Description
The bow was invented by humans at the end of the Palaeolithic period. It was the first piece of machinery in history which serves as an example of intentional energy storage. With the increase of its range and striking power, the bow had facilitated hunting, the basic way of obtaining food at that period.
There is one hypothesis which claims that the birth of art had been some kind of "by-product" of the invention of the bow, since Palaeolithic hunters, used to constant physical activity, gained suddenly a considerable amount of free time which was used to cover the walls of the inhabited caves with drawings and paintings.
If the theory is right, the invention of the bow - possibly in Europe or North Africa - should be dated somewhere around 30 thousand years ago. We assume with high plausibility that the Asians, who more or less 18 thousand years ago crossed the Bering Strait (reportedly dry-shod at that time) to settle the American continent, had bows in their possession. Technique historians consider the bow as a unique invention which has been achieved only once. According to the so-called diffusion theory, bows become gradually widespread across the world. When Columbus discovered America, the local Indians used bows, however they did not know the wheel (another super-invention), which had not been invented yet when their great ancestors set off from Eurasia to settle in America.
Obverse
The central part of the coin features the queen’s effigy with the inscription: Elizabeth II and the mark of the Mint of Poland (MW). Around the effigy a set of scenes depicting the bow evolution over a span of years, starting from the basic bow from Palaeolithic period, through medieval longbow, it’s improved version - crossbow, up to firearm - musket. Along the coin rim inscriptions, at the top: Niue Island, at the bottom the face value: ONE DOLLAR, issue date: 2010.
Reverse
In the central part of the coin: images of the bow and bow-drill that used to lit a fire. In the background: images of the archers hunting deers, taken from the murals of de los Caballos cave (Spain).
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