Traditional Archery from Six Continents: The Charles E. Grayson Collection » (180 color illustrations, bibliography, i)

Charles E. Grayson is a physician who has studied archery as a historian, bowyer, and hunter. Now retired, he lives in Clatskanie, Oregon, and continues to participate in archery competitions.

Mary French is Cultural Resources Coordinator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Michael J. O'Brien is Professor of Anthropology and Dean of the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Daniel S. Glover is Associate Museum Curator at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

As a major hunting tool and weapon, the bow changed human history around the world, and its diverse forms reflect the cultures that adopted it. This book presents color photographs and descriptions of some three hundred items, including quivers, thumb rings, and more, from the Charles E. Grayson Archery Collection. The artifacts are organized by region, taking in equipment from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and Europe used over the last five hundred years. The introduction provides an overview of traditional archery and its nomenclature, and chapter essays situate the items in their historical, cultural, and technological contexts. Plate descriptions note materials, construction methods, dimensions, and temporal and cultural affiliations. This first wide-ranging survey of European and non-European archery equipment will be the standard reference work in the study of archery.