The Bow & Arrow

[DaytonBuck]

Sunwatch!

It takes some serious skill to drop something with a compound bow

 

[Muck]

I'm hoping someone knows the answer.. how come every culture, even if they were half-way around the world developed and used the bow & arrow? Europeans to Native Americans.. weird.

For the same reason that China, India, Pakistan, Israel & various other nations now have nuclear arsenals.

New/more effective weapons tend to spread quickly.

 

[Ttown]

I'm hoping someone knows the answer.. how come every culture, even if they were half-way around the world developed and used the bow & arrow? Europeans to Native Americans.. weird.

vacations

 

[buckeyegrad]

Ok, next question.

Why did the egyptians and mayans build pyramids around the same time, halfway across the world?

While the use of the pyramid across cultures is a fascinating question, just to be historically correct, the Egyptians and Mayans were not building them around the same time.

The Egyptian pyramids are around 4000-4500 years old. The Mayan are between 1200-1800 years old.

 

[Buckeyeskickbuttocks]

While the use of the pyramid across cultures is a fascinating question, just to be historically correct, the Egyptians and Mayans were not building them around the same time.

The Egyptian pyramids are around 4000-4500 years old. The Mayan are between 1200-1800 years old.

And the Mayans dont have a Sphinx.

 

[buckeyegrad]

And the Mayans dont have a Sphinx.

Yes, but they have this guy:

 

[Bleed S & G]

For the same reason that China, India, Pakistan, Israel & various other nations now have nuclear arsenals.

New/more effective weapons tend to spread quickly.

Oh, I never thought of this before.

Gosh, am I dumb. I should have figured the Mayan jumped onto his Hotmail account and asked the Viking what they were using to hunt.

The Egyptian also used 1-800-COLLECT to help the Mayans build their pyramids

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Aliens.

Fuck that...Tim Tebow did. That's why it's "Tebow and Arrow".

 

[Muck]

Gosh, am I dumb. I should have figured the Mayan jumped onto his Hotmail account and asked the Viking what they were using to hunt.

The mistake is assuming that bows were invented after the cultures in question came into existence. Archery predates both by millennia.

The oldest known arrowheads have been dated to *40K+ years ago. Humans migrated to North America in the past *15k-30K years. Most likely they brought their bows with them.

Aboriginal Australians did not possess bows. It's estimated they arrived in Australia/NZ/Tasmania *40k-100k years ago. It's probable archery was not yet a ubiquitous technology when they began their migrations.

As I stated technological developments (and especially ones revolving around warfare) tend to spread very fast among cultures in contact with one another once they come into usage (how long did it take the native people's of North America to adopt firearms once they were exposed to them?).

Once those groups became more spread out farther and became more isolated the technology grew in various ways to meet the specific needs of various groups & fit the materials available to them (Welsh longbows, the self bows of North America, bows made from composites and little wood used by the folks on the steppes).
So in short:

A long, long, long time ago.... Bill the caveman invented the bow.

Bill's neighbors were impressed with his new tool and wanted some of their own.

Bill's family/clan/tribe happened upon other families/clans/tribes and those other groups acquired the technology either by barter, theft or by being conquered by Bill's peeps.

Eventually groups wandered off into new areas bringing the bows with them.


*My apologies for bringing these disturbing facts to the young earthers who cling to the delusion that the earth is only 4k years old.

 

[Ttown]

I remember making my first arrowhead out of bronze.

 

[buckeyegrad]

*My apologies for bringing these disturbing facts to the young earthers who cling to the delusion that the earth is only 4k years old.

Wow, thank a million! Because as everyone knows, none of us young-earthers have ever read a book on pre-history or anthropology or are at all familiar with the arguments of the old-earthers. Thanks for the enlightment!

 

[BUCKYLE]

I've seen four year olds build pyramids with fuckin' blocks, so I don't know what is so complicated about ancient people figuring this out. I mean, the Egyptians and Myans had the same size brains as us.

 

[Muck]

Thanks for the enlightment!

You are quite welcome.

 

[utgrad73]

Ok, next question.

Why did the egyptians and mayans build pyramids around the same time, halfway across the world?

These were great places for bow and arrow swap meets and shit.

 

[Bleed S & G]

I've seen four year olds build pyramids with [censored]in' blocks, so I don't know what is so complicated about ancient people figuring this out. I mean, the Egyptians and Myans had the same size brains as us.

It would be a challenge to replicate the Great Pyramid today with our technology.. let alone build it in the place the Egyptians chose.