Very simple weapon use has been observed among chimpanzees, leading to speculation that early hominids began their first use of weapons as early as five million years ago. These would have been wooden clubs, spears, and unshaped stones—none of which would leave an unambiguous record.
The earliest unambiguous weapons are:
- Eight wooden throwing spears, the Schöninger Speere, dated to around 400,000 years old.
- By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points.
- The oldest atlatl dates back to 27,000 years ago.
- Throwing sticks are also some of the earliest types of weapons.