Ближний Восток и его соседи

g 191 h Archaeological Evidence for Mamlūk Archery 69. With the exception of the cane or bamboo example mentioned above, the inter- nal structure of medieval Islamic crossbow staves was of composite construction. The staves of Christian European crossbows from the late 13th to 15th or even early 16th centuries were also of composite construction, but whereas the standard forms of Eu- ropean staves were oval or sometimes almost round in section, those from the Islamic world were distinctively rectangular. As already stated, carbon dating tests were carried out on a number of items from the Euphrates hoard before its sale to the Qatar Museums Authority. One test was on sinew from a damaged crossbow stave. It resulted in a 68% probability dating between 1170 and 1250 AD, with an interception date of 1215. This is remarkably early for such advanced technology which, by being seemingly com- monplace in the Islamic world by the mid-13th century, must surely have been known for many years if not decades before that. (Author’s photograph; reportedly now in the National Museum store, Doha, Qatar). 70. The crossbow staves from the Euphrates hoard were approximately 95 cm long and an inspection of a more damaged example showed that each was built around an inner core about 1 cm thick. This consisted of an almost black resin-like substance sur- rounded by a layer of sinew from 2mm to 4mm thick. The exterior of each crossbow stave consisted of a layer of apparent tree bark which was then decorated. No wooden core was visible, but might have been hidden deeper within the structure. (Author’s photograph; reportedly now in the National Museum store, Doha, Qatar).