[Aztlan] Question about arrows and arch

[SchreinerT at aol.com]

Amigos,
I am surprised that the account of the use of bow and arrow by a Maya archer 
in Section XV of Landa's Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan has not yet been 
mentioned. In addition Landa described Maya bows and arrows in detail in Section 
XXIX.

They had offensive and defensive arms. The offensive were bows and arrows 
carried in their quivers, tipped with flints and very sharp fishes' teeth, which 
they shot with great skill and force. The bows were of a beautiful yellowish 
wood. marvelously strong and more straight than curved, with cords of their 
hemp fibers. The length of the bow is always somewhat less than that of the one 
who carries it. The arrows are made of reeds that grow in the lagoons, and more 
than five palms long, in which is fixed a piece of thin wood, very strong, in 
which again is fashioned the flint.

Landa again mentions archery in Section XXIX.

On the roads and passages the enemy [Maya] set defenses manned by archers ...

Taken together it is doubtful that that what Landa described is a product of 
the imagination or a confusion of archery with the atlatl.

Tom Schreiner



**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.