Holmegaard and Møllegabet- True or false.

[Buemaker]

These two bows pop up from time to time. The reason I write this is that I wonder if history is being falsified somehow. If a story that is not correct is told enough times is soon becomes the truth.
The 8000 year old Holmegaard is clearly a bow, but I find it hard to see the abrupt narrowing of the limbs as many claims is there. To me it looks more like a straightforward kind of pyramid shaped bow.
The picture below was the first photos taken of the two bows, one half and one complete bow.
 
Now enters the Møllegabet, a small piece of wood was found and labelled by the finders as a bow. I do not say it was not a bow, but a small amount of sceptism might be in order, I think. The size of the piece indicates that it must have been a childs bow. Now from that small piece of wood someone made a drawing of what he thought the whole bow looked like. I cannot remember who made the drawing.On another forum a joke was made saying the the piece of wood most likely was a beating stick for laundering clothes.  
Take a look at the two images below, that is the Møllegabet.  Bue--.
 
 

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I built a molle and would have to say it is surely a bow because it made one heck of a shooter LOL

[LittleBen]

Buemaker: As I believe the bow is generally considered to be an evolution of and a replacement for the atlatl, perhaps a look at contemporary atlatl technology would shed some more light on the design of these two bow shapes.

Reading between the lines in the last paragraph, I agree whole heartedly that it look basically like a pyramid bow with minor adjustments for grain/nots etc.

[monterey]

To me it looks more like a straightforward kind of pyramid shaped bow.
 

I see what you mean, but at the same time don't see it exactly as you do.  It does not appear to have the very straight tapered sides of a pyramid bow.  Given the taper of the first 1/3 or so of the limbs, it would seem that it would require a thickening of the outer limb in order to bend the inner limb.

What I see is more like two limb sections with very little taper except the rather abrupt transition to the narrower outer limb.

[John Scifres]

I made what has become known as a Holmegard design before I ever saw one.  Basically I took some of the info from Tim Baker's work in TBBI and what I knew of asiatic composite siyahs and made it up from there.  I would find it immensely difficult to believe that the skilled bowmakers of the past would not have come up with the design regardless of if the relics prove it.  Not many ancient bows survive and I am sure we don't have a relevant sampling.

I agree about the apparent misinterpretations of the original Holmegard find.  I believe a lot of artistic license has been taken in replicas or claimed replicas.  But that matters little to me. I like art.