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Native American Bow Essay

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Native American bows have been around for a long time. The Natives needed bows to survive. Bow and Arrows played a very important role in the lives of the Native Americans. Without bows the natives would not have been around for long. Bows were very hard to make and were not easy to use. The bow replaced the spear because the bow shoots faster and harder. They also were easier to carry and had a higher percent of accuracy. The bow was very much needed when they were invented. “ How did Native Americans use and make bows?”. Natives were very smart and creative people. It took a lot of thinking and trials to get the bow to do what they wanted. The first bow was adopted in Iowa around A.D. 500. Natives used bows to kill animals such as bison and elk. They also hunted deer and birds. The indians used Osage Orange trees to …show more content…

They would steam the wood to make sure the bow would be sure to hold and not break. The hardest thing for them to do was make the bow bend without breaking. They used senew to reinforce the bow. They used senew to make the string. It would make it tough it break. Some natives used a cord in the neck of a snapping turtle. To make the arrow shaft they used dogwood. They made the reed out of grass. They used heat to straighten the shaft. The natives were very creative people. The arrowhead is a very hard thing to make. An arrowhead is made out of flint. They got hot water and they would drip the water on the rock to make it chip off. They formed it by dripping water onto it. I can still find arrowheads out in fields today. Natives made their houses on hills so the water would run downhill. I have found over 15 full arrowheads in fields by my house. People try to make the arrowheads today and sell them like they found them out in a field. The fletching was made out of bird feathers. This made the bow spin in the air so it would penetrate the skin. Bows have progressed over the years. They have way more technology than they used too.

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