purely because of tradition. It is hard tofind other armies in any time or
place with a similar weapon. Even Swiss halberds soon gave way to the
pike in medieval Europe (except in their current, symbolic, use at the
Vatican). It is possible that the Chinese halberd was a hybrid or transi-
tional weapon between the dagger-axe and the spear.
Weapon design and choice is not an esoteric archaeological question
with respect to the martial arts. I have already discussed the fundamentally
conservative nature of martial arts and, by extension, weapons. We do not
know how these weapons were actually used in combat, but their design
and the trajectory of weapons use is suggestive. While the infantry were
shifting to halberds and spears, for example, chariot-borne warriors car-
ried longer hafted dagger-axes with multiple heads for a swiping attack.
This might be an indication that chariots were searching for a new way of
fighting infantry, or perhaps forfighting other chariots. As battles grew
larger and longer, continuing beyond an individual chariot’s arrow supply,
some new effective combat system had to be created if the chariots were to
retain any relevance.
Once battles were no longer duels between aristocrats, the chariot
archer’s days were numbered. Even long hafted halberds or dagger-axes
would have been ineffective against massed infantry. Close combat for
chariot-borne warriors was now conducted with swords, not dagger-axes,
and took place after thefighters dismounted from the chariot. It would
have been nearly impossible to strike someone with a sword while leaning
out of a moving chariot, if for no other reason than concerns about tilting
the vehicle and overturning it. A spear would also be mostly ineffective
from the moving car of a chariot for reasons of reach and recoil. Even if one
could spear someone to the side as one passed, the shock might knock you
from the chariot. The main function of a spear for a chariot-borne warrior
would be to fend off infantry who tried to approach. Changes in weapons,
army composition, and tactics, left chariots struggling for relevance.
The shift from dagger-axe to sword, and dagger-axe to halberd and then
spear, was a remarkable shift in martial arts. Masses of infantry couldfight
effectively standing in close ranks using the spear point facing out, where
before they would have needed more space to wield dagger-axes effec-
tively. Soldiers were now trained tofight with the points of their weapons
rather than by hacking at an individual. Hand-to-hand combat may have
shifted from a more individual practice to a more group-oriented practice.
The vestigial dagger-axe point was now a holdover from a different mode
offighting and a different class of warriors. Dagger-axes harked back to
individualfighting between aristocrats.
44 The Warring States Period