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How can we tell whether and how a prehistoric weapon was used? How can we better understand the dexterity and combat skills involved in Bronze Age spear fighting?

A research team including scientists from Göttingen University presents a new approach to answering these questions: They simulated the actual fight step-by-step to get new insights into fighting styles and the formation of marks on the weapons. In addition, they took into account how these marks change over time. Their findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Studying Bronze Age spear fighting helps researchers better understand battle strategies and the development of weapons. Experimental methods can be used to investigate how spears interact with different materials as well as how the marks form and what they mean. For this reason, the team constructed replicas of Bronze Age spears and used them in realistic combat scenarios to see how the spearheads reacted against metal blades, wooden shafts and shields. The researchers also used animal tissues to mimic the human body.

The team used knowledge pooled from previous research to develop this reliably repeatable method to better understand the dynamics of combat and the formation of marks on the weapons. These experiments make it possible to examine the type and frequency of collisions in spear fighting, and for the first time, show how impact marks on spears develop over time.

Experiment with experienced fighters who spar freely using different styles. From top to bottom: one-handed spear and shield, two-handed spear with binding, two-handed spear strike. Credit: Journal of Archaeological Science (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2024.106044

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