Sherden Archers

For several months, his troops had settled in, the officers joining the Egyptian army, the soldiers an d sailors finding ways to earn a living, all seemingly content with their good fortune.

—Christian Jacq, The Temple of a Million Years

History

Tactically speaking, archery was useful in open areas such as deserts or plains, but in wooded areas archery tend to be disfavoured, with European cultures preferring instead close-up melee combat, or the use of skirmishers: although archers are mentioned in the Iliad, more of the action by the heroes of the epic prefer spearfighting up close and personal, or the use of thrown spears. Moreover, to be a good archer required immense training, and for so little gain from it, most ancient cultures usually preferred either javelins or slings because they were cost-effective and didn't require that much effort to use. Bows clearly had a reach that could well exceed the range of a simple thrown projectile, most early bows were simple "self bows" (made from a single stave of wood), with arrows having stone or bone arrowheads. These would have been effective against unarmoured targets, but by the onset of the Metal Ages the introduction of body armour meant that such arrows weren't sufficiently powerful enough to cause any damage.

Nevertheless, there were cultures throughout the world where the use of archery tended to be favoured over the use of javelins. For instance, the use of poisoned darts and composite bows made archery the main weapon of choice for the equestrian peoples of the Steppes, whether it be from a chariot or from horseback. The use of the bow also persisted heavily in many parts of the world, particularly on the islands of the Mediterranean where pastoralism and raiding were proven ways of life. Archers featured heavily among the insular cultures of Crete and Sardinia, and for many centuries the peoples of these islands were often recruited as mercenaries in the service of this or that polity.