Th e jian was a straight sword. Th e earliest jian date to the
sixth century b.c.e. Th is weapon was most popular during the
Zhou Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, when famous
sword makers developed their craft to an art form. Aft er the
fi rst century c.e. the warrior’s jian grew less popular than the
dao, which became the preferred combat weapon, especially
of the cavalry. Men still wore jian as part of their ensembles
and as a status symbol, and some warriors continued to use
jian in combat. Martial artists of this time adopted the jian as
a weapon to use in symbolic martial arts.
Th e ji, or halberd, was a sort of combination spear and
sword; it consisted of a long shaft with a bronze point at its
tip and a curved blade parallel to the shaft close to the spear
tip. Sometimes a ji had two blades affi xed opposite each other.
Th e ji could be used for slashing and stabbing, and it could
be wielded by men on foot or in chariots. It was popular dur-
ing the Shang Dynasty (ca. 1500–ca. 1045 b.c.e.) and Zhou
Dynasty. During the Han Dynasty the qiang spear gradually
replaced the ji as the long weapon of choice, relegating the ji
to martial artists.
Crossbows with bronze mechanisms are common in the
archaeological record in China beginning in about 600 b.c.e.
Chinese historians started mentioning crossbows in the fi ft h
century b.c.e. Soldiers used crossbows at the battle of Mal-
ing in 341 b.c.e. During the Han Dynasty the crossbow was
commonly used in infantry battles and also was occasionally
deployed during fi ghting on horseback. Early crossbows were
made of cast bronze parts attached to a wooden frame.
In India the people who lived in the Indus Valley be-
tween 2500 and 1500 b.c.e. made numerous weapons that
they used for war, war games, and hunting. Th e Vedic sacred
texts of this period describe warfare and the weapons that
soldiers were expected to master. Th ese weapons included the
bow and arrow, the discus (the god Krishna was said to be
an expert with the discus), the javelin, the ax, the mace, and
the dagger. Archery, in particular, was highly esteemed as a
soldierly skill. Indian weapons makers were among the fi rst
to build bows out of steel. Indian peoples also used swords in
battle. Th e chariot played an important role in Indian war-
fare. Indian chariots were large, heavy, four-wheeled devices
made of iron and wood and pulled by several horses. Th ey
could carry several soldiers, including a driver, an archer, and
up to fi ve foot soldiers. Th e chariots themselves were heavy
enough to crush enemy soldiers, and the soldiers who rode on
them used the chariots’ height and speed to overpower their
enemies. Indian armies also used elephants in battle starting
in about 150 0 b.c.e. Th e elephants could carry several soldiers
on their backs and were themselves armed with long blades
attached to their tusks.
In Japan during the Jōmon Period (ca. 13,000–ca. 300
b.c.e.) people made simple weapons from chipped and pol-
ished stone, but it was not until the Yayoi Period (ca. 300
b.c.e.–300 c.e.) that people engaged in large-scale organized
warfare. During this time Japanese people began using swords
and spears made of bronze and iron. Japanese weapons of thisperiod are similar to contemporary Chinese weapons, and
historians believe that Japanese weapons makers might have
borrowed bronze- and iron-smelting techniques from China.
Th e basic weapons of spears, slings, clubs, bows and arrows,
and blades were used throughout the Pacifi c region. Austra-
lian aborigines used boomerangs, curved wooden blades that
could be thrown, both for hunting and in warfare. Pacifi c is-
landers made weapons out of locally available materials. In
Hawaii, for example, soldiers used slings to fl ing volcanic
rocks. Th ey made daggers out of swordfi sh spears, hammers
out of stone, and spears with points made of shark teeth.EUROPE
BY CARYN E. NEUMANN
War shaped the ancient world, with weaponry and armor de-
termining the success of the combatants. Th e sheer number
and wide range of military artifacts that have been unearthed
speak of large-scale production and large-scale deposition
of arms and armor in Europe. During the Paleolithic, Me-
solithic, and Neolithic periods weapons generally included
whatever blunt object was close at hand as well as any sharp
object that could be thrown. Skeletons in the Neolithic mass
grave at Talheim in Germany bear the traces of blows from
stone axes on their skulls, and many other skulls in Neolithic
burials also have evidence of blows from hard objects. Some-
times the victim survived to fi ght another day, but oft en these
blows were fatal. Th e bow and arrow was invented during the
Mesolithic, but it was some time before bows were strong and
accurate enough to deliver a lethal shot to a vital organ. More
oft en, a lucky shot would wound the victim, who then would
have to be fi nished off by spear or ax if he had not escaped.
Th e so-called Iceman found frozen in the Alps in 1991 had
an arrowhead lodged in his shoulder, either a fatal wound or
a debilitating injury that contributed to his eventual demise.
He was also carrying a bow (but it was unfi nished, so of no
use to him) and a quiver of arrows as well as a fl int dagger.
During the Copper Age, between about 3500 and 2000
b.c.e., depictions on rock carvings and fi nds of arrowheads
indicate that the bow and arrow had increased in accuracy
and killing power to become apparently the most popular
weapon throughout western and central Europe. Yew and
elm were the favored woods for making bows, while arrow
shaft s were generally made from the straight twigs of hazel.
Bowstrings could have been made from animal sinew, but the
Iceman’s bow had a fl ax string. Arrowheads were oft en made
of fl int, bone, or bronze and were attached to their shaft s with
resin and pitch. Th us, many diff erent raw materials had to be
procured and integrated to make an eff ective bow and arrow.
Some of the metal arrowheads were barbed to infl ict more
substantial wounds. Curiously, arrowheads become less com-
mon aft er about 2000 b.c.e., suggesting that the bow and ar-
row declined in popularity.
Daggers were one of the most popular weapons of the
Bronze Age (2800–700 b.c.e.) and were still in common use1166 weaponry and armor: Europe0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i1166 1166 10/10/07 2:31:18 PM