of the

triangle. At the centre of the bow, the limbs are 4 cm wide.

For a greater part of the limb it had this unusual shape.

Another feature that was rare in more recent traditional

composite bows is the smooth recurve at the tips. The

recurves had string grooves on their belly sides like modern

target recurve bows. The cross-section of the recurve was

more like a slightly flattened oval. For part of this there is a

groove on one side as just mentioned. This feature is totally

unlike the bow tips on later composite bows. The term we

use for bow tips, “siyah”, is not really appropriate2.

In outline, the bow looks like the Classical Cupid’s bow of

Greek and Roman art. This is not an accident. Despite being

found in the modern confines of China, this bow represents

a survival of the ancient Scythian bow, which was used from

Italy in the west to the north of China in the east. Roman

armies might have carried them even further west. Remains

of later Roman archery equipment have been found in

Britain, both grip scales and laths for the ears. However, the

Scythian bow would leave no telltale laths in the

archaeological records. Even in the heartland of the

Scythians, modern Russia and the Ukraine, very few

identifiable remains of bows remain.

Two of the Subeishi in particular recall Scythian bows of the

West. Both were displayed with bowstrings and arrows of

about the right length3, though they may not have originally

associated with these particular bows.

Stephen Selby measured one bow and found that it

measured about 130 cm around the curves and 119 cm in a

straight line from one end to the other. The centre of the set

back grips is 53 cm from one end and 66 cm from the other.

This is a straight-line measurement. The centre of the bow

was 4 cm wide and tapered to 3.5 cm at the mid-limb. The

limbs were bound with thread4 below a layer of lacquer. If

the materials are really silk and Chinese lacquer, then the

use of these materials clearly suggests Chinese

craftsmanship. Silk wrapped and lacquered bows have been

excavated in Warring States and Han tombs5. However, the

bow was found in a cemetery primarily containing people of

A gorytos and Scythian-style bow from Subeishi


European features6. Whether the bow was finished or re-

covered by a Chinese artisan or complete constructed by one

is hard to say at the moment. However, Stephen Selby

advised me that the thread could not be identified under the

layer of lacquer and the nature of the lacquer itself has not

been determined yet. The bow is dated approximately 600

BC, but may be later. The Scythians were prominent in the

West between 750 BC and 300 BC. After that time they

went into decline though enclaves survived into the current

era in the Crimean peninsula.

Subeishi bow and sections (Not to scale).

There is some distortion in these bows caused by their

2,500-2600 year burial. In both pictures that I saw the lower

limb is twisted near the tip7. Stephen Selby tells me that the

tips appeared identical. The limbs themselves are of

different lengths when measured from the central dip of the

handle. However, this central set back is probably not where

the bow was held. Both Greek and Scythian works of art

often show the bow gripped below this point. There are even

some Chinese bas-reliefs showing a similar bow gripped

above the set-back8.

A sketch of how a bow may have appeared strung and drawn.

The sketch of the drawn bow is tentative and almost

certainly incorrect in detail. The bow would have had a

greater bend closer to the handle than I have drawn.

However, the degree of this will need to be determined by

experiment. Scythian artwork often shows the parts of the

limbs I have crosshatched horizontally bent almost parallel

to the arrow, as in a Korean bow. Stephen Selby’s

measurements of the bow indicate the stiffness of the bow

was varied by reducing the width rather than by changing

the shape of cross-section. Judging by the sections at the

recurves, they may have been flexible enough to straighten

out partly at full draw. However, in art, the representations

usually show a prominent recurve at the tips when the bows

are fully drawn.

At least one of these bows was buried in a combined bow

case and quiver that the Greeks called a “gorytos” (γωρυτός

written gorytus in Latin). This piece of equipment was

common from Scythia and Greece in the West to Siberia in

the East. Although there were obvious variations between

the Eastern and Western version of this equipment, they

shared a number of key features.

1. The quiver was attached to the outside face of the

bow case when the bow was pointing backwards.

2. About two-thirds of the bow was inside the case.


3. The arrows are usually slightly shorter than the

case, although the quiver portion of the gorytos can

be shorter than the whole.

4. The main decoration of the gorytos is on its outside

face, the side to which the quiver is attached.

5. The bowstring was uppermost when the bow was in

the case unlike later bow cases for the strung bow.

It is worth mentioning too that there are many indications

that a soft leather or cloth cover could be slipped over the

upper end of the bow to protect it from the weather. This

would cover the top part of the gorytos down to the

suspension point. It is clearly shown on the Persepolis reliefs

and in many Greek vase depictions.

The leather tab on the bow case part of the Urumqi Museum

gorytos may represent another way the gorytos could be

worn. If a strap ran from the upper edge suspension point of

the gorytos to the hole in the tab, the strap could be slung

over the left shoulder. This should make the gorytos hang

diagonally across the back and position the openings of both

bow case and quiver next to the right shoulder. This is pure

speculation.

The Origin of the Scythians.

Warlike horse nomads are first mentioned in the West in

Assyrian documents in the eighth century BC. The tribes the

Greeks called the Scythians eventually overthrew these

Cimmerians. They raided extensively in the Near East and

eventually allied with the Medes of western Iran to destroy

the Assyrian kingdom. According to the ancient historian,

Herodotus9, the Medes then murdered the Scythian leaders

at a banquet and drove their forces out of the Middle East.

The Scythians retreated to the Pontic steppe through the

Caucasus. Reading the account of Herodotus, you might be

excused for imagining that the Scythians were a group of

longhaired, bearded barbarians of a violent and emotional

nature, who drank the blood of their enemies and were

addicted to cannabis-laced sweat baths. However, there is

much more to them than that.

The first nomads of the steppe north of the Black Sea

mentioned in the ancient historians were the Cimmerians

who seem to have originated in that area. They were early

nomadic pastoralists who adopted a stock raising, wandering

lifestyle as an alternative to mixed farming. The Scythians

appeared from the east and started driving the Cimmerians

before them. The Cimmerians raided south through the

passes of the Caucasus and ravaged Anatolia. Some scholars

believe that the Scythians originated in southern

Kazakhstan10

. Therefore Scythian-style culture could have

radiated east and west from a common centre.

The Scythians were predominantly horse archers and

archaeological evidence for them is geographically

dispersed because of the vast area they dominated. So much

so, that it would be difficult to prove racial or linguistic

uniformity, even though we can see lifestyle and artistic

continuities between these sites.

At one end of the geographical range, gold vessels provide

illustrations of the horse gear and equipment used, while at

the other end frozen tombs provide actual saddles, bridles

and the corpses of horses. Herodotus wrote about their daily

life and, until the discoveries at Pazyryk in the Altai

Mountains, he was generally believed to be unreliable about

the Scythians. However, many strange details of his

narrative have proved to be true, such as hemp-enriched

steam baths and the habit of scalping their enemies.

The Scythians and people in Scythian dress were widely

depicted in Ancient Greek art. The Achaemenid Persians11

included eastern Scythians (the Sakas) among the tribute

bearers in the bas-reliefs at Persepolis12

. The bows

discovered in Xinjiang are as important to the study of

archery as the frozen tombs in Pazyryk were to the general

studies of the Scythians. Until these discoveries were made,

only fragments of Scythian bows and representations could

be studied. Of archery equipment, only metal fittings for the

gorytos, a combined bow case and quiver, arrowheads and a

few parts of arrows survived. I have not included any

illustrations of the typical Scythian three-bladed, bronze

arrow heads here because I do not know if any have been

found in association with these bows.

A Western Scythian style bow reconstructed by David Betteridge


Drawing of a gorytos of the Eastern type from Subeishi.

The typical Scythian warrior was a horseman who used

archery as his prime offensive weapon. On his left side he

wore a gorytos. The arrows were typically tipped with two

or three-sided bronze arrowheads. At the western end of the

steppe the arrows that survived were usually between 55 and

60 cm long13

. At Pazyryk, however, broken arrows were

reassembled to suggest a length of 80 cm. From western

steppe tombs, large gold plates were excavated which were

evidently the covers of the outside faces for the wood and

leather gorytoi. In art, the gorytos was usually two-thirds to

three-quarters the strung length of the bow. The gorytos

plates for which I have measurements are about 45 cm long.

The whole gorytos was probably about 55 to 60 cm long,

making it about the length of the arrows found in the same

area.

Drawing of a gorytos from an architectural decoration at Nysa, the old Parthian capital.

These saddles are depicted in Scythian gold and silver work

from Russia and the Ukraine, in Siberian gold buckles, and

on the pottery horses of Qin Shihuangdi’s cavalry. Real

examples were found frozen in the tombs of Pazyryk14

and a

dried-out saddle15

near the burials of our bows and gorytoi.

The Medes and some Persians are shown in the Persepolis

reliefs wearing gorytoi that are longer than those of Saka

tribesmen in the same group of reliefs. In both cases, there is

a cover over the projecting part of the bow, so details of its

shape other than its profile are impossible to see. The

exception is that there is some detail of the recurvature of

the bow because the bow was strung and carried belly-up.

The soft cover of the bow shows a rounded profile. In the

same group of reliefs other Persian soldiers are shown using

a longer bow without a setback handle. They carry a large

shoulder quiver instead of the gorytos.

Simplified view of a Westerm Scythian gorytos.

In the collection of the Urumqi museum there are bows,

arrows and gorytoi of the longer eastern type, but obviously

related to the western Scythian equipment. Some features of

the gorytos are similar to one depicted in an architectural

decoration in the old Parthian capital of Nysa in Central

Asia. Of particular interest is the use of multiple pockets for

the arrows on the outside face of the gorytos.

Some of the gold gorytos plates from Russia have surviving

bases in the form of an elongated teardrop with the narrow

end facing upwards. There is usually a ridge down the centre

of the base showing the separation of the bow case and

quiver sides of the gorytos. The gorytos in the Urumqi

museum16

has only a supporting wooden rod rather than the

two- or three-sided wooden frame implied by the shapes of

gorytoi in Greek and Scythian art and the gold plates with

their bases. The Nysa gorytos looks more like the Urumqi

example because it has a rounded base rather than the flat

one of the Western types. This is also true of the gorytoi on

the Persepolis bas-reliefs.


The Scythian Bow.

There is a complex of weapons associated with the Scythian

lifestyle. They include the bow, arrows and gorytos. In the

West the arrows almost always had socketed, three-bladed

heads and were made of bronze17

. There is also a short

sword called by the Greeks, an akinakes, which was worn on

the right side with the chape of the scabbard sometimes tied

down to the right thigh. Another common weapon is a

narrow-bladed battle-axe with some resemblance to the

Chinese dagger-axe (ge) and ancient Near Eastern weapons.

Spears and javelins are also common in tombs. Increasingly

discoveries in Eastern Europe are adding weapons and

armour to this catalogue. The use of scale armour is much

more prominent than once thought and long two-edged

swords are also more frequent.

We can list a number of features that can used to

characterize a Scythian bow.

1. It is very short.

2. It has recurved tips.

3. It has a setback centre section.

4. The limbs are thick in proportion to their width.

5. It is usually carried in a gorytos.

6. It is primarily a cavalry weapon.

The shortness of the bow is an obvious convenience.

Though much is made about the usefulness of short bows on

horseback, the early horse archers depicted from Assyria

have medium-sized triangular composite bows, which they

drew to the right shoulder. The Qing dynasty Manchus and

the Japanese, used quite long bows and long arrows in the

last period of military horse archery. So the convenience of

a short bow could easily be overridden by other factors such

as the ability to deliver a large heavy arrow. The Assyrians

moreover did not even have the advantage of the basic

saddle of the Scythians, but instead used a saddlecloth.

However, the gorytos did enable easier mounting without

stirrups. It is always shown with the bow pointing

backwards when it is in use. Another feature of the short

bow in the West is the large number of arrows carried in the

gorytos. The tiny bronze arrowheads are found in numbers

above fifty with the remains of gorytoi in the Ukraine.

Drawing of an Ancient Egyptian bow tip.

The recurved tips are a new development in archery at the

time, though you can see that they had ancestors. The

Assyrians and Elamites used triangular composite bows with

bird’s head shaped nocks for the strings. Since the string

loop had to attach to the bird’s beak on the back of the bow

some form of basic groove was probably carved in the tip of

the bow to lead the string over. Prior to that narrowing the

tip of the bow abruptly to make two shoulders formed the

string nock. On some Ancient Egyptian bows this was

carried to the extreme of having the nocks of the bows

carved into representations of Pharaoh’s enemies, their

shoulders the shoulders of the nock, their head the peg-like

nock itself. Every time the king drew his bow he strangled

two of his enemies in effigy18

.


Drawing of a late Assyrian bow tip.

Drawing of the tip of a bow from the Achaemenid palace at Susa.

Drawing of the tip of the bow from the Urumchi Museum.

Set back centre sections have been used in many places at

many times, but before the introduction of the Scythian bow,

they were usually the characteristic of a bow that was under

braced. They were used to increase the bow’s power stroke

on the arrow by bringing the belly of the handgrip closer to

the string. Under braced self-bows were designed to reduce

the stress on the braced bow, prolonging its life. In the

Scythian bow, they were probably introduced to shorten the

draw, while still maintaining an optimum amount of limb

bending. Then you could carry more but shorter arrows and

still get good performance out of your bow. Another effect

was to increase the physical length of the bows while

retaining a short “strung’ length.

Cross-section based on arts of a Scythian bow from the Three Brothers Kurgan and fragments from Sivush.


The fragments of a western Scythian bow from the Three

Brothers Kurgan19

have a circular cross-section of three

layers wrapped in birch bark. Other fragments of bows are

similar20

. This is consistent with a derivation from the

ancient Near Eastern bows. Most of the bows from

Tut‘ankhamūn’s tomb are much thicker compared to their

width than we would now make a bow. While they have

some reflex21

in their unbraced state, they have nothing like

the reflex seen in later composite bows. The various Greek

representations of Scythians and Greeks bracing their bows

show positions that would not work with bows that are very

reflexed.

The Egyptians had separate bow cases for their bows

mounted on their chariots, but the Assyrians just stuffed

them into their quivers. In both areas, the quiver was worn

on the back when it was not attached directly to the chariot.

At some stage, someone decided that a bow case attached to

a quiver would be a good idea. With the small Scythian bow

and arrows, the resulting object was not too unwieldy. The

advantages were obvious: the bow was protected from the

weather and the points of the arrows. The case also

prevented the bow from being distorted, yet it was ready to

hand already strung. Drawing short arrows across the body

was no great trouble, the Plains Indians in America, when

they reinvented mounted archery did a similar thing.

However, that brings us back to the Urumqi bows. Their

arrows were not short and there is some evidence that even

in the West these larger Scythian bows were in use22

. The

Urumqi gorytoi23

are almost a metre long (90 cm) and the

arrows are about 80 cm long. So too were the arrows from

Pazyryk. The Siberian gold belt plaques show people

drawing to the ear. Perhaps they were nearing the outer edge

of utility for a gorytos. Coupled with this large size, these

gorytoi do not seem to hold as many arrows as the smaller

Western ones. This could mean that the archers needed

fewer because their larger arrows were more effective. It

could also mean these were hunting quivers and they did not

have to carry many arrows. The arrows had a mixture of

wooden, horn and metal tips.

The Scythians at War.

The Scythians were primarily cavalry fighters. They rode

into battle and fought on horseback. Herodotus describes

their tactics when fighting the Persian army led by Darius

the Great. They used traditional scorched earth tactics and

retreated before the large Persian army, successive leading

the Persians through each of their subject states so that their

own lands were not ravaged. After various taunts directed at

the Persians, they informed Darius that they would stand and

fight if the tombs of their ancestors were desecrated. This

was the last straw for the Great King24

, who turned around

and went home. Scythian horse archers had consistently

prevented the Persian army from foraging and had left

Darius little choice.

This was a tale of frustration from the Persian point of view.

The Scythians effectively contained the largest army of the

Middle East and actually used it to do their own dirty work

by punishing their less enthusiastic allies. Lest we

underestimate the Persians, remember that they transported

this large army from Persia through Anatolia, across the

Bosphorus on a bridge of boats, through Thrace and onto the

steppe lands of Eurasia. The logistical skills, with which

they consistently underpinned their great military

expeditions, are really remarkable. However, they were

outmanoeuvred by the Scythians and confined by their

swarms of horse archers.

Against a smaller army, the Scythians could be much more

aggressive and use their weapons more directly. In later

years, they were a thorn in the side for Macedonia and it

took Alexander the Great to defeat their king, Ateas. This

combination of effective archery and speed of manoeuvre

led to an arms race on the steppe. Armour became popular

and the Scythians themselves eventually became victims of

their more heavily armoured relatives, the Sarmatians25

.

The bows at Urumqi are significant for two separate reasons.

They provide us with examples of how an early type of bow

looked and will eventually help us learn how it was

constructed. They also show us how widespread the

Scythian steppe culture was and how the Chinese were able

to absorb some of its technical innovation. If I have spent so

much time on the Scythians, it is because this archery

evidence of their presence so far east is remarkable and it

shows that the great civilisations of the world were not as

isolated from each other as we often think.

Some Questions.

There are several questions raised by these bows and their

associated equipment.

1. How were they shot? What technique was used to

draw the bow?

2. How were they constructed? What materials were

used?

3. How effective were they? How did they perform?

4. Who made them and did they influence other

bows?

5. What is the relationship between the people who

were buried with these bows and the various groups

living a “Scythian” lifestyle?

Various theories have been advanced about how the

Scythians in the West shot their bows. My opinion is that the

most likely is a variation of the Mediterranean release called

the Flemish release where the index and middle fingers draw

the string with the nock of the arrow between them. I think

that the existence of armguards (bracers) in some later

tombs in the area supports this view. The Western bows

were so short that this grip was necessary. Some authors

have suggested a Primary Release or a Secondary Release

could have been used, but the primary release is not very

strong and the secondary is clumsy with a very short bow.

However, the bows in Xinjiang are 50% larger and not so

restrictive on the position of the fingers. In fact, there are

several features of them that generate other problems when

shooting. The centre section of the bow is 4 cm wide and

would be quite a handful for most people. The

archaeological evidence suggests that the people in the


cemeteries were quite large26

and perhaps were not

inconvenienced but the large cross-section of the bow.

Unfortunately, there are no X-Rays of these bows yet and

we do not know their construction. The majority of bows

seen by Stephen were in such good condition that their

internal construction is undetectable. The odd triangular

cross-section of the bow in its central parts may reflect the

shape of the horn available27

or it might be something else

entirely. There is always the possibility that the bows are

meant as grave goods only, merely full sized models of

weapons. In that case we are only looking at the form of the

original. Some comments28

can be made however. The

complex shape of these bows is not likely to be accidental or

the result of parallel evolution of designs in the west and the

east.

The most likely construction is a horn-wood-sinew

composite. The cross-section of the bow would put very

high stresses on the belly of the bow. Even with the

reduction of reflex that Betteridge advances in an upcoming

paper, composite structure is about the only way to make

this bow work effectively. Of course modern bowyers could

combine diverse technologies to achieve a workable bow,

but these were not available to the dwellers of Central Asian

oases before the current era.

The binding of the bow would make a major contribution to

its strength. The many changes of curvature increase the risk

of the laminations of the bow separating from each other. In

modern Mongolia, some bows are bound from end to end

with transparent thread like fishing line to prevent

delamination. In was common in later periods to bind points

of high stress with sinew in glue as with the section of the

much later bow Stephen Selby brought back from Xinjiang.

Other resins aside from Chinese lacquer could have been

used to waterproof and protect the sinew. We will not know

until one of these bows is subjected to much more intense

study.

Another part of Betteridge’s analysis implies good

performance for this shaped bow. Historical evidence

mentioned above also supports the contention that the

Scythian style of bow was effective in hunting and war.

Several people already have made reproductions of Scythian

bows, but as more material is published on the Xinjiang

bows, their next bows will be more useful for estimating the

range and efficiency of these ancient bows. It is up to the

bowyers to expand our knowledge in this area and I do not

doubt that they can.

I think it is likely that the bows were made locally, but the

future studies of the artefacts themselves could reverse this

view. Perhaps the materials were imported in part. Maybe

Chinese craftsmen applied lacquer and binding to previously

built bows to increase their durability. At the moment, there

is just not enough evidence.

If the local people made the bows, it is likely they represent

the eastern extension of the Scythian lifestyle. However,

whether this supposition is true or the people in this area

simply used bows copied from their more nomadic

neighbours is a question that requires further research. If I

use a Turkish bow, it neither makes me a Turk nor proves

that I am influenced by Turkish culture in general. I might

think it is a good bow and I might even learn to make my

own.

The influence of these bows on the construction other bows

depends on their exact dating. A bronze model crossbow

from the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi29

has a setback centre like

these Scythian style bows, but was it the result of influence

or convergence? It did not have recurved ends. Later bows

were made with setback handles for many centuries.

However, the recurved ends of the bow were lost in the Old

World of Europe, Asia and Africa until American bowyers

reintroduced them in the 20th century. The closest bow in

appearance is the Korean composite bow, but that has a long

history of its own. The extreme reflex of the Korean bow

and its entirely different cross-sections rule out much

historical connection. Though many elements of steppe

culture entered the Korean peninsula and were absorbed by

the local culture, it is unlikely that this bow is responsible

for later developments in Korean archery, which probably

has more to do with native traditions combined with Ming

Chinese influence.

Conclusion.

The presence of Scythian-style equipment in a cemetery on

the frontier of China is not surprising in itself. The presence

of the mummified remains of people with Western features

in the area is now well known. What is exciting from the

point of view of archery is that a group of complete early

bows has been preserved. The burials in various graveyards

in the immediate area contain a range of archery equipment

from various times. Because of the widespread Scythian

nomadic culture, its interaction with the various large states

on the periphery of the Eurasian steppe is significant not just

for what it says about the Scythians and their relatives. The

states on the borders of the nomadic world reacted to the

threat and the military technology of their warlike

neighbours. These reactions both provide insight into the

nomads and their settled neighbours.

While the bows themselves are clearly in the orbit of

Scythian culture, if the finish is lacquer and binding, then it

is closely related the Chinese technology. In Pazyryk, the

same mix of influences is visible. Chinese mirrors and

fabrics are combined in tombs with Scythian animal-style

artefacts and Near Eastern carpets. We do not know all the

answers now, but discoveries like this by archaeologists are

helping us learn more. At this stage of the investigation of

the early inhabitants of Shanshan County, we cannot be sure

whether all the people buried in these cemeteries were locals

or travellers who died there. Even the dates are not precise

yet. No one can predict what will be found next in China,

Siberia or Russia. Nor do we yet know what will be

discovered when more research is carried out on these

amazing artefacts.

Archery was bound up with the everyday lives of many

ancient cultures and in these bows we can see a

technological bridge between the East and the West. The

Scythians and the Saka and their various relatives and

imitators represent the first major exponents of mounted

pastoralism known from history. It is entirely appropriate

that their choice in bows should be so distinctive and

innovative.


Acknowledgements.

I would like to thank Stephen Selby for letting me examine

the photographs of the bows and who originally found the

book from Xinjiang mentioned below for me. David

Betteridge and I have long discussed the development of

ancient composite bows and he had already started making

replicas based on the artwork and Russian excavation

reports before Stephen’s investigation. He also permitted me

to use a photograph of one of his reconstructions in progress

and lent me some of his research. Edward McEwen, who

discussed also the design of the bows, provided me with the

first photograph I had seen of one. Adam Karpowicz was

responsible for me seeing Chernenko’s book and had also

given me insights into the technical problems.

NOTES

1 The Scythians referred to here are also called Saka by the

Ancient Persians of the Achaemenid dynasty. In Latin this

became the Sacae. Though these people were related in life

styles and in language, they probably saw themselves as

distinct as the Turks and Mongols do today. It is easy from

the perspective of two millennia to see things as similar that

might have been very distinct in their time. 2 “Siyah” is an Arabic word used to describe the rigid ends

of a Middle Eastern composite bow. Usually siyahs had

different cross-sections than the bending sections of the

limbs. Unlike the ends of modern Korean bows there was

little bending in a siyah. 3 By “right” length I mean lengths calculated from

representational evidence, mathematical formulae and

experience with other bows. The various reports on the

finding of these bows suggest they were often found with

their strings. 4 Stephen Selby suggests this could be silk. Silk binding and

lacquering of bows has been reported from China in the

Warring States period. Even staff weapons could have their

shafts reinforced in that manner. 5 See Yang Hong (1992), pp. 95-96, where bows made of

layers of bamboo wrapped in silk and lacquered are

described from Eastern Zhou tombs. 6 See Wang Binghua (2001), p. 109, where the contents of

tomb M4 cemetery No. III (3) are described briefly and

there is a photograph of a bow and arrows. 7 Unfortunately for copyright reasons we cannot use both

photographs, but the bows are very similar and the drawings

are a reasonable guide. 8 The unusual grasp might be explained by the fact that the

bow is being used to shoot pellets. 9 Herodotus of Harlicanassus in Asia Minor is sometimes

called the father of history in the West. His great book was

full of ethnographic details. Several other Greek authors

wrote about the Scythians, but there is little detail on

archery. 10

David Christian (1998) has an excellent bibliography,

which makes it much easier to look up the various opinions

on the origins of the Scythians. They are generally thought

to be Indo-Europeans speaking some sort of Iranian

language. However, the bodies from Pazyryk show both

Caucasoid and Mongoloid physical features in one

population. 11

Cyrus II (ruled circa 559-525 BCE) of Persia founded the

Achaemenid Empire (circa 559-330 BCE) after conquering

the Medes. He was killed fighting the Massagetae in Central

Asia, neighbours of the Saka. The empire fell to Alexander

the Great several centuries later. 12

Persepolis, mainly built by Darius and his son Xerxes,

was a ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid dynasty in the

province of Persis, now Fars in Iran. Mainly Darius and his

son Xerxes built it. The surviving parts are decorated by

detailed bas-reliefs of the ceremonies that took place there.

Representations of most of the peoples of the empire have

survived and their clothing or the gifts they bring to the

Great King often can identify them. 13

See Andrakh (1998), Dubovskaya (1985) and Chernenko

(1981). 14

See Rudenko (1970), Ch. 6, Means of Locomotion.


15

See Zhuo Xuejun & Ma Chengyuan (1998), p. 105, Pl.27

and p. 255 for the saddle excavated from Tomb No. 3 of No.

1 Graveyard at Subeixi, Shanshan County, Xinjiang. 16

See Note 23 below. 17

There is a considerable literature on these arrowheads. In

the past Soviet archaeologists have elaborately recorded

their many variations. Speculations on how they were cast

and the efficiency of their production have been fuelled by

finds of moulds and unfinished arrowheads still attached to

their sprues. Some details of the procedures can be found in

Chernenko (1981). An arrow shaft generally had a small

tenon carved into its end, which fitted into the socket of the

arrowhead. These heads were small and strongly constructed

though some of the sockets were only 4 mm wide internally. 18

See McLeod (1970), Pl. XV for examples of 21 bow tips

from Egyptian tombs for more detail. 19

See Chernenko (1981), p. 9, Fig. 1, showing part of this

bow. It may have only been a model weapon. My cross-

section is derived from this illustration. 20

See also the article by Andrakh (1998). 21

By reflex, I mean the curvature towards the back of the

bow that appears when it is unstrung. By recurve, I mean the

curvature of the tips of a bow towards the back when it is

strung. These terms have been used in this fashion in

archery literature for a very long time, but occasionally they

are confused in non-archery writings. The same thing

happens with the terms composite and compound. The first

means put together from separate components like horn,

wood, and sinew. The second originally meant bows made

of similar materials glued together, such as Japanese bows

and some bows from Mediaeval Russia. Nowadays it means

a bow with mechanical attachments such as eccentric pulley

wheels, while the old compound bows are referred to as

being laminated. 22

Some Greek vases clearly show large Scythian bows

being drawn to the ear. The normal draw shown in the West

for Scythians was only to the left nipple. While later authors

derided this short draw, it was effective at the time and

allowed for rapid shooting. 23

See Zhuo Xuejun and Ma Chengyuan (1998), p. 104, Pl.

26, and p. 254, for a clear photograph and description of a

gorytos associated with a bow and arrows from Tomb No. 2

of No. 3 Graveyard at Subeixi, Shanshan County. The bow

was 121 cm long, the arrows 82 cm and the gorytos was 93

cm by 30 cm at its widest. 24

The Persian Emperor was called the Great King, which is

a literal translation of one of his titles. In Greek this was

rendered as ‘basileus’ or king. 25

The Sarmatians have an interesting history. Herodotus

referred to the Sauromatae as the eastern neighbours of the

Scythians. Whether the Sauromatae had a name change or

the Sarmatians were a sub-tribe of a confederacy is not

really clear. Several authors have contributed ideas on the

subject, but it is really beyond the scope of this article. The

bibliography of David Christian’s book has many useful

references to this problem. 26

See Wang Binghua (2001), pages 103-109, for

descriptions of the bodies. The men were sometimes over

1.8 metres tall. This evidence is discussed in an accessible

way in Mallory and Mair (2000) . I must point out that in

Sarmatian burials, archery equipment is sometimes found in

female interments too. While I have not found evidence of

this practice in Xinjiang, it is possible that bows have been

found with female bodies or that they might be. Not having

read all the published material on the graves, I am at a

disadvantage in this area of discussion. 27

This view came from a discussion I had with David

Betteridge. It was based on the likely availability types of

horn in the area. Also we discussed the logic of the design of

Scythian and the Middle Eastern bows, which preceded

them in the West. These were usually as wide as they were

thick. In Egyptian bows, the horn was not always the full

width of the belly of the bow because it was inset in a

channel. The relationship of these designs to the flatter,

bamboo-based bows used in the Eastern Zhou states in

China is beyond the scope of this article. 28

These comments are based on conversations with David

Betteridge regarding the design of Scythian bows in the

West and their relationship to the bows discussed in this

article. Over several years we have been researching the

development of early composite bows. Stephen Selby has

been revealing the discoveries in Urumqi and this has made

a significant contribution to our study. 29

Stephen Selby has discussed elsewhere

(http://www.atarn.org/letters/ltr_feb99.htm) the possibility

that Chinese crossbows may have used hand bows for their

prods. A feature like a setback centre section has little point

in a crossbow, but has some advantages in a hand bow. This

is an additional argument for Stephen Selby’s thesis.

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Scythian-Style Bows Discovered in Xinjiang

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