Peter,
Here are some links. The first is to an archery museum located about three hours from me at the University of Missouri at Columbia. They have a very nice collection of asian and middle eastern archery equipment. The other two are links to bow sources that have some nice pics of functional modern repros of the anceint bows.
Those Korean archers are impressive. They shoot at a basketball sized target at 159 yards in competition ( using those little 48" strung horsebows and thumb rings.) No wonder they do so well in the olympics. The Koreans take their archery seriously and they can shoot.
I sort of went the opposite direction in my archery. I started with a compound with sights and a mechnical release. I did not want to spend as much money this time replacing arrows so I decided to go a more traditional route in my archery this time around. I shoot well enough to hunt with them but I have not had to buy a single replacement arrow from stacking them. Saves money for more bows. I just enjoy it more. Its more simple and takes more consitent form when its just you the bow and the string. My dad shoots a bare bow compound and does very well with. He says hes getting to old to shoot without the let off.
http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/gra...archery2.shtml
http://www.grozerarchery.com/index_b.htm
http://www.koreanarchery.org/model25.html
Ray