The basic tasks a weapon must perform have not changed since ancient times. Most weapons do one or more of the following:
1. Austrate pressure: the sharp end of a broken stone or pointed stick will apply more force per unit area, and do more harm, than the blunt end. A material's hardness determines its ability to apply or resist pressure.
2. Store energy: an object accumulates kinetic energy as a person accelerates it, and releases this energy in a much shorter time frame upon impact, thus magnifying a person's power.
3. Project force: a thrown rock or long stick allows a person to affect an adversary from a distance.
4. Position or Placement: can utilize any of the following three main tasks; Concentrate pressure, Store energy or Project force. A positioned or placed weapon can inflict injury or death without being physically handled by a user. A Caltrop is an example of such a weapon, where pressure is applied at a concentrated point if it is stepped on or fallen upon. There are also a variety of mechanical traps that either project force or store energy via projectiles, such as crossbows or bows. For example, a trip wire may be used with a crossbow - when an object applies pressure to the trip wire, a signal is sent to the crossbow which releases the stored energy from the bowstring into a crossbow bolt, which in turn fires the projectile at the object.
As shown by the preceding examples, even simple items such as rocks and sticks often perform these functions better than the human body. The usefulness of such tools made their development of paramount importance for early small, sparse communities of hunter-gatherers. The first known traces of weapons are from the stone age with flint knives, handaxes and heads for large darts. There is no evidence for handaxes being thrown, but very good evidence for them having been used to butcher animals. Instead, darts seem to have been a powerful projectile weapon: anthropologists have thrown reconstructed darts through several inches of oak using atlatls. The broad, leaf-shaped heads penetrate deeply, and easily cut arteries.
Some weapons are probably much older than the dart, although little early evidence for them exists. These include the sling and the spear. Even though these weapons are quite simple, they were a major military weapon at least until Roman times; a unit of fast-moving skirmishers could be equipped with them at very little cost. Lack of early evidence is understandable, as slings are prone to decay, and it would be difficult to prove that a particular stone has been used as ammunition. Similarly, there is less incentive to put a Solid stone point onto a spear than a dart. A weighted spear point is a liability rather than an asset, and the greater momentum imparted by stabbing makes sharpness less critical than toughness, so that points of bone, antler, or even fire-hardened wood can make more effective spear points. Once metal became available, its toughness made spears and pikes the core of most infantry forces.
Some of the earliest evidence for arrows are from ca. 20,000 BC in the Levant (the so-called 'Geometric Kebaran' period), made with several very small sharp pieces of stone embedded in an arrowshaft. Here again, far earlier examples may have been subject to decay: for instance, some cultures make weighted arrow points by cutting a hollow reed diagonally and filling the end segment with clay.
Archery and swords have been crucial for warfare. Archery, because of the large amount of energy that can be easily stored and released using a bow, and short swords because of their lethality in close combat. Far greater energy can be stored in a composite bow than a wooden bow of the same weight due to clever mechanical design and choice of materials, but militarily such weapons were mostly limited to use in dry climates. Traditional designs are held together by animal glue (chemically similar to gelatin); moisture would weaken the glue and damage bows of this design. The long bow makes up for less exotic materials with its larger size. In another tradeoff, short swords can be optimized for either thrusting or cutting; the former focuses on pressure, the latter on energy. The gladius hispaniensis could slip through openings in armor, and Roman doctrine held that a stab wound as shallow as one inch could be lethal. The hatchet-like Greek kopis, by contrast, seems built to dismember, but its point-heavy balance might make it clumsy against comprehensive armor.
The most effective defense to traditional weapons was a fortress. The doctrines to support fortresses in the age of edged weapons may have greatly influenced medieval and noble history. Medieval siege weapons were used in countervailing doctrines, but the stave-sling and even the bow often had superior range, making them unsafe to use.
1. Austrate pressure: the sharp end of a broken stone or pointed stick will apply more force per unit area, and do more harm, than the blunt end. A material's hardness determines its ability to apply or resist pressure.
2. Store energy: an object accumulates kinetic energy as a person accelerates it, and releases this energy in a much shorter time frame upon impact, thus magnifying a person's power.
3. Project force: a thrown rock or long stick allows a person to affect an adversary from a distance.
4. Position or Placement: can utilize any of the following three main tasks; Concentrate pressure, Store energy or Project force. A positioned or placed weapon can inflict injury or death without being physically handled by a user. A Caltrop is an example of such a weapon, where pressure is applied at a concentrated point if it is stepped on or fallen upon. There are also a variety of mechanical traps that either project force or store energy via projectiles, such as crossbows or bows. For example, a trip wire may be used with a crossbow - when an object applies pressure to the trip wire, a signal is sent to the crossbow which releases the stored energy from the bowstring into a crossbow bolt, which in turn fires the projectile at the object.
As shown by the preceding examples, even simple items such as rocks and sticks often perform these functions better than the human body. The usefulness of such tools made their development of paramount importance for early small, sparse communities of hunter-gatherers. The first known traces of weapons are from the stone age with flint knives, handaxes and heads for large darts. There is no evidence for handaxes being thrown, but very good evidence for them having been used to butcher animals. Instead, darts seem to have been a powerful projectile weapon: anthropologists have thrown reconstructed darts through several inches of oak using atlatls. The broad, leaf-shaped heads penetrate deeply, and easily cut arteries.
Some weapons are probably much older than the dart, although little early evidence for them exists. These include the sling and the spear. Even though these weapons are quite simple, they were a major military weapon at least until Roman times; a unit of fast-moving skirmishers could be equipped with them at very little cost. Lack of early evidence is understandable, as slings are prone to decay, and it would be difficult to prove that a particular stone has been used as ammunition. Similarly, there is less incentive to put a Solid stone point onto a spear than a dart. A weighted spear point is a liability rather than an asset, and the greater momentum imparted by stabbing makes sharpness less critical than toughness, so that points of bone, antler, or even fire-hardened wood can make more effective spear points. Once metal became available, its toughness made spears and pikes the core of most infantry forces.
Some of the earliest evidence for arrows are from ca. 20,000 BC in the Levant (the so-called 'Geometric Kebaran' period), made with several very small sharp pieces of stone embedded in an arrowshaft. Here again, far earlier examples may have been subject to decay: for instance, some cultures make weighted arrow points by cutting a hollow reed diagonally and filling the end segment with clay.
Archery and swords have been crucial for warfare. Archery, because of the large amount of energy that can be easily stored and released using a bow, and short swords because of their lethality in close combat. Far greater energy can be stored in a composite bow than a wooden bow of the same weight due to clever mechanical design and choice of materials, but militarily such weapons were mostly limited to use in dry climates. Traditional designs are held together by animal glue (chemically similar to gelatin); moisture would weaken the glue and damage bows of this design. The long bow makes up for less exotic materials with its larger size. In another tradeoff, short swords can be optimized for either thrusting or cutting; the former focuses on pressure, the latter on energy. The gladius hispaniensis could slip through openings in armor, and Roman doctrine held that a stab wound as shallow as one inch could be lethal. The hatchet-like Greek kopis, by contrast, seems built to dismember, but its point-heavy balance might make it clumsy against comprehensive armor.
The most effective defense to traditional weapons was a fortress. The doctrines to support fortresses in the age of edged weapons may have greatly influenced medieval and noble history. Medieval siege weapons were used in countervailing doctrines, but the stave-sling and even the bow often had superior range, making them unsafe to use.
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