1166 weaponry and armor: Europe The jian was a straight sword The earliest jian date to the sixth century b.c.e This weapon was most popular during the Zhou Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, when famous sword makers developed their craft to an art form After the first 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 The 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 The ji could be used for slashing and stabbing, and it could be wielded by men on foot or in chariots It was popular during 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 Maling in 341 b.c.e During the Han Dynasty the crossbow was commonly used in infantry battles and also was occasionally deployed during fighting 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 between 2500 and 1500 b.c.e made numerous weapons that they used for war, war games, and hunting The Vedic sacred texts of this period describe warfare and the weapons that soldiers were expected to master These 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 first to build bows out of steel Indian peoples also used swords in battle The chariot played an important role in Indian warfare Indian chariots were large, heavy, four-wheeled devices made of iron and wood and pulled by several horses They could carry several soldiers, including a driver, an archer, and up to five foot soldiers The 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 1500 b.c.e The 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 polished 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 this period are similar to contemporary Chinese weapons, and historians believe that Japanese weapons makers might have borrowed bronze- and iron-smelting techniques from China The basic weapons of spears, slings, clubs, bows and arrows, and blades were used throughout the Pacific region Australian aborigines used boomerangs, curved wooden blades that could be thrown, both for hunting and in warfare Pacific islanders made weapons out of locally available materials In Hawaii, for example, soldiers used slings to fling volcanic rocks They made daggers out of swordfish 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 determining the success of the combatants The 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, Mesolithic, 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 Sometimes the victim survived to fight another day, but often these blows were fatal The 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 often, a lucky shot would wound the victim, who then would have to be finished off by spear or ax if he had not escaped The 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 unfinished, so of no use to him) and a quiver of arrows as well as a flint dagger During the Copper Age, between about 3500 and 2000 b.c.e., depictions on rock carvings and finds 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 shafts were generally made from the straight twigs of hazel Bowstrings could have been made from animal sinew, but the Iceman’s bow had a flax string Arrowheads were often made of flint, bone, or bronze and were attached to their shafts with resin and pitch Thus, many different raw materials had to be procured and integrated to make an effective bow and arrow Some of the metal arrowheads were barbed to inflict more substantial wounds Curiously, arrowheads become less common after about 2000 b.c.e., suggesting that the bow and arrow 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 use