World events can overwhelm anyone of sentience ( a faculty I see slipping in the numbing onslaught of 'civilization'.) Disregarding political views, many of my friends and acquaintances are finding personal escape time; music, camping trips etc. I just acquired a rather hard to find copy of the Abbe Breul's 4 Hundred Years of Cave Art. Gazing into the coloured images of long gone animals from a lost world, a not quite so ancient vinal LP of a wolf pack howling and a pink lady candle provided a truncated version of the ancient hearth. It dissuaded 3 major religous groups from knocking, worried the new coyote family outside and reminded me to find my old spear thrower. I hope everyone is finding their center in enjoyable ways in these tumultuous times <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Finding your old spear thrower? Chris, you closet survivalist, or at least primitivist. Picturing you bearded like ZZ Top and clothed in furs while tracking Wooly Mammoths has made my morning. Regards, Keys

Actually, I have all this stuff from my student days replicating stuff. This is now a active aspect of serious archaeological research called experimental archaeology. Getting a grant to build ancient siege engines or greek triremes must be awesome! Anecdotaly, during WW2 a researcher took a yew longbow and, using RAF armor plate as a safety backdrop let fly a bodkin ( the armor piercing round of it's day.) Much to everyones consternation it fully penetrated the plate. This was made a state secret for the duration <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />.

I've watched video of siege engines competitions. Never know when a longbow or warbow might come in handy - with a range of 180 to 200 yards. Wonder how chainmail compares to kevlar. Guess you'd have to find a good blacksmith to make you a few broadheads or bodkins nowadays. Bet my grandfather could have - he was a wiz at casting his own tools from sand molds. Made some indestructable hammers - not bad for a mountain man. Regards, Keys

I watched a program about trebuchets and it showed a man firing alongbow from around 200yrds and the arrow went straight through the breast plate of the dummy's armour, through the back and was just held in by its fletchings. Its amazing to see the power of ancient weapons.

One linguistic argument for the origin of a certain word and gesture comes from British history. When King Henry landed in France to defend continental territories his small army consisted of mostly yoemen archers.The French nobility were incensed at their presence and announced those captured would have their fingers amputated. Henry positioned his small army on a muddy field, the French mounted knights charged en mass and met with a horrific rain of arrows. The archers supposedly then stepped forward, raising their "Flucking" ( old english for plucking) fingers in defiance. Another theory holds it comes from the old german "flucken" which translates " I strike you." <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

One thing that might support that theory is that in England a certain gesture (the "one finger salute" ?) is sometimes perfomed with the two fingers you actually use to pull the string of a longbow.