Documentation for Bow Project

[Einar_Hrafnsson]

Many of the bows recovered near Hedeby did not have nocks at the bottom of the bow. A single notch was carved in the top, and the string was tied in place at the bottom.

I have seen pictures of replicas of these bows, but cannot find any original documentation so I turn to the rangers for help.

Online or hard copy, does anyone have sources that can be cited for this type of bow stringing in Northern Europe?

[Peter Remling]

Many of the bows recovered near
Hedeby did not have nocks at the bottom of the bow. A single
notch was carved in the top, and the string was tied in place
at the bottom.

I have seen pictures of replicas of these bows, but cannot find
any original documentation so I turn to the rangers for help.

Online or hard copy, does anyone have sources that can be
cited for this type of bow stringing in Northern Europe?

If there was no nock, the tied bowstring would still ride up
when the bow was drawn. Could it possibly have used a
leather covering attached to the string and placed over the
bottom of the bow,, similar to a modern bow stringer ?

[Manveruon]

Peter's conjecture seems pretty sound to me, if there was indeed no bottom nock. I would also be very interested to see what evidence there is surrounding this.

[RikJohnson]

Peter is correct. there MUST be some way to ensure the lower limb retained the string.

As I recall, strings had a loop at the bottom then were tied at the top with a bowyers knot. This made the string easier to make and adjust.
The Mary Rose bows had a single notch in the upper tip but I don't recall if both ends were identical? and my recent search reveals nothing.
Could the lower tip be bare, requiring a 'bag' and the upper tip possessing a single notch for a knotted string?

IF the lower end of the string were sewn or attached to a 'bag', it would not only protect the lower bow-tip when being strung, it would remove the complexity of a lower loop!

Since these things do not survive in the physical form (at least no one has found great-great-great-great-... grandfather's war-chest from the medieval days, opened the thing and found his journal and strings. that happens only in the movies.) we must rely on someone with a really good eye looking at a painting or other illustratins and screaming "HEY! look at this! Doesnt this lower bow tip look like....?"

I'm sorry we could not answer your question, but we now know that there is something to search.

[Ringulf]

I have seen this method and have read about it in some of the older writings on Viking age archery.
I will attempt to find the information for you and post it here.
I do remember that there was a specific knot as mentioned above a bower's knot, used to tie the bottom of the bowstring and that it cinched so as not to permit slippage.
The horn knock on top was often sharpened to be used as a last resort peircing weapon and that a peice of leather or a bone ring was often used, placed several inches below the top horn knock so that the bowstring once slipped from the knock could slide down on the top of the bow limb to rest on it. This kept the string taught so it would not flop around, but kept no pressure on the bow itself.
I keep my bows this way and it is of great assistance.