About 30,000 Slings, arrows, and atlatls (Nahuatl; spear throwers) are
years ago developed.
About 9500 B.C. Metal is refined.
About 8000 B.C. Self-bows appear. (A self-bow is a bow made from a single
piece of wood.)
About 7250 B.C. Walled towns appear.
About 5500 B.C. Copper tools appear.
About 4000 B.C. Compound bows appear. (A compound bow is one that is
made from more than one piece of wood or of material other
than wood. Examples include horn and sinew glued together.)
About 3127 B.C. According to Indian texts written during the sixth century B.C.,
the god-man Krishna is born at Mathura, in Uttar Pradesh. Sto-
ries describing the life of Lord Krishna report that he some-
times engaged in wrestling matches.
About 2700 B.C. Britons begin making and using yew bows. Although made
from a single piece of wood, and therefore technically self-
bows, these weapons were actually compound bows, as the
wood from which they were made was carefully selected to in-
clude both sapwood and heartwood. (The flexible sapwood
was used for the back of the bow, while the denser heartwood
was used for its belly.)
2697 B.C. According to documents written between the sixth century B.C.
and the third century A.D., Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor,
rules China. Huang Di was subsequently credited with invent-
ing many things, including Daoism (Taoism), archery,
wrestling, swordsmanship, and football.
About 2300 B.C. Friezes on the walls of a tomb in Saqqara, Egypt, show youths
wrestling. Other friezes on the same tombs also show boys in
light tunics boxing with bare fists and fencing with papyrus
stalks, perhaps in the context of playing soldier.
About 1950 B.C. The world’s oldest wrestling manual appears as frescoes on the
walls of four separate tombs built near Beni Hasan, Egypt.
About 1829 B.C. According to the twelfth century A.D. Irish Book of Invasions,
the Tailltenn Games are established near modern Telltown, Ire-
land. These games featured singing, wrestling, and racing; took
place about August 1; and commemorated Tailltu, the mother
of a pre-Christian sun god named Lugh (pronounced “Lew,”
but nonetheless sometimes anglicized as Lammas).
About 1520 B.C. A fresco made on the Aegean island of Thera shows boys boxing.
787Chronological History
of the Martial Arts