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The Amesbury Archer |
BERNARDQUATERMASS
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from Oldham, Lancashire
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|  Posted 19-10-2006 at 01:47
How do,.....I have just spent the evening discussing the Amesbury archer with an old friend who knows a bit about archery. we have both come to the conclusion that the two thin slivers of stone, which while looking very nice can not be wristguards. The ideal material would be leather or hide, even a thin slice of timber would be more servicable than a thin slice of stone, (too brittle).
http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/amesbury/burial_detail.html
What do other members think?
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James
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from High Desert
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|  Posted 19-10-2006 at 08:02
Greetings!
The Navajo, and many other Native Tribes use Stone as wristguards-it is able to resist a BowString quite nicely. You must realise that arrowheads made of very brittle material last quite a while, and while some Stone is brittle, that not all Stone is brittle.
Polished Stone will also not abrade the String.
/!\
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mishkin
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from Chelmsford
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| Posted 19-10-2006 at 08:03
Well Wessex Archaeology did the excavation you can find it here...
http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/amesbury/archer.html
And they have a picture of him in full archery mode with the wristguards attached, but in all these things its an interpretation, not a "truth" ;).
Its an interesting site, look at all those lovely things he took with him to the grave - specially the arrowheads.
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BERNARDQUATERMASS
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from Oldham, Lancashire
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| Posted 26-11-2006 at 09:47
I found this ...........'All the Beaker people were archers, tipping there arrows with barbed flint heads and sometimes protecting their wrists from the sharp blow of the returning bow-string with stone guards: a Yorkshire warrior of wealth could afford the added elegance of gold nails to fix such a guard to its leather wristlet'.
(Prehistoric Britain by J and C Hawkes).
This makes more sense to me than just strapping a piece of stone to your forearm.
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BERNARDQUATERMASS
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from Oldham, Lancashire
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| Posted 26-11-2006 at 09:49
OOPS!
[ This message was edited by: BERNARDQUATERMASS on 2006-11-26 09:51 ]
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rbatham
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from Western Australia
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| Posted 26-11-2006 at 10:39
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On 2006-10-19 08:03, mishkin wrote:
Well Wessex Archaeology did the excavation you can find it here...
http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/projects/amesbury/archer.html
And they have a picture of him in full archery mode with the wristguards attached, but in all these things its an interpretation, not a "truth"  .
Its an interesting site, look at all those lovely things he took with him to the grave - specially the arrowheads.
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Note the similarity to the Gristhorpe tumulus. somewhere on the forum. Roy
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mjb
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from Swindon
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| Posted 27-11-2006 at 09:36
There's a fairly detailed study of stone bracer function in September's Antiquity - http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/080/ant0800530.htm.
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Chyknel
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| Posted 27-11-2006 at 12:50
"I have just spent the evening discussing the Amesbury archer with an old friend who knows a bit about archery."
I like the idea that people with practical knowledge can look at an artefact and say "it looks like a..."
The immediate instinct of an archaeologist is to look for something similar that has been recorded and identified by.... another archaeologist.
I'm sure that way there are some well accepted but quite wrong ideas established.
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sem
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from Bridgend,S.Wales
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| Posted 28-11-2006 at 21:02
Well said Chyknel
I've been holidaying in Crete every year for the past 10yrs and having an interest in scuba diving as well as stones, decided after the last hol to check references and Minoan artwork of the sea.
The results are incredible. I've seen spearfishing poles (as still used by locals) described as "agricultural" implements, fish whose characteristics clearly identify certain species and other anomalies from archaeologists who clearly know nothing about the sea.
Unfortunately, many professions include people who specialize only in that profession and will not listen to others with a wider knowledge. It's typical of the world today.
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fugue
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from Durham
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| Posted 09-12-2006 at 16:22
A more comrehensive survey of stone wrist-guards can be found here http://www.geocities.com/archchaos1/article1/1.htm including evidence from reconstruction and a datababse of all the wrist-guards so far found in Britian
To summerise, experimentation showed the stone plates could be used as an archer's bracer, but contextual evidence (such as lack of associations with arrowheads and the fact they are often found on the wrong arm to act as a bracer) makes it unlkiely they served this purpose. They are always found in well sterotyped circumstance which lead to a conclusion they functioned as identity markers for the 'heads' of local familly groups.
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rbatham
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from Western Australia
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| Posted 10-12-2006 at 01:51
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On 2006-12-09 16:22, fugue wrote:
A more comrehensive survey of stone wrist-guards can be found here http://www.geocities.com/archchaos1/article1/1.htm including evidence from reconstruction and a datababse of all the wrist-guards so far found in Britian
To summerise, experimentation showed the stone plates could be used as an archer's bracer, but contextual evidence (such as lack of associations with arrowheads and the fact they are often found on the wrong arm to act as a bracer) makes it unlkiely they served this purpose. They are always found in well sterotyped circumstance which lead to a conclusion they functioned as identity markers for the 'heads' of local familly groups.
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An interesting point here. 'The wrong arm' Not necessarily. Right handedness is the norm now. But could these burials be important persons who wre chosen because they were 'left-handed'? I may be wrong but wasn't Saul chosen as king of Israel, described as a 'man lefthanded'? LH has not always been considered' sinister'. Roy
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rbatham
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from Western Australia
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| Posted 10-12-2006 at 07:29
Since I posted the above I have been to the Wessex website. Photo on the home page shows right handed archer. Yet the artists impression shows guard on left arm. Being left handed myself and having done some archery I hold the bow in my left hand,guard on left arm.
Incidentally, how many archer graves have been excavated?
Roy
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ragnarok
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| Posted 10-12-2006 at 15:42
I was once a member of a local Archery club, usually if you are right handed you use your right arm to pull back the bow string and your left to hold the actual bow itself, so the forearm guard will be on your left arm to protect that arm from being cut by the string when releasing the arrow. (Females also wear boob guards, if right handed on their right breast.) However it's personal preference and can depend on your best sighting eye. Like holding a shot gun most people pull the trigger with their right hand, if right handed, and hold the barrel with their left.
[ This message was edited by: ragnarok on 2006-12-10 16:26 ]
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fugue
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from Durham
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|  Posted 10-12-2006 at 18:26
Indeed, handedness is a difficult thing to prove in prehistory, although there are good studies to suggest that roughly the same percentage of people are left-handed the world over. It has been suggested to me before that left-handed people were regarded as special in some way so might be more likely to be given high-status burials (often by left-handed archers ), and even that left-handers are more prone to schizophrenia, so might have been regarded as 'shamans'. However, I think it is in the combination of evidence that makes it unlikely the stone plates were bracers: there are plenty of ways around each individual point.
As to how many 'archers' have been found, there are about 100 stone wrist-guards in britain, but only 22 have come from graves/cremations. However, if you are asking how many bodies from that period have been found with arrowheads, the answer is probably just below 1 in 3 males (and very few females), which would probably put the figure in the hundreds - I doubt anyone is sure
[ This message was edited by: fugue on 2006-12-10 18:27 ]
[ This message was edited by: fugue on 2006-12-10 18:30 ]
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rbatham
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from Western Australia
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| Posted 11-12-2006 at 01:22
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On 2006-12-10 15:42, ragnarok wrote:
I was once a member of a local Archery club, usually if you are right handed you use your right arm to pull back the bow string and your left to hold the actual bow itself, so the forearm guard will be on your left arm to protect that arm from being cut by the string when releasing the arrow. (Females also wear boob guards, if right handed on their right breast.) However it's personal preference and can depend on your best sighting eye. Like holding a shot gun most people pull the trigger with their right hand, if right handed, and hold the barrel with their left.
[ This message was edited by: ragnarok on 2006-12-10 16:26 ]
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Sorry Ragnorak, you are right I do (used to ) hold the bow with my right. Got my dexter mixed up with my sinister.
Roy
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