Archery: Arrows

Author: Browne, P., (2006), “Roman Arrows”, first published in The Imperial Courier, Volume 1, Issue 7, THE RMRS, pp. 6-8.

Introduction While many arrow heads have survived from antiquity, very few examples of fletching and the actual arrow shafts remain. Two major finds are from Dura Europos and the Roman Meroitic remains, although there are references to arrow finds from Nahal Tse'elim and Masada (James, 2004 [1]). The objective here is to compare the fletching and arrow shafts; and to draw out some interim conclusions regarding how far these arrows can shed light on others. Having been fortunate enough to examine the Roman Meroitic arrows at first hand, I would like to thank Dr Neal Spencer of the Egyptian section for his invaluable help in allowing the huge privilege of access.

Dura Europos Dura Europos was an ancient city on the Middle Euphrates in present day Syria. It was founded by the Macedonians, ruled by the Parthians and eventually annexed by the Romans. In AD 255/6, the Roman garrison was besieged in the city by a Sassanian army, the successors to Rome’s old enemy Parthia. Excavations conducted at Dura-Europos by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters from 1928 to 1937 recovered an astonishing assembly of items from the siege. Significant among the finds were rare wooden shields, horse armour, catapult bolts or quarrels, and many other items of military and civilian equipment, including arrows.

Qasr Ibrim Qasr Ibrim (Arabic: “castle of Ibrim”, with linguistic link to Latin “castra”) is located in Lower Nubia in modern day Sudan. Under the Emperor Augustus, a Roman garrison was stationed there under prefect Gaius Petronius who defeated a Meroitic army after their invasion of Lower Nubia in 24 BC. Finds include quarrels from bolt-shooters, and artillery balls; some with slogans identifying the century and one identifying the targeted enemy leader! None of these exhibited any signs of a whipping in front of the fletching, nor of a medieval-style linen thread binding the fletching to the shaft in addition to the glue. None of the sculptural references indicate the  “v-shaped” medieval style fletching rather than a parabolic fletching; although erosion, for example, on Trajan's column, does not make this irrefutable.

	Dura Europos	Qasr Ibrim
Shaft material:	Reed/wood (tamarisk?) combination, with an arrow shaft of 10 mm Ø reed cane into the end of which was inserted a tapered wooden footing forming the fore part of the arrow shaft. A similar design was found at Nahal Tse'elim and Vindonissa (James, 2004, pp. 204 - 205).	Reed (7-8 mm Ø), Wood (8 mm Ø, tapering to arrowhead). The wooden shaft was considerably more robust than reed arrows.
Fletching shape:	Parabolic	Parabolic
Fletching length:	151 - 157 mm	113 mm
Fletching colour:	White?	Light brown
Fletching adhesive:	Glue	Glue
Fletching style:	“Western" style with cock feather set at right angles to the feather axis of the nock and a hen-feather at 120 degrees to either side of it. Fletching not cork-screwed to make arrow spin, although this is accomplished by the natural twist in the feather.	Three feathers with "cock" set at 120 degrees to nock. Fletchings not cork-screwed.
Binding/whipping between fletching and nock?	Yes: “glued fibre (tendon?)…to prevent the cane splitting (James, 2004)”.	Yes. Appears similar to the Dura Europos example.
Width of binding:	10 mm width (9 mm from the nock).	4 - 6 mm width (8 - 12 mm from the nock).
Self nocked (no additional material at the nock):	Yes.	Yes.
Nocking depth:	8 - 10 mm.	4 - 9 mm.
Decoration “cresting” on nock:	Black base, with white and red (see below). The 2nd-century AD arrows found at Nahal Tse'elim in Judea also have similar red and black cresting; parallel red and black cresting found throughout Asia, including contemporary Chinese Han dynasty cresting.	Black painted nock.
Arrowhead description:	Sharpened wood; copper alloy two-bladed 29 - 98 mm in length; copper alloy three-bladed 19 - 50 mm; iron two-bladed 60 - 67 mm; iron three-bladed 35 - 88 mm.	Iron three-bladed tanged head (still attached). Length along blade edge 19 mm. Length of head (excluding tang) 14 mm.
Draw style:	Thumb ring.	Probable thumb ring (in comparison, a modern parabolically fletched Hungarian arrow, made in a traditionally manner, has a gap between fletching end and nock end of c. 40 mm).
Comments:		Tapered shaft towards arrow head, with signs of "whittling".

Conclusions These arrows show a remarkable amount of overlap: parabolically fletched, binding at the nock end, crested using colour combinations. The material (wood or reed) may reflect both local materials available and a manufacturing preference. A key question is how far these examples can be extrapolated to other parts of the Roman Empire. Certainly, Dura Europos and Qasr Ibrim were “outposts of Empire", although from a Roman perspective, no further from the centre than Hadrian's Wall. James (2004) notes:

“one of the most striking characteristics of the Dura assemblage is the degree to which so much of it matches finds from other Roman frontiers, not only in general form, but often in the finest details...near identical to, and often indistinguishable from, discoveries made at other Roman sites as far away as Scotland and Mauretania.”

Even so, arrow construction would be very dependent on the locally available materials. Furthermore, the Mediterranean style draw would require a variant design, in particular a longer distance between fletching and nock. To reconstruct Roman arrows there is evidence for it being:

• Made of wood, reed or combined wood/ reed.

• Parabolic fletching stuck on with glue alone.

• Binding or whipping between nock and fletching.

• Decorated nock using black, white, or red paint (also known as cresting - used today to identify arrows belonging to a particular archer).

• Iron, copper alloy or sharpened wood point.

• Two or three blade heads.

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Endnote:

1. James, S., (2004), “The Excavations at Dura-Europos 1928 to 1937 Final Report VII: The Arms and Armour and other Military Equipment”, London: British Museum Press. ▲