Long time fan of this sub, first time poster. I’ve often wondered when reading/watching historical fiction who the mastermind’s were behind the bow and arrow?
I’d imagine it was a tool for hunting at first. Who was the first civilization to use it as a wartime weapon?
The bow is prehistoric, Mesolithic at the latest, and possibly much earlier. The oldest bows found are about 10,000 years old, and possible partial bows about 12,000 years old have been found. These have been found in northern Europe, but these were in conditions particularly good for preserving wood (low-oxygen bogs), so it's more likely to just be preservation bias rather than because the bow was invented there. The bow might be much older, since stone and bone projectile points that might be arrowheads that are over 60,000 years old have been found. At these older ages, if these points are really arrowheads, the bow would have been invented in Africa. If the bow was invented later, we don't know where.
More on this in https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/9pgvu3/where_did_the_bow_and_arrow_originate_and_how_did/
The first civilisation to use the bow and arrow in war was probably the first civilisation (the bow and arrow already having seen use in war before civilisation). Stone arrowheads are widespread in the Neolithic Levant and Anatolia, and were present when the first large settlements grew in the area, and the bow and arrow would have been used as a military weapon (along with the sling; many slingstones have been found, too).
For lots on arrowheads of the Neolithic Levant, see:
Arrows were certainly used against humans in the area, as seen in this find of an arrowhead in a spine:
(but we don't know whether this was war or murder or something else).
I should add that wood and bone (and sometimes horn) arrowheads were commonly used in recent times by peoples in areas without metalworking, and even in some areas where iron was in use. Stone arrowheads are a good indication that the bow and arrow was in use, but a lack of stone arrowheads doesn't tell us that the bow and arrow were not in use. However, in this case (i.e., the Neolithic Levant), stone arrowheads are common.
Hey there! This might actually be a good question for /r/AskAnthropology. :)