Almost none of this is accurate. Archers did use belt quivers and carried arrows in their hands sometimes, but aside from that, this video is pretty much gimmicky nonsense and a dramatic voice-over. Archers weren't jumping around, spinning, catching enemy arrows, or shooting with their feet. This guy neglects to mention that archers are generally always deployed in larger formations, not as individuals. There's not much room in a unit of 300 men to play around on roller skates or shoot from a chair. Shooting as quickly as possible was far less important than the ability to shoot in coordinated volleys and stay in formation when maneuvering. Also, this guy seems to be shooting at point blank range for most of these shots. For many archers, this would be the point where they would either 1) drop their bows and pick up melee weapons or 2) run like hell for the protection of their heavy infantry.

As I said in another thread about this video, this is the equivalent of all the Kendo teachers who claim that they're teaching ancient secrets passed down from samurai for a thousand years. Just like those kendo teachers, it's bullshit intended to make the listener feel important and cool for being taught these supposedly "lost techniques."

So given how absurd the video is as a whole (an archer jumping around like a hyper kitten is about as Hollywood as you get), this is pretty petty, but when the narrator says "Assyrian artwork shows that the method was at least 5000 years old" the image shown looks to me from this panel of Ashurnasirpal's lion hunting relief making it from the middle ninth century BCE. Which was probably a little bit more digging than I needed to do because there was no Assyria five thousand years ago--in fact I think that was even before the migration of Semitic speakers into Mesopotamia.

I can give you a starting point: "Traditional Archery from Six Continents" by Charles E. Grayson. Some lessons from this work and the Charles E. Grayson collection:

• The back quiver is not exactly a "Hollywood myth". There is plenty of historical reference for back quivers in Asia, e.g. cat #1992-0104 (China) and cat #2001-01-120 (Japan). It does seem that belt quivers were more common though, especially in Europe.
• Quivers were not always primarily intended to supply arrows for fast shooting. Many historical quivers were little more than a bag for transport, or (in Korea) a paper or cloth tube.
• Talking about how practical, effective use of bows has died out is somewhat specious - many indigenous peoples still hunt with bows, e.g. the Ashaninka of Brazil and Peru.

Do you have other, more specific claims you want to know about?

The video seems to talk about "archers" as though a there is one kind of archer. In reality there are many types of historical archery, just like there are many types of historical fencing. Different types of archery have different uses and aims.

Basically what the video seems to claim is that Western archers have "forgotten" forms of archery that they never used.

There is a Turkish researcher named Murat Özveri who has done some very good research on historical Turkic archery, which uses a different style of bow, different style of draw, and shoots off the right. It's only one of many different styles of archery in the world, but it's very different from what you see in the Olympics, or from your average North American bowhunter. It doesn't make one style of archery magically better, just different.

There is a good introduction here

He also has a Youtube channel with great videos showing more about the technique

Lars isnt speaking about traditional large scale european mideval warfare nessecarily. He is very interested in the mongols, indians, africa etc, and generally very mobile archery, like you also find in smaller battles and skirmishes in europe.

Yes the video is gimmicky, no he does not think that they made parkour while shooting and yes, he does know that quivers were used in major battles, for transport and so forth (and that arrows were often stuck in the ground for easier grapping when you needed them).

That doesnt invalidate the video at all though. He does what he does to show just how fast one can actually shoot and under which conditions. And for those of you who doubt how many lbs the bow has, look up one of his earlier videos where he shoots up 11 arrows in the air, before the first one hits the ground. A 20" bow would never be able to do that kind of stuff, because the arrow would simply not be able to reach the heights needed for that many shots.

Sources: I know Lars irl

Edit: I see some complaining about the whole "x arrows in the air to be a man"-thing. He told me it was pretty prevalent in indian tales, but has always been dismissed by academics because it was belived impossible, on par with talking animals. That was actually part of the reason he started training in the first place. I dont know the specific sources, but I hope that might narrow it down for anyone who feels the need for it.

FYI, there is a parallel post on this same video right now.

Well, I practice traditional Japanese archery, kyudo, which is definitely the opposite of the frenetic style shown by Lars (generally we are supposed to hold the draw several sections until the time is right; but yabusame - horseback archery - is much faster). My bow was made by an American, but he studied under the 20th generation bowmaker to the Emperor. That right there shows some traditions have not been lost.

First off, traditional archery did not die out. Try approaching the Sentinelese islanders west of Thailand. They are still one of the few uncontacted tribes who have very pointy arrows (which they used to attack any encroachers). The same is true in Papua New Guinea, the Amazon, etc. Moreover, even in "civilized" countries, there is still a lot of traditional archery, like in Korea, Turkey, Mongolia, Bhutan, Japan, etc. Korea is an Olympic archery powerhouse through their archery traditions.

One quibble I have with his claims is the shooting of chain mail and leather. Anyone with a decent bow could do that by piercing through the metal pieces. I've noticed his draw length is quite short and the bow must be quite weak in strength for him to use so much muscles (optimally, you use your skeletal strength by aligning the arms and shoulders to minimize fatigue). It would be useful to see him try against actual metal armor.

Another thing about holding arrows in the hand. Yes, they're nice, but holding more than a few is very cumbersome, especially on horseback where you're likely to hit your horse. Look at the imperial photos of the Qing dynasty, ruled by the Manchu, who had very large recurve bows. You never see the emperor or others with a fistful of arrows. They had long, heavy arrows that could pierce a man, and they used relatively close distances to shoot, more like shotguns rather than automatic rifles. Example: http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/newvision/large/pics/02.jpg