Weapons Of The Stone Age Period
When mankind started using his hunting tools as weapons, a new chapter was opened and that was the start of his journey into violent warfare. Weapons used in early battlefields included, axes and hand-blades made curved from stone and used against enemies and other humans.
There was a thin line for generations between hunting implements and weapons. With the handle's invention and projectile weapons development as the spear, atlatls, and the bow and arrow, a Paleolithic revolution in hunting and fighting commenced.
Prehistoric peoples employed a lethal and exotic array of Stone Age weapons to defeat their enemies on the battlefield. For many primeval warriors, their best Stone Age weapons were stones, stone clubs, stone axes, stone blades, spears, atlatls, and bows and arrows.
Stones Were the First Weapons
Stones were probably mankind's first weapon along with his and her hands, feet, and teeth. Large stones were used to kill people and large animals, while small stones were thrown at the enemy during small battlefield clashes in the Paleolithic Era.
Neanderthal people used large stones to kill wholly mammoths and other large herbivores for food, while Cro-Magnons used small stones to kill people and animals from a distance.
Stone Clubs
A stone club was a very dangerous weapon in the hands of a skilled warrior. Stone clubs were probably the primary weapons employed by warriors against their enemy before the technological evolution of wooden clubs, stone hand held axes, stabbing spears, and swords.
Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon peoples fought with these weapons against their enemies. Paleolithic people invented the stone club about 500,000 BCE, according to modern archaeologists.
Stone Hand Axes
Stone hand axes were one of the primary stone tools of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic Epoch. This kind of weapon was typical of the lower Paleolithic and the middle Paleolithic and is the longest-used tool of human history. Stone hand axes were shaped to provide both cutting edges and sharp points.
Although hand axes were essentially domestic tools, they were capable of inflicting savage wounds against people. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon warriors employed these deadly weapons against each other during occasional Paleolithic clashes. Stone Hand axes have been around since 250,000 BCE, according to modern archeologists.
Stone Blades
Paleolithic blades were used for cutting the animals and people. Paleolithic warriors used stone blades, dating back many generations, to dismember animals and humans that had been killed during battle. Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon people designed many stone blades that were capable of cutting muscle and severing the skin from the animal's flesh.
The serrated flint knife was developed from simple flint blades and daggers. The knife's teeth facilitate a sawing capability and provide Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon people the opportunity to cut deep into bones and gristle. Serrated flint knives were usually about 20 centimeters in length and they have been around since 500,000 BCE, according to modern archeologists.
Spear
The spear is a pole weapon with a sharp point, either thrown or thrust at an enemy or prey. It appears in an almost infinite variety of forms in primitive societies around the world. At first the spear was just a sharpened stick. After a little while people made spearheads from a sharpened rock. Sometimes people used bones, too. Primitive peoples used spears primarily as throwing weapons.
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