I wanted to expand on this a little by comparing two bows. The first would be a "War Bow" circa 1400 England and the second what is often termed "Ishi's Bow"
Materials:
Warbow: Yew Stave, Horn for Nocks, Possibly Hide Glue for Nocks
Ishi's Bow: Mountain Juniper, Sinew, Salmon Skin Glue, Buckskin
Design:
Warbow: Simple Self Bow with Horn Nocks no Grip
Ishi's Bow: Sinew Backed Recurved Flat Bow with Buckskin Grip
Construction Method:
Warbow: as best we know shaped with steel or iron tools
Ishi's Bow:The wood was obtained by splitting a limb from a tree and utilizing the outer layers, including the sap wood. By scraping and rubbing on sandstone, he shaped and finished it. The recurved tips of the bow he made by bending the wood backward over a heated stone. Held in shape by cords and binding to another piece of wood, he let his bow season in a dark, dry place. Here it remained from a few months to years, according to his needs. After being seasoned he backed it with sinew. First he made a glue by boiling salmon skin and applying it to the roughened back of the bow. When it was dry he laid on long strips of deer sinew obtained from the leg tendons. By chewing these tendons and separating their fibers, they became soft and adhesive. Carefully overlapping the ends of the numerous fibers he covered the entire back very thickly. At the nocks he surrounded the wood completely and added a circular binding about the bow.
During the process of drying he bound the sinew tightly to the bow with long, thin strips of willow bark. After several days he removed this bandage and smoothed off the edges of the dry sinew, sized the surface with more glue and rubbed everything smooth with sandstone. Then he bound the handgrip for a space of four inches with a narrow buckskin thong.
Conclusion:
Made using "primitive" tools Ishi's bow appears to have a more sophisticated design and method of construction including backing with sinew (use of multiple materials in conjunction to improve their properties) and heat manipulation. In contrast the War Bow, although made using steel tools by a more technologically advanced culture, was a more primitive design in many ways being a simple self bow relying on the inherit qualities of the wood.
Both bows were ideally suited for the task they were designed for, Ishi's for hunting and the War Bow, when allied with a sophisticated tactical doctrine, for war.
But which would you consider more "primitive" the sophisticated design from the primitive culture or the primitive design from the sophisticated culture? And in this case is it the design of the tools, steel versus stone, or the design of the bow that wins out?
