Evolution of Weapons
400,000 BC – Spears
The earliest evidence of humans using spears is in a part of Germany now near Schöningen. However, one population of modern chimpanzees in Senegal uses spears to hunt bushbabies, suggesting the technology may have been used by our most primitive ancestors.
40,000 to 25,000 BC – Dart
The atlatl sometimes dubbed the Stone Age Kalashnikov, throws a flexible dart that can kill a deer at 40 meters. Developed in northern Africa, it spreads throughout the world.
23,000 BC – Boomerang
Boomerangs are strongly associated with Australia’s Aboriginal people but were used as hunting weapons throughout Europe and Africa. Most boomerangs do not come back when thrown.
The oldest boomerang yet, 23,000 years, was made from a mammoth tusk and discovered in a cave in Poland.
20,000 BC – Bows and arrows
The earliest arrowheads date from this time, suggesting that bows and arrows were in use. Some believe they were invented much earlier, pointing to a single 60,000-year-old stone that may or may not be an arrowhead.
A thorough analysis of projectile points from archaeological digs around the world suggests that projectile weapons were not in widespread use before 50,000 years ago.
5000 BC – Daggers and Swords
The Bronze Age enables the development of the first metal daggers and later swords.
By 1000 BC, swords were intertwined with Celtic mythology and ritual in Britain, reflecting their importance in society. Perhaps echoed by the Excalibur myth, swords are ceremonially placed in rivers, possibly as offerings to gods.
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