Hi,
I know they did use composite reflex bow, but what was the type they were using called? I found there are many shapes, some originates is Hungaria, some in Mongolia, some is Asia/Korea, but I didnt found what type was used by Genghis Khan invaders. I would also like to ask, since they were supposed to use many types of bows for different purposes (warfare, hunting, etc.), what they used as hunting bow and what draw strength it usually had?
Thanks for answer and stay safe :)
One conquest-era bow in "good" condition has been found. This is the Tsagaan Khad (Cagaan Chad) bow, a 14th century from a cave burial. The bow is, as expected, a horn-wood-sinew recurve-reflex composite bow, 141cm long strung, with horn reinforcements on the handle and limb tips. The limbs are wrapped in birch bark. The siyahs are curved forwards, so the string is in contact with the middle of the siyah when strung but undrawn. As far as I can tell from photos and drawings, there are no string bridges (which are usual on more recent bows with contact siyahs like this. The bow:
One limb is distorted from the bow having been left strung for hundreds of years. The string is silk.
The draw weight of the bow has been estimated at about 160lb. Replicas made to the dimensions of the original have draw weights, reportedly, of about 120-180lb (small differences in thickness can change the draw weight a lot, since the stiffness of the limbs is proportional the cube of the thickness). With so few surviving bows, we don't know whether this was a typical bow, or above average in draw weight. Judging by later military composite bows, there is a good chance that it is above average, but not exceptionally so. For a comparison with Ottoman bows, see https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/928g79/it_is_said_mongol_bows_draw_weight_was_as_high_as/
The person buried in the cave was a teenage boy of about 15. We don't know whether this was his bow.
Adding pre- and post-conquest bows, there is variation in designs, but they are generally similar: about 140cm strung length, siyahs about 30-35cm long, working limbs about 30-35cm long. Some siyahs are curved/angled enough so they are likely to be contact siyahs (without string bridges). Others are straight enough so that I can't tell.
As noted above, we don't have good data for the typical draw weight. Judging by later bows, bows for warfare might have averaged about 100-120lb, and hunting bows about 50lb.
The style in recent use in Mongolia, larger and with prominent string bridges, was adopted later, and is a variation on the Manchu bow, which spread to Mongolia (and then further west, through to the Crimea) during the Qing Dynasty.
Reference:
The Tsagaan Khad bow: B. Ahrens, H. Piezonka, G. Nomguunsuren, Buried with his Bow and Arrows: The exceptional cave burial of a 14th century warrior at Tsagaan Khad mountain, Mongolia. In: Ta La (Hrsg.), Ancient Cultures of the Northern Area of China, Mongolia and Baikalian Siberia, Band 2. Hohhot 2015: 683-692. http://www.academia.edu/17150484/Buried_with_his_bow_and_arrows_The_exceptional_cave_burial_of_a_14th_century_warrior_at_Tsagaan_Khad_mountain_Mongolia._In_Ancient_cultures_of_the_northern_area_of_China_Mongolia_and_baikalian_Siberia_Part_Three_Historical_Period_Bejing_2015_683-692
