<P> The oldest definite bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark . In the 1940s, two bows were found there, dated to about 8,000 BP . The Holmegaard bows are made of elm and have flat arms and a D - shaped midsection . The center section is biconvex . The complete bow is 1.50 m (5 ft) long . Bows of Holmegaard - type were in use until the Bronze Age; the convexity of the midsection has decreased with time . </P> <P> Mesolithic pointed shafts have been found in England, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden . They were often rather long, up to 120 cm (4 ft) and made of European hazel (Corylus avellana), wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana) and other small woody shoots . Some still have flint arrow - heads preserved; others have blunt wooden ends for hunting birds and small game . The ends show traces of fletching, which was fastened on with birch - tar . </P> <P> The oldest depictions of combat, found in Iberian cave art of the Mesolithic, show battles between archers . A group of three archers encircled by a group of four is found in Cueva del Roure, Morella la Vella, Castellón, Valencia . A depiction of a larger battle (which may, however, date to the early Neolithic), in which eleven archers are attacked by seventeen running archers, is found in Les Dogue, Ares del Maestrat, Castellón, Valencia . At Val del Charco del Agua Amarga, Alcañiz, Aragon, seven archers with plumes on their heads are fleeing a group of eight archers running in pursuit . </P> <P> Archery seems to have arrived in the Americas via Alaska, as early as 6000 BCE, with the Arctic small tool tradition, about 2,500 BCE, spreading south into the temperate zones as early as 2,000 BCE, and was widely known among the indigenous peoples of North America from about 500 CE . </P>

When were bows and arrows first used in battle
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