Experimental approaches to ancient near eastern archery

Abstract
Replicas of ancient Near Eastern archery tackle can be used to investigate the performance of different types of bows. The velocity of projectiles from spear throwers, simple wooden bows and composite horn‐wood‐sinew bows shows a clear linear trend in increased efficiency. Mechanical properties of bow and arrow design and performance can be related to archaeological, art historical and textual sources for the use of archery in warfare.