Halberds
1. The Meaning of the Innovation
Link Halberds made from copper alloys start to appear in the first half of the fourth millennium BC. Their particular construction of a blade shaped like a dagger but usually larger in all dimensions fixed to a handle in axe-like fashion makes them excellent weapons. Wear analyses confirm that they were indeed used as such. Long before the arrival of swords, the halberd is the first specialized weapon produced in metal in Europe. Most of the halberds ended their use-life in ritual contexts, i.e. in single depositions, hoards or graves. Settlement finds are the exception. This demonstrates that halberds were linked to spheres of ritual and high status.
Link The impact that the innovation of halberds had on the trajectory of European (Pre-) History cannot be overestimated. Already in the fourth millennium BC they appear in rich hoards (e.g. Velehrad Rákoš, Czechia), in burials (e.g. Rinaldone Culture) and on rock art (e.g. French and Italian Alps). In the burials, halberds accompany deceased that are over-equipped with weaponry. In grave 3 in the necropolis in Rinaldone the dead was buried not just with a halberd but three daggers, two axes, two mace-heads and over twenty large arrow-heads were also in the grave. Similar over-equipment is expressed on stelea in the Italian Alps especially in Valtellina and Valcamonica for example at a site called Corni Freshci with nine halberd engravings all belonging to the same type. Over-equipment (“Überausstattung”) emphasises identity based on the functionality of the multiplied objects in this case weaponry.
Link Weapons in graves are usually interpreted as part of a warrior identity displayed in the burial. The emphasis added by the over-equipment indicates an identity of “great warriors” or even warlords in the sense that they may be the ones furnishing other with weaponry for raids or received the weapons of their warrior fealty. Combat wear on the halberds and examples of violent deaths such as Ötzi or the individual in the grave from Villafranca Veronese demonstrate that this identity was based on actual fighting. Being a specialized weapon, training was necessary to wield it efficiently in combat because they demanded movements that were not possible to pick up in daily work. This means halberds do not only represent an improved way to hurt and kill other human beings. In a wider context, the innovation of the halberd set the stage for an emerging warrior ideology and warrior elite to find a symbol to display their exclusive status. Thus, it was the innovation of the halberd that prepared the grounds for an elevation of the warriors to become social elites. The material properties of the metal and the danger linked to deadly weapons allowed for other links to the ritual sphere such as liminal offerings or the connection of warriors to different forms of sun-cults that may also be indicated in the Alpine rock art.
Link In this sense, halberds are the forebears of the swords of the Bronze Age because many parallels can be drawn. Swords too are only rarely found in settlements and more often in ritual contexts. They are also frequently depicted in rock art in Europe. Wear analysis demonstrates that swords were also frequently used in combat. In some regions a more or less direct transition from halberds to swords can be observed during the first half of the second millennium BC for example on the Iberian Peninsula and in Scandinavia. From this, it is possible to conclude that halberds enabled the adoption of the innovation sword in many regions in Europe. That means halberds made it possible for swords and the warrior to become the iconic symbols of the European Bronze Age because essential features such as the use of specialized weaponry or a warrior ideology were already in place and did not need to be established too .
2. The Foundations of the Innovation
Despite its important influence on the trajectory of European prehistoric weaponry, warfare and warriorhood, as an innovation, halberds are not overly complex. Groups acquainted with axes and daggers could come up with such an idea, because they would have known about the piercing qualities of daggers and the power generated by an axe. The worldwide spread of various forms of so-called war-picks and similar weapons support that notion. That such an innovation was made without trigger, need or a context of prerequisites. Anthony Harding argued that fortifications are a prerequisite of warfare, but rather an outcome. In a similar sense, it can be said that halberd did not make warfare, but it may be assumed that combat, violent interaction and even warfare existed and provided the prerequisite to develop an innovation like the halberd. From that follows that there were individuals engaging in such encounters as fighters although they may not have used that fact to distinguish themselves socially. However, as soon as they appear in ritual contexts halberds had already reached an important social standing and presumably so did those who used them.
Link Due to their similar form, halberds and daggers can be difficult to separate. To mollify these problems a polythetic classification model was developed. According to this, halberds are enlarged in all dimensions, have considerable mid-ribs, and are asymmetrical in shape, construction and wear. These are the major features. In a polythetic classification not all features have to be present, but the more features make the interpretation likelier. In line with this scheme, a number of early blades in the surroundings of the Little Carpathians so far interpreted as daggers. Exemplary for this group is the blade from Velehrad Rákoš, Czechia which is compared to other blades longer, wider and thicker. It also shows a distinct asymmetry in shape and the setup of the rivet holes demonstrates a considerably asymmetric construction. The hoard contains apart from the halberd two square chisels.
Link This assemblage is difficult to date but it seems to point to a phase parallel to the later Bodrogkeresztur Culture. Such a dating is supported by a hoard with a dagger blade of similar shape to the halberd from Velehrad Rákoš discovered in Male Lévare. Halberds from the chalcolithic cultures in Italy are more securely identified and to date. Burial contexts and the radiocarbon dates suggest that they start to be put in graves from the beginning of the second half of the fourth millennium BC. Halberds are deposited until the beginning of the first half of the third millennium BC before they reappear in the later part of the third millennium BC in a changed form. On the Iberian Peninsula, a number of blades has been discovered in Los Millares contexts that could be halberds, but most of them are rather small.
Link From the inception of the Early Bronze Age El Argar culture in the second half of the third millennium BC halberds are a regular part of the male burial set. At the same time, the deposition of halberds on the British Isles picks up, on Ireland mainly as single depositions and in Scotland mainly in monotype hoards. In the Unetice culture, halberds were put in burials, hoards and single depositions. It appears that the deposition of halberds ends in the Unetice culture before 1800 BC and on the Iberian Peninsula somewhat later.
Link There is sporadic evidence that some halberd blades were reused as daggers until the Middle Bronze Age (e.g. Rhede, Germany) or kept as heirlooms until even later times as the hoard from Stoke Ferry, GB indicates.
3. A Chronological Outline of the Innovation
Link Especially in the fourth millennium, halberds appear to be isolated occurrences. However, two observations are advising against a premature judgement that they were rare objects. The aforementioned rock art in Corni Freschi shows nine halberds in one place of a type for that only seven or eight copper halberds have been discovered on the entire Apennine Peninsula within an about 6-700 year long time period. The closeness and the similarity of the depictions in Corni Freschi suggest that they were made within a very short period. A similar observation has been made for a flint halberd type. Ten to eleven carvings of that type can be identified but only one halberd of that type has been discovered in a grave in Spilamberto. In a recent publication, the view on halberds has been widened to include halberds and halberd-like objects, and some supposed gaps in the distribution of the fourth millennium closed. In southern Scandinavia and northern Germany only one copper halberd from Gotland can vaguely be placed in the fourth millennium BC based on typology and material. However, including thick flint blades that have been interpreted as halberds before made this region a hotspot for halberds in the fourth and early third millennium BC. The number of these flint halberds are hard to estimate because 90 % of the chisels in this region may be reworked flint halberds but it is clear that there are well over a hundred pieces.
4. The Diffusion and Boundaries of the Innovation
Link While it is hard to identify boundaries and limits of the distribution of the innovation halberd because it strongly depends on their ritual use, it is easier to find limits for their ultimate deposition. In some regions, these ritual boundaries are rather distinct. For example, in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula halberd are discovered in graves, hoards are entirely absent.
Link In the north-west, monotype hoards dominate which few single depositions. The ritual boundary between Ireland and Scotland mentioned above is even more pronounced because there is little difference between both regions in terms of typology at least for the later phase of halberd use.
Link From this, it is possible to conclude that while there were perhaps many more halberds in use in prehistory, there may have been strict rules when and how to deposit a halberd. In case of burials, perhaps not everyone was deemed fit to receive a halberd as gift. Theoretically, there could be regions in which customs dictated that halberd ought not to be sacrificed. Such region would of course look archaeologically like regions in which halberds were not in use at all.
5. How Did the Innovation Spread?
Link Approximately 710 copper alloy halberds are known within a period of almost 2000 years and an area including Southern, Western and Central Europe. Altogether, that does not appear to be many. However, based on the following observations it can be argued that halberds were much more prevalent:
- almost exclusive occurrence in ritual contexts
- rock art indicates that higher volumes of halberds must have been in use the
- innovation of halberd-like weapons can be adopted in other material forms
The question then is what caused this far spread adoption?
It has been demonstrated by wear analysis that halberds were efficient weapons and the contextual study shows that they gained social and ritual significance. It is reasonable to assume that both observations are linked and to conclude that halberds gained their status by being used as weapons and possibly by being – for a time – superior to other possible close-combat weapons like daggers or axes. Warfare and combat could not only be the purpose and prerequisite for the existence of the halberd as innovation it could also be its “carrier”.
The imminent threat to life and livelihood that represents if a neighbour and potential enemy has such a weapon may make communities adopt and adapt it quickly to level any disadvantage. In an attempt to gain their own advantage, we may assume that communities developed the technology and evolved the fighting styles which may in the have helped the emergence of swords and spears.
Another factor that may have contributed to the quick adoption of halberds and their longevity is that they were a fitting symbol for warriors to distinguish themselves expressing ideals of power, strength and possibly fierceness. Individuals desiring to express the same ideals may have started to wear and use halberds. This could explain the emergence of halberds with metal hafting and blade cast in one in the Unetice region. These halberds possess considerably less use wear and could have served more of a symbolic function (for example the metal hilted halberd from Bossee). In a similar fashion, old used halberd blades that were perhaps before hafted with wood were cast on metal haftings (for example in the Dieskau II hoard) which could be interpreted as honouring old halberd blades that were used in many or special battles. Both phenomena date to the end of the use of copper alloy halberds in Europe.
6. Further Reading
S. P. Ó'Ríordáin, The halberd in Bronze Age Europe. A study in prehistoric origins, evolution, distribution, and chronology. Archaeologia 86, 1937, 195–321.
L. H. Barfield, The earliest european halberds. Origini 1969, 67–83.
D. Brandherm, Porteurs de hallebardes? Überlegungen zur Herkunft, Entwicklung und Funktion der bronzezeitlichen Stabklingen. Varia neolithica III. Beitrage zur Ur—und Frühgeschichte Mitteleuropas 37, 2004, 279–334.
C. Horn, Studien zu den europäischen Stabdolchen. Universitätsforschungen zur Prähistorischen Archäologie 246 (Bonn 2014).
S. P. Needham, A hafted halberd excavated at Trecastell, Powys. From undercurrent to uptake-the emergence and contextualisation of halberds in Wales and north-west Europe. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 81, 2015, 1–41.
C. Horn/T. Schenck, Zum Ursprung der Stabdolche und stabdolchartiger Waffen in Europa. Praehistorische Zeitschrift 91, 1, 2016, 16–41.
7. How do I cite this map?
C. Horn, Stabdolche / Halberds. In: S. Hansen, J. Renn, F. Klimscha & J. Büttner, Der Digitale Atlas der Innovationen (Berlin 2012-2017).
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