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Beaker Bows: A Suggestion

Eight years ago Grahame Clark published in these Proceedings a fundamental study of the earlier prehistory of archery in north-western Europe (Clark, 1963), and last year Roger Mercer developed the theme in a discussion of the evidence provided by metal arrow-heads from Reinecke Bronze B to Hallstatt D (Mercer, 1970). Between these two papers there may be thought to be little opportunity for useful additional comment, but within the ambit of the Beaker cultures of Europe (discussed only incidentally by Clark, and antecedent to Mercer's survey) some evidence seems worth critical examination, and such an examination is offered here as a footnote to Clark's wide-ranging paper. The primary suggestion to be made is that certain distinctive forms of arc-shaped or bow-shaped pendants from a restricted group of Beaker graves are in fact miniature representations, in some detail, of actual archers' bows of uniform type.