[Gabriele Becattini]

i have seen that often moder replica longbow has horn or even metal arrow pass incorporated directly inside the handle,

i have read that the historical metod was rather an incised mark.

someone could show me a surviving example of such "arrow mark"?

thanks for help

[Glennan Carnie]

Gabriele,

It was thought originally that the symbol marked the arrow pass on an otherwise un-marked bow, or perhaps the centre of the bow. However, not all the marks are in the centre.

Personally I think the mark is a bowyer's mark, rather like a mason's mark on stone.

There are several examples of bowyer's marks from the Mary Rose in Robert Hardy's book Longbow. The marks commonly consist of a collection of nicks, dashes, lines or circles in manifold variations.

Here's the mark on my bow as an example. You can see the scratches in the wood where the arrows have scuffed the bow:

[Chuck Russell]

mine has a worn mark