Bow end plates from the Elovka settlement (the Late Bronze age)

This article discusses the results of studying bone end plates of bows found during the excavations at the Elovka settlement ofthe Late Bronze Age (Kozhevnikovo District of Tomsk Region) in 1982 by the expedition of V.I. Matyushchenko. These items are distinguished by four spikes located in pairs in their upper and lower parts. Other onlays on the bow were ordinary, with the “notch”. This study was aimed at reconstructing the method of tying a bowstring and identifying specific aspects of using bows with such onlays. In the course of analysis, it has been discovered that two types of end plates (notched and spiked) required different ways of fastening the bowstring. Various methods of attaching the bowstring were tested on a wooden model of the onlay. It was established that the most optimal variant of the knot was half-bayonet with subsequent reeling around the onlay between the spikes. The knot can be made both to the left and to the right. Judging by almost identical sizes of spiked onlays, it can be assumed that there was a kind of “standardization” of weapons. When comparing the sizes of arrowheads, it turned out that some of them had a length of 8-12 cm. They could have been used in mobile hunting or combat. The latter option is indicated by the presence of lowered spikes on some arrowheads. The presence of arrowheads measuring 15-18 cm or more indicates that they were used in stationary devices such as crossbows. The author of this study agrees with opinion of E.A. Sidorov who discovered this pattern.