Native American Bows

Before the end of the last ice age over 10,000 years ago the large amounts of ice that had built up caused the seas to recede. This left a land bridge between Siberia in Russia and Alaska in North America. Across this land bridge early tribes that became North American Indians travelled in search of Mammoths and Buffalos. As more tribes crossed the bridge they spread out over the south and west North America. Over hundreds of years these people's spread out all over North and South America becoming numerous tribes from the Aztec in South America to the Iroquois in New York.

About 5,000 years before Christ, an Indian somewhere discovered the idea of of tying animal sinew to a bent piece of wood to make the first bow and arrow. The invention was one of the greatest achievements of early man and was as important as the discovery and the use of fire. With bow and arrow the hunter could more easily hunt animals for food and allowed early man to kill game from far away. Some evidence exists that bows are more than 50,000 years old.

The arrowheads that Native Americans made as the points for their arrows are very important objects that archaeologists use to learn more about the people that made the arrowheads. Different tribes made their points differently and archaeologists can tell what tribes used a particular area by the types of arrowheads they find there. Archaeologists often find several different types of arrowheads in one place. This tells them that different tribes inhabited the area at different times in history. Arrowheads are tricky to find. You have to look very carefully to spot them in the dirt. Farmers fields that get plowed, and that are near streams or rivers are good places to look.