Why is it that everybody in the world used bows and arrows? Is it because the bow and arrow was invented when humanity first began? Because if you think about it, everyone from the ancient Japanese to the American Indians used some form of the bow and arrow. The only ancient civilizations that I don't recall using the bow and arrow are the Australian Aborigenes and the Inuits. So, is it just a coincidence that civilizations everywhere used bows and arrows, or could it be a common invention created by our common ancestors?
It was the second weapon that could be built to augment the power of human muscles, using only stone age technology. Before the bow and arrow, the only weapon even close to this was the sling, which used centrifugal force rather than springpower. Before that invention, weapons were limited to the power that humans could put into them, like the spear and the club. The bow allowed humans to "throw" pointed weapons much faster and farther than they could do naturally, and much more precisely than they could do with a rotating sling. They of course didn't have the mass of a spear, but the extra velocity made up for it by being able to puncture an animal's skin and damage its musculature or organs. They were first used for hunting, not for warfare. Cave paintings show them being used in hunts. It was natural that they would have been invented by different stone age cultures. As soon as they discovered that animal intestinal tissue could be stretched and spring back, it was natural to start experimenting with different ways to put that stretch and spring to use. What were they gonna come up with, the Slinky? ^_^
It could have come later on by the hands of a worldwide civilisation. It could also have been transmitted through wars or before wars through trade or observation.
Bows and arrows are found at different times throughout history showing that the idea migrated from one area to another over time. They just all didn't show up at the same moment in history per say but were learned about and copied when they were found.
