Archery

In Greek and Roman mythology, many gods, goddesses and mythological characters are described as expert archers. The bow itself is an ambivalent symbol, sometimes carrying love, sometimes bringing death. This is part of the dualist vision of Eros and Thanatos, which is at the roots of antique cosmogony.

400 000 years ago, Homo Erectus hunted with a wooden spear, the sharp extremity of which has been fired to add rigidity. This weapon evolved very little until the arrival of the Neanderthal Man (250 000 BC), who added bone and maybe flint tips. With the Cro-Magnon (43 000-12 000 BC), the hunting techniques evolve once more with the invention of the propeller. This hook helps throw the assegai or spear  further by extending their arm length and multiplying their strength because of the lever effect. The most ancient known to date was found in Combe Saunière in France, and is an estimated 17 000 years old.

It is hard to date the transition from the propeller to the bow because wood and string age very poorly. The oldest found arrows are made of pine and were discovered in Stellmoor, Germany: they are 12 000 years old. The excellent crafting of these arrows indicates that the invention of this weapon actually can be dated much back further.

The use of the bow lasted until the first half of the Middle Ages. The emergence of fire weapons overshadows it nevertheless, for hunting as well as for war purposes.

In the United States, back from the Civil War (1861-1865), the Thompson brothers rediscovered archery as a result of being forbidden to use firearms being ex-Southerners. They published their achievements in Witchery of Archery (1878) and contributed to the renewed interest for bow hunting. Nowadays, bow hunting is also performed in Europe and all types of bow, whether straight, classic or compound, can be used. In France, bow hunting has been regulated since 1995.

Straight bows, inherited from prehistory, are for the most part made of bamboo and synthetic fiber stripes. Bow makers offer unique tailored models adjusted to each archer’s characteristics and taste.

The traditional or recurve bow, has both tips curved. Shorter and more manageable, it stores more energy than the straight bow.

These traditional bows force shooters to know their traction strength perfectly and to adjust their bow accordingly so the shot can be efficient and steady.

The compound bow was invented in 1969 by Holless Wilbur Allen. This bow, which is equipped with a cable and pulley system, stores even more energy than a traditional bow and increases the arrow’s speed by approximately 60%.

The bow is a common object present on all continents. Whether in Africa, Asia, Oceania or in the Americas, it is an indispensable object in everyday life. Each culture designed its bow according to its needs and materials available in its environment. The museum’s non-European collections showcase these differences and particularities while insisting on the universal nature of archery.

The museum was created in 1949 by Roger Scart, an archer fascinated by the heritage of his region, the Valois. Traditional archery has also held a predominant place in its collections.

Traditional archery is a living heritage and still largely practiced in Picardie, in the Île de France, in the North of France, in Belgium, in Germany and in England. The museum dedicates an important room to these traditions in order to show the particularities and common characteristics of these regional practices that all have, as a starting point, the perpetuation of centuries-old disciplines and their transmission.

Like all these traditions, those of archery constantly evolve to adapt themselves to society’s changes. Objects and audiovisual productions are testimonies of this heritage in perpetual motion. The Archery and Valois Museum thus pays a much-deserved homage to this diversity of traditions that led to its creation and contribute, to this day, to make it the largest European public collection dedicated to this thematic.

The bow and arrow are weapons as well as a game of skill. Once entirely assigned to hunting and for war, archery demanded an intensive training, which could also been seen as a leisure activity. 

This playful dimension grew bigger when, in these domains, archery was set aside in favor of firearms.  Henceforth it was more a “noble game”, with very codified rules that required a similar set of skills.

From 18th century archery societies to current federal clubs, from the straight wooden bow to the Carbone compound bow, the discipline and technologies have considerably evolved, because of fashion and technical innovations but also because of national and international historical events.