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Originally Posted by Scarlioni
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Most of what you said is accurate. However, it was not entirely for bows that caused the yew to become endangered. Yew was also used in crossbeams in ships, which contributed significantly.
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I didnt know yew was a preferred wood in ship building. Where can I learn more?
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I have also seen the Mongolian foot bow - a huge recurved bow, sometimes up to 8 feet - that could fire an arrow WELL more 800 m.
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I thought the ancient greeks had those too, but apparently I was thinking of this...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastraphetes
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The abilities of the ancients truly were amazing... the largest trebuchets used vs constaninople were able to fire a stone weighing a ton, almost a mile. Constantinople had walls up to 20 feet thick and 40 feet high or so...
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I've read similar statements concerning the ammunition fired at the siege of Constantinople but I thought it was launched by something similar to this
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http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Dardanelles_Gun_Turkish_Bronze_15c.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dardanelles_Gun_Turkish_Bronze_15c.png&usg=__1_0QTXz9OuewYaGtTw72xWe1PN4=&h=442&w=800&sz=623&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=jKgZz1bYeJO6LM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDardanelles%2Bgun%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
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The mongolian bow I was referring to was fired lying down, using the feet against the bow, and drawing back with the muscles of the arm and abdomen.
I saw it in a korean war museum - along with a replica of the turtle - a boat with metal plating done hundreds of years before the merrimac. I haven't found any online references to it.
For more usual bows, Ottoman Sultan Selim III was once witnessed to have fired an arrow from a Turkish composite bow an amazing distance of 889metres (2917feet) though its effective range was considerably less.
As for the dardanelles guns - no, I wasn't speaking about guns, but actual trebuchets or catapults - the word has different meanings depending on where in the world you are.