Battles & Wars › Prehistory & first cities › Spear: the oldest weapon
Club and mace
clubs far older; stone maceheads by c. 6000 BC· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
A heavy striking weapon: first a plain wooden club, then a handle topped with a shaped stone or cast metal head.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Clubs leave little trace but are surely among the first weapons. By about 6000 BC Near Eastern villagers were drilling stone heads to fit on handles, making the mace. The Nahal Mishmar hoard in Israel, buried about 5,500–6,000 years ago, holds some 240 maceheads, most of cast copper. Egypt's early kings were pictured raising maces over enemies, as on the Narmer Palette. Helmets made maces less effective and axes largely replaced them, but flanged metal maces returned against medieval armor.
Why it matters
The mace became a lasting symbol of authority, from the pharaohs to the ceremonial maces of modern parliaments. Its story also shows the arms race between weapons and armor.
How we know
Stone and copper maceheads from excavations across the Near East, the Nahal Mishmar hoard, Egyptian art such as the Narmer Palette, and wooden clubs preserved at Tollense in Germany.
Still debated
How often early maces were real battle weapons rather than status symbols is unclear; many surviving heads look ceremonial.
Connections (3)
▸Narmer and the unification of Egypt is pictured smiting foes with a Club and maceWell documented
The connection
On the Narmer Palette the king raises a pear-shaped mace over a kneeling enemy. This smiting scene became the standard image of a pharaoh's power for 3,000 years, and carved ceremonial maceheads were made for Egypt's earliest kings, including Narmer and the 'Scorpion King'.
When and how
Hierakonpolis, Upper Egypt, about 3100 BC; found by James Quibell and Frederick Green in 1897–98.
How we know
The palette and ceremonial maceheads survive, in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Debates and open questions
Whether the scene shows a real event or a symbolic victory is debated; many think it is symbolic.
▸Club and mace returned as the flanged mace against Plate armorMostly agreed
The connection
Swords skidded off plate, so fighters turned to concussion and punching weapons. The flanged mace, with metal ridges around its head, could dent armor and stun the wearer through it. War hammers and poleaxes served the same purpose, reviving a prehistoric idea in steel.
When and how
Europe, from the 1300s into the 1500s; flanged maces carried by knights and cavalry.
How sure are we?
Surviving maces and war hammers in armories, fencing manuals of the period, battle accounts, and dented armor in museum collections.
Debates and open questions
How well maces worked against good plate, beyond stunning, is debated; many fights were likely ended by thrusts into gaps once a man was down.
▸First metalsmiths: copper smelting and bronze casting cast copper heads for the Club and maceWell documented
The connection
Some of the first metal weapons were maceheads. Early smiths cast copper heads by the lost-wax method: model in wax, coat in clay, melt out the wax, then pour in metal. The Nahal Mishmar hoard holds about 240 maceheads, most of them cast copper.
When and how
Southern Levant, about 4000–3500 BC; the Nahal Mishmar hoard was found in a Judean Desert cave in 1961.
How we know
Metal analysis of the hoard, radiocarbon dating of the reed mat that wrapped it, and similar maceheads from other sites of the period.
Debates and open questions
Whether these maceheads were weapons, symbols of rank or temple objects is debated; many seem ceremonial.