Search

This paper seeks to define how far we can associate weapon representations in rock art of northwest Arabia with the technological changes and the artists' perceptions about violence and warfare. In the pursuit of this goal, various representations of weapons and copper alloy weapons from northwest Arabia are discussed with emphases placed on design and use. The rock art representations of bows, daggers, swords, shields and body armours are categorised in respect of their typological features that can be derived from scenes of conflict and hunting. These groupings suggest no detailed typologies can be drawn from the rock imagery of weapons; instead, it is possible entertain only a few typological parallels in respect of the material evidence and imagery from the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia. On the other hand, complex scenes of conflict enable us to explore perceptions about the uses of different types of weapons. Among the twenty-seven examples of complex conflict scenes in my rock art sample, three combinations of weaponry are detected in the setting of combat on foot: (1) bow and dagger, (2) spear and round shield, (3) sword and round shield. These weapon combinations are mostly observed in melee scenes and they reflect versatile combat skills that might have existed or been expected among Pre-Islamic warriors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]