mace

weapon

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history of military technology

  • Red Army
    In military technology: The earliest military weapons

    …purposely as offensive weapons were maces dating from the Chalcolithic Period or early Bronze Age. The mace was a simple rock, shaped for the hand and intended to smash bone and flesh, to which a handle had been added to increase the velocity and force of the blow.

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club, a heavy stick, sometimes with a stone or metal head, used as a hand or throwing weapon and usually shaped or selected with an outer end wider and heavier than its handle. Among traditional societies, special designs often characterize particular tribes. Police continue to employ narrow clubs known as truncheons, nightsticks, or billies in controlling prisoners and crowds. These are sometimes made with lead cores. See also mace.

This article was most recently revised and updated by William L. Hosch.