Eskimo archery

Spruce, the most common wood used in Eskimo bows, is not considered a good wood for bows, but is the best they have. Esquimo bowyers also used driftwood and sometimes antlers from caribou or musk ox horns.[1]

The Eskimo Bowyer makes a Cable-backed bow when he wraps cables around the bow, made of Reindeer sinews, twisted into cables about a half inch thick. The wide shaft of the bow, over two inches wide, relieved the tension in the wood when it is bent, and stores the energy which snaps back when the arrow is released. This is preferred to animal glue, which jells almost instantly in freezing air.[2]

The bows needed constant adjustment by the archer. "The bow is shaped using his axe and knife and then steamed and shaped into three curves. There is an in-curving bend in the middle and an out-curving bend at each end to form the recurves. After the bow has taken its "set" it is backed with a braided cord made up of approximately 20 lengths of sinew attached to each end of the bow. Six openings will be left in the cable through which pointed ivory cable twisters are inserted and then the cable is twisted to the desired tension. A carved ivory stiffener is lashed between the bow and cable with sinew."[3]

There are several examples and images of Eskimo produced cable backed bows in the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. "Southern type of Eskimo bow. To make the bow more elastic a quantity of small lines, each composed of a plot of three sinews, is secured to the back and to the knobs at each end. When unstrung this type of bow is generally sprung towards the back. Found among Haida and Tlingit- Alaska Eskimo."[4]

The bows were sometimes reflex bows. "Reflexed refers to the shape of a bow, which, when unstrung, forms a “C” that opens away from the hunter. The reflexed Western Arctic type of bow was first described by ethnographer John Murdoch as one commonly used by Eskimo cultures of northern Alaska and the Bering Strait."[5]

The bows could be very powerful. "The Eskimo design took available material, which many would consider unacceptable for a hunting bow, and produced a weapon that could work in extreme cold and was powerful enough to take large animals as well as fight enemies. Early explorers reported that little Eskimo bows could almost drive an arrow through a caribou."[2]

Arrows used included special ones with ivory barbed tips with a red string attached. Used for hunting Sea otters, the barb detached from the arrow shaft and held together with a long red cord. The hunter would look for the floating bright red shaft, and would be able to then pull the sea otter up after he was exhausted from the chase.[6]

Arrows used for fowl had similar tips. "Geese, gulls, and other large fowls were shot with arrows that had long, five-sided heads of walrus ivory, not very sharp and barbed on one edge, while for hunting small birds they used an arrow with a blunt, club-shaped head made of reindeer antler. Such an arrow kills a small bird or little animal like a lemming or ground squirrel by stunning it, and does not tear a great hole in it. The boys' arrows nowadays are often headed with empty copper cartridge cases, and I have seen one of these shot clean through the body of a small bird."[7]

Eskimo hunter and polar bear slain with bow and arrow

Arrows used for hunting polar bear were powerful enough, if they didn't touch bone, to penetrate completely through the body of the bear. Arrows used to hunt reindeer also had detachable arrowheads. "For hunting the reindeer the arrow had a long, sharp, bayonet-shaped head made of antler, barbed on one edge and fitted loosely into the shaft. As the Eskimos told us, when they hit a deer with one of these arrows the shaft could drop out, leaving the barbed head in the wound, and the deer would go off, "sleep one night, and then die."[7]

However, the sinew-backed bows reacted to wet weather and humidity. One sealskin case protected the bow and arrows against moisture, but also had ivory implements to twist, tighten and adjust the bow and cable if needed.[6]

In the late 19th century, sealskin cases to protect the bows and sealskin quivers were noted. "The bow was carried, strung ready for use, in a sheath of tanned sealskin slung across the shoulders in such a way that it could easily be drawn out under the right arm. Nowadays they carry their rifles in similar sheaths. Attached to the sheath was a quiver, also of sealskin, in which they used to keep an assortment of arrows, some of each kind, according to the hunter's needs."[7]

• Grayson, Charles E., Mary French, and Michael J. O'Brien. Traditional archery from six continents the Charles E. Grayson Collection. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007.
• Grønnow, Bjarne. 2012. "An Archaeological Reconstruction of Saqqaq Bows, Darts, Harpoons, and Lances". Études/Inuit/Studies. 36, no. 1: 23–48.
• Hamilton, T. M. 1970. "The Eskimo Bow and the Asiatic Composite". Arctic Anthropology. 6, no. 2: 43–52.
• Murdoch, John. A Study of the Eskimo Bows in the U.S. National Museum. [Zug, Switzerland]: [Inter Documentation Co.], 1970. Notes: Reproduced from the Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884.
• Murdoch, John. ESKIMO BOWS AND ARROWS. Popular Science Monthly. Volume 51. September 1897. Page number not given.
• Stordeur-Yedid, Danielle. Harpons paléo-esquimaux de la région d'Igloulik. [Paris]: A.D.P.F., 1980.
• Wissler, Clark. Harpoons and Darts in the Stefánsson Collection. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1916.

• Replicating Eskimo Bow Technology – Is close enough good enough? March 13, 2012.
• American Indian Archery. 1991. Volume 4 - Page 35
• Fadala, Sam. Traditional Archery. "Eskimo Bow." Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2011.