In Alma 2:12 we find "bows" mentioned. According to William Hamblin, Book of Mormon critics have maintained that the bow was not used in Mesoamerica before the Middle Classic period (after A.D. 500), several centuries after the earliest mention of the weapon in the Book of Mormon. These critics consider the mention of the bow in the Book of Mormon as a significant historical anachronism.
Although it may be true that the bow was not used by every culture or tribe in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, recent archaeological work and reinterpretation provides good evidence of, as Tolstoy writes, "the limited use of the bow and arrow in central Mexico since early agricultural times" (that is, since well before 600 B.C.). [William J. Hamblin, "The Bow and Arrow in the Book of Mormon," in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, F.A.R.M.S., p. 379]