Comment on 8999 BC
surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 1 day agoThey rely on artifacts and art. So yeah, it’s quite possible the bow was invented earlier, probably a bunch of times in a bunch of places.
People are smart, but we’re smart in pretty regular and repeatable ways.
Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de 21 hours ago
i’d also say there’s a difference between people making notches in a stick and tying a piece of string to it, and actually carving a bow and drying it.
Anyone can come up with the idea for and build a simple bow to test their idea, but figuring out how to make a proper bow takes iteration and is an investment.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
also bowstring is a hell of a lot more sturdy than twine. probably took a lot of different iteration to find the right fiber/gut to use for the string, the right wood, just beyond getting the idea
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 17 hours ago
Nettle fibres are pretty easy to make into a string that would be suitable for using with a bow. Making a bow is a lot easier than making the perfect bow. It would have been an iterative process, improving over time.