Page 248 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

warfare, origins of 2025

True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub
was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too
little for Alexander. • Charles Caleb Colton
(1780–1832)

New World (for instance, at Becán, Mexico). Moats— mobile catapults) are large-scale artifacts. The chariot
more specifically, the layers of sedimentary deposits played a notorious role in ancient warfare, although
found in a moat—also often contain additional evidence much more so during the subsequent development of
of ancient warfare (artifactual or forensic). A rampart is war than during its origins.
a broad embankment or artificial ridge raised as fortifi- Generic weapons, first developed for hunting, include
cation. It is sometimes, as in Becán, Mexico, surrounded projectiles, bows, spears, bifaces, atlatls, slings, and knives.
by a moat, with bridges across to control access. A baf- Although each of these weapons was used for hunting ani-
fled gate is a protected or concealed entry, the purpose of mals during the foraging (Paleolithic) and Mesolithic era
which is to control access through a flow point. Finally, and, therefore, appeared in the archaeological record prior
a guard house is often part of a baffled gate, or may occur to the emergence of ancient warfare, these weapons were
separately. also commonly used in warfare. Some generic weapons
Originally most of these structures occurred individu- disappeared soon after the appearance of specialized
ally, consistent with a chiefdom-level of political devel- weapons (for instance, the sword replaced cruder forms of
opment. However, as warfare developed in later times, as knives and bifaces), whereas others continued to be used
state-level political complexity emerged, many of these for thousands of years after the appearance of specialized
structures occurred jointly—as in a walled city with baf- weapons (like the spear and the bow and arrow).
fled and guarded gates and moated ramparts, fortified Another common distinction, between short-range
with protruding towers and parapets designed to provide and long-range weapons, misses the sociopolitical di-
overlapping fields of fire against attackers.An impressive mension that is captured by the specialized/generic dis-
New World example of a fortified site with towers that tinction. Short-range weapons can be specialized (for
offered overlapping fields of fire against attacking infantry instance, a mace) or generic (like a knife), as can long-
is in Cahokia, Illinois. Ruling out a long siege or some range weapons. In state-level societies the production of
covert infiltration, such a site could only be successfully weapons for use in warfare was specialized and kept sep-
taken with large-scale assault engines that offered pro- arate from the production of other artifacts, a pattern
tection to assault groups, such as towering and mobile consistent with the more specialized and differentiated
battering-rams or catapults. nature of institutions and elites.

Artifactual Iconographic
The primary form of artifactual evidence for ancient war- Iconographic or pictorial representations of ancient war-
fare consists of weapons.Two types can be distinguished: fare are another source of evidence. The most frequent
specialized (used for combat only) and generic (also occurrences of battle scenes are in murals and in stone,
used for hunting). The mace is arguably the oldest spe- and include warriors with weapons engaged in combat
cialized weapon, having been developed for the primary (for instance, stone bas-reliefs of fortified cities under
purpose of causing a lethal cranial injury. Maces are siege in the Near East), or domination scenes of conquest
found in the earliest iconography of ancient warfare in a postwar context (for example, Maya stelae depicting
throughout the ancient Near East (for example, Narmer a ruler standing on top of defeated enemies or Egyptian
Palette and the Hierakonpolis murals in Egypt; the Stela palettes representing the Pharaoh smiting the van-
of Vultures in Iraq; and the stelae of Ugarit, Syria). Other quished). Some of the earliest rock art in European for-
specialized weapons include axes and swords, as well as aging era caves, particularly in Spain, is also of this
protective bodily gear, such as helmets, shields, and body form, although the scenes depicted sometimes include
armor. Siege engines and other machines built by the first hunting as well as warfare. At present the earliest depic-
military engineers (battering rams, assault towers, and tions of battle scenes, skirmishes and hand-to-hand