Best bow quiver 201611/30/2023 ![]() ![]() One side of the quiver is reinforced with a hazel wood stick. It is 86 cm long and stitched from doeskin (Rupicapra rupicapra). Junkmanns proposed the hypothesis that Ötzi could have purchased the rough bow on the way, which would possibly explain why he had an unfinished bow with him in the high mountains.Įven the Iceman’s quiver is the only known Neolithic carrying case for arrows. The question of how to work the ends of the bow to fasten the string also remains open. ![]() Whether this had been done by Ötzi himself cannot be determined. The investigation was able to establish that Ötzi’s bow had been worked with a hatchet from both directions. For Ötzi that would have been approximately 1.60m. The best shooting results are obtained when the bow approximately corresponds to the height of the archer. He had already made good progress with his work, but the bow probably needed to be shortened and thinned. The bow was first freshly cut from an 8-10 cm thick yew tree. Ötzi’s 1.83 m long, unfinished bow made of yew (Taxus baccata) gave a unique, informative glimpse into how Neolithic bows were manufactured. Another bundle made of animal leg sinews found in the quiver was possibly meant to be used as replacement material for another bowstring. The Iceman had wound the cord bundle into an S-shape and tied a knot at one end. If stretched out, the elastic string would only measure about 2-3 mm in diameter, which would have fit perfectly in the notches (nocks) on the arrows in Ötzi’s quiver. The cord measures almost 2 metres and would have been long enough for Ötzi’s unfinished bow. Previously, research had been done on lime tree bast that would not have proven successful as a bowstring. The Swiss study was able to prove that leg sinews of an indeterminate species were processed as fibers and the cord was therefore particularly well suited for use as a bowstring. It has a diameter of 4mm and is comprised of three strands which are very uniformly and finely twisted. The cord contained in Ötzi’s quiver may be the oldest preserved bowstring in the world. Prehistoric bowstrings are among the rarest of all finds in archaeological excavations. The authors of the study, Jürgen Junkmanns (Germany), Giovanna Klügl (Switzerland), Werner Schoch (Switzerland), Giovanna Di Pietro (Switzerland), Albert Hafner (Switzerland), obtained a microscopic fiber sample from Ötzi’s bowstring for their comparative study. Combining previous finds of bows and arrows discovered across all of Europe with the most recent comparisons from Switzerland (Bronze Age finds from Schnidejoch and Lötschenpass), it has now been possible to examine the materials, size, and construction techniques of prehistoric hunting equipment in detail for the first time. In Europe there have only been three instances of bowstrings being preserved. While arrows and arrowheads are relatively common finds worldwide, complete sets of hunting equipment consisting of bows, arrows, and sometimes even quivers are extremely rare and are only known from glacier finds of the Alpine arch. These were then compared to Ötzi’s equipment. An extensive research project was carried out by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) which examined materials of Neolithic bows and arrows in detail for the first time. It is elastic, extremely resilient, and is therefore ideal as a bowstring. Even though the Iceman had still been working on his bow, he carried a finished twisted string in his quiver which was made of animal fibers and not of lime tree bast. ![]() Swiss researchers are astounded to have identified Ötzi’s bowstring. Bolzano-Bozen, DecemÖtzi’s bowstring and the oldest hunting equipment from the Neolithic ![]()
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