Unusual archery set

[painshill]

I know you all love a mystery, so here’s a little teaser for you. Maybe you saw my ‘re-arrival’ post indicating I’ve been in southern Africa, so here’s something I picked up on those travels.



Bushman bow. Typical construction. Arrows in different lengths, which is not completely usual. Reed-stem shafts without flights. Nothing unusual in that. Forged iron points bound with sinew, so that tells you it’s not ancient. Quiver made from stitched eland hide and decorated with beads made from ostrich eggshell fragments.


But all is not as it seems. You’ll need highly attuned skills to tell what it is about this archery set that makes it unusual… unless you happen to be familiar with what it actually is.


Roll up and try your skill.

[CRDX]

What attaches the points to the shafts? It looks like the binding, or whatever it is, is tied distinctly below the end each of each point.

[painshill]

They have longer stems than you can see and are pushed into the reeds, which are hollow. The sinew binding just tightens up the arrangement with a bit of compression and stops the reed from splitting on impact. That's all perfectly normal.

[redrocks]

Cool ...the points look like wood to me

[painshill]

Definitely iron, but not cast. A mixture of cutting and forge-hammering has given them that shape. Probably made from found scrap iron.

[beatup1354]

the points stay in the pray while the shafts fall free

[painshill]

The sinew binding is supposed to stop that happening. But here's a small clue. The configuration of the set is specifically designed to ensure that the arrows are not lethal. In fact they're supposed to do only minimal damage.

[painshill]

From that last clue, you might conclude that it's designed for ritual use, and not for hunting. You'd be right.

Look more closely at the relative dimensions and proportionality of the various components.

[flintguy]

Is it meant for an inexperience child? Who might still be learning and somewhat dangerous with a fully functioning set? The back notches seem to be missing but admittedly I'm not familiar with this set.

[painshill]

The arrows have the usual notching for the bowstring.

[Hoss]

I was going to say made for pygmys but not sure

[beatup1354]

Don,t the bushman use a slow acting poison on their arrows?

[painshill]

Indeed they do, made from the larvae and pupae of the leaf beetle Diamphidia, but they definitely wouldn't use that on these arrows.

[painshill]

You're getting closer flintguy. It's very much 'child-sized' but intended for adult use. The clues were in the proportionality of the components. For example look at the thickness of the bowstring relative to the thickness of the bow. The stitching thread on the quiver is huge compared to the quiver itself. If that were a full-size set then the beads on the quiver would also be improbably huge. So, here it is... but what's it for?

[loudog]

are the arrows used for blood letting from a cow?

[painshill]

No... they're shot at people, who would be hugely insulted by any suggestion that the intended target was a cow!

[Hoss]

wow that is so small

[flintguy]

Second attempt...used with a burial doll effigy?

[painshill]

No. Intended to be shot at a person, but with no intention of creating any significant harm. Quite the opposite in fact. Intended to signal a degree of affection.

[Hoss]

Like in cupid?

[Kyflintguy]

Hmm very interesting teeny bow. I was duped entirely by the size. By your last clue I'm guessing a mate picking ritual like a diy Cupid kit lol? But I really would have never got to that idea with some serious prodding along lol. I'm waiting intently for the reveal.

[Hoss]

Yes I thought it was small from the photos but not as small as seen in hand. Pretty cool mini if you ask me.

[Kyflintguy]

Yeah the detail is amazing, it's even backed at the center and ends appears. I was thinking 3ft max length and bloodletting cows too.

[painshill]

OK… what we have here is a Bushman “love bow”. The term ‘Bushman’ has nothing to do with living in the bush incidentally. It’s a corruption of the Dutch word ‘bossieman’, which means ‘bandit’ or ‘outlaw’ and reflects the opinion that early settlers in the Cape region had of these people. They saw it differently and regarded it as a mark of respect for their fight against colonisation, but it’s now regarded as derogatory.

This set is from the San people of Namibia. The ritual they have is that a young man who wishes to take a wife shoots an arrow into a prospective partner. Usually into the bare thigh. The different arrow lengths are intended to allow different strengths of draw to accommodate – how can we put this – variations in ‘robustness’ of the target. The protocol is that if the lady concerned is amenable to the union, she pulls the arrow out and holds it to her heart. If she pulls it out and throws it over her shoulder, then she’s rejecting the advance.

It’s pre-WWII but not tremendously old. Perhaps from early to mid 1900s.

[Havenhunter]

Hmm, are the points dipped into any chemical “inducements”?

[Lindenmeier-Man]

LOL
Don’t try this at home folks, even if you’ve got a Cupid costume for Halloween ! Might cause a real injury on your Gord !!!

[Olden]

Perhaps just a pilum may have been used, in order to first get her to let her defenses down? Those were some tough ladies!

[Lindenmeier-Man]

Dang Olden ! Stick with the flowers guys !
Haven
I’m kind of interested in why you’d be interested if there were some sort of chemical inducement being used !?!?