Looking at it another way, the BOW as such could well develope from the very long wooden plectra that were used on ancient North African LYRES. With such a thing it is possible to 'bow' a string, much as one may 'bow' a violin using the wood of the bow. The Korean Kyagum was also played with a resined stick rather than a haired 'bow' as such. Certainly the earliest instruments we see being played with a bow in Medieval iconography are lyres rather than lute-types (fiddles) & the Bowed Lyre tradition endured in Northern Europe from the middle-ages into the 19th century with such folk instruments as the Talharp, Jouhikko (horse hair strings bowed with horse hair) and Crwth, all of which have seen significant revival & reinvention in recent years. I might note here that the Karandeniz Kemence has steel strings played with a bow of silk threads. I also note that whilst I customarily shred horse hair bows on my fiddle, not one strand of silk have I snapped in 6 years of Kemence playing.