Hunting Warriors: The Transformation of Weapons, Combat Practices and Society during the Bronze Age in Ireland

Abstract

Warfare is increasingly considered to have been a major field of social activity in prehistoric societies, in terms of the infrastructures supporting its conduct, the effects of its occurrence, and its role in symbolic systems. In the Bronze Age many of the weapon forms that were to dominate battlefields for millennia to come were first invented—shields and swords in particular. Using the case study of Ireland, developments in Bronze Age warfare are traced from the Early to the Late Bronze Age. It is argued that during this period there was a move from warfare that made use of projectiles and impact weapons to warfare that used both defensive and cutting weapons. This formed the basis for a fundamental reorganization in combat systems. This in turn stimulated change in the social organization of warfare, including investment in material and training resources for warriors and the development of new bodily techniques reflecting fundamental changes in martial art traditions. Metalwork analysis of bronze weapons and experimental archaeology using replicas of these are used to support this position. The article explores how developments in fighting techniques transformed the sociality of violence and peer-relations among warriors and proposes that these warriors be regarded as a category of craft specialist exerting significant social influence by the Late Bronze Age.

Weapon and tool use during the Nordic Bronze Age

“…As also observed in the Irish material, for example, the size range of spearheads widens around 1500 BC (Molloy, 2017) although in Scandinavia this may happen somewhat earlier during the 16th century BC (Vandkilde, 1996). While there is some deviation in the use-wear between longer and shorter spears during period I that indicates some tendencies and preferences in the combat style depending of weapon form, it cannot be argued that a specialization or strong divergence took place (Horn, 2018).…”

“…Since the edge wear rates seem to remain considerable throughout the Early Bronze Age, slashing may remain an important combat move using spears. Which means that, unlike the Irish spears, there seems to be no process in Scandinavia towards a fighting in more close ranks which culminates in the development of Hoplite warfare in Greece (Molloy, 2017;van Wees, 2004). This means that fighting stays more individualized at least until 1100 BC when the Early Nordic Bronze Age ends.…”

Bronze Age Swordsmanship: New Insights from Experiments and Wear Analysis

“…This view is supported by the wear analysis of archaeological swords, revealing that only four specimens (out of 110) had sustained comparable blade damage. This ties in with the broader archaeological record (Horn 2013;Mödlinger 2011a, b;Molloy 2007Molloy , 2010Molloy , 2011Molloy , 2017Molloy , 2018; see also Burgess and Colquhoun 1988). The bending of swords has been discussed by Kristiansen (2002).…”

“…Other combat stances would have aimed at different body parts. Molloy (2007Molloy ( , 2008Molloy ( , 2017 points out that nearly all Bronze Age swords are suitable for both stabbing Fig. 19 a Striation patterns on the flat side of the blade (replica sword) caused in CWT 01 k (Fig.…”

“…Spearheaded by Keeley's seminal monograph War before Civilization (1996), and aided by the new cultural and political milieu that followed the end of the Cold War, archaeologists and anthropologists have increasingly turned their attention to the nature and social significance of sanctioned aggression and warfare (Fry 2013;Otterbein 1997Otterbein , 2004. In the field of European Bronze Age studies, this novel disciplinary interest has intersected longstanding research strands investigating warrior burials, hoarding practices, fortified settlements, martial imagery on rock art, osteological markers of injury, and weapon studies Horn and Kristiansen 2018;Kristiansen 2018;Kristiansen and Larsson 2005;Kristiansen and Suchowska-Ducke 2015;Molloy 2017;Vandkilde 2013). The latter had long focused on one of the most iconic inventions of the Bronze Age world: the sword.…”