As the Lehites continued their journey through southern Arabia they moved from the "most fertile" parts of the wilderness to the "more fertile" parts where they pitched their tents for the "space of a time" so they could hunt for food (1 Nephi 16:14-17).
George Potter and Richard Wellington explain that this describes exactly what is found along the Gaza branch of the Frankincense Trail. When they examined detailed maps for this region they found that from "Wadi Tayyib al-Ism to Medina, there is an average of one cultivated area every 11 miles along the trail."
"South from Medina the trail wanders around the lava fields until it reaches Bishah, some 350 miles farther south. From Medina to Bishah there is only one farming area for every 50 miles of trail … from Bishah to where the trail finally turned east, there are no (cultivated) areas …"
It was during this leg of their journey that Nephi broke his bow, "which was made of fine steel" (v. 18). To make matters worse, Nephi's brother's bows lost their springs. Eventually, Nephi made a new bow to hunt for food. Eugene England pointed out that this region of southern Arabia "is known for a combination of heat, humidity, sand, and salt that rusts car fenders in a few months and turns limber any dry wood brought from other areas."
Critics have been quick to point out that a "steel" bow in Nephi's day is anachronistic — carbonized steel is not believed to have existed in Nephi's day so this proves that Joseph Smith was a fraud.
In a previous installment it was pointed out that "steel" may not necessarily have been anachronistic for the day. A second possibility is that "steel" in the Book of Mormon refers to "copper," "bronze" or "brass" in the same manner as "steel" in the Bible is rendered from a translation of those metals. Modern steel wasn't invented until more than a dozen years after the Joseph Smith produced the Book of Mormon, therefore Joseph Smith couldn't have been referring to steel as we understand this metal today.
While the 1828 Webster's dictionary defines "steel" as "iron combined with a small portion of carbon," it also defines the term as a figurative descriptor for weapons. Another primary definition for "steel" in the 1828 dictionary is "to make hard; to make insensible or obdurate."
The Bible also mentions "steel" bows and Dr. William Hamblin (an expert in ancient Near Eastern history) explains that "the metal is apparently called 'steel' in the KJV because bronze is 'steeled' (strengthened) copper through alloying it with tin or through some other process." Nephi's "steel" bow was likely not constructed completely out of metal but was, instead, a composite bow. As Dr. Nibley pointed out.
"It was in all probability a steel-ribbed bow. … Only composite bows were used in Palestine, that is, bows of more than one piece, and a steel-backed bow would be called a steel bow just as an iron-trimmed chariot was called a 'chariot of iron.' Incidentally the founder of the Turkish Seljuk Dynasty of Iran was called Yaqaq, which means in Turkish, says our Arab informant, 'a bow made out of iron.' The fact that 'Iron Arrow' was a fairly common name among those people, and refers actually to an iron-headed arrow is a strong indication that the name Steel Bow may also refer to a real weapon."
Because Nephi had to fashion a new bow, he must have made it from wood that was available. Potter and Wellington point out that "the traditional wood that Arabs used to make their bows (wood from the Atim tree, or wild olive …) grows in a very limited range high in the mountains just west of the trail near the halt of Bishah."
David Fox observes that while we are told that Nephi broke his bow, we are never told that he broke his arrows. Nevertheless, Nephi informs his readers that he constructed new arrows as well as a bow (1 Nephi 16:23). Why make new arrows? Fox points out that bows must match arrows in weight and stiffness.
"If the arrow is too soft, it will stray or fall short or behave erratically. If the arrow is too stiff, it is probably too heavy … Undoubtedly, Nephi's hand-mad wooden bow would have had nowhere near the strength of his treasured metal bow. He would have needed new arrows."
Also, according to Fox, very little was known of archery in Joseph Smith's day. "As a means of self defense or as a serious method of hunting, archery had gone out of vogue many years before. As a sport, it would not emerge for another 50 years."