Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
9.8 Reconstruction of three horses wearing saddles and bridles representing successive stages in the
development of horse gear in the Altai based on excavated evidence. Top: Bashadar, kurgan 2; middle:
Pazyryk, kurgan 1; bottom: Pazyryk, kurgan 3.
Attack
The weapon for which the Scythians were famous throughout the ancient world was
the bow and arrow. Since the bows were fired from horseback they were short, seldom
more than 0.8 m in length, the strength of the shot relying on the compression
of the composite structure rather than upon its length. While bows are frequently
included in scenes depicted on gold items from the Pontic steppe, little remains of
them among the grave finds, but what survives is sufficient to show that they were
composite structures of wood and sinew glued together and strung with animal
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