Brief Description:  The Skåne lockbow (or Skane crossbow) is an early, highly utilitarian Scandinavian crossbow. Famous for being the only surviving example of an ordinary, everyday medieval hunting crossbow, original specimens dating to the 16th century were discovered in the 1940s in the moat of the Swedish Skåne (Scania) Castle.

Design & Mechanics:

The Tiller (Stock): Hand-carved from a single piece of wood, often oak, walnut, or cherry. It is typically long in profile, lacking the complex steel bolt clips or short compact designs found on later military crossbows.

The Prod (Bow): The original archaeological prods were crafted from wood, but replicas frequently feature bound-in aluminum covered in rawhide or horn for longevity.

The Lock Mechanism: The defining feature of the weapon. It relies on an incredibly simple, robust push-pin lock. To span the weapon, the archer pulls the bowstring back into a notch carved into the tiller.

The Trigger: It is actuated by a bottom-mounted wooden lever. When pulled, the upper part of the wooden lever forces a peg sharply upward through a hole drilled in the tiller, dislodging the bowstring from its holding notch.