Editing Mace (bludgeon) (section)

===Prehistory===
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Egyptian disk macehead 4000-3400 BCE.jpg|thumb|220x220px|Disc-shaped stone macehead, Egypt, [[Amratian culture|Naqada culture]]]]
The mace was developed during the [[Upper Paleolithic]] from the simple [[club (weapon)|club]], by adding sharp spikes of either [[flint]] or [[obsidian]].

In Europe, an elaborately carved ceremonial flint mace head was one of the artifacts discovered in excavations of the [[Neolithic]] mound of [[Knowth]] in Ireland, and [[Bronze Age]] archaeology cites numerous finds of perforated mace heads.

In ancient [[Ukraine]], stone mace heads were first used nearly eight millennia ago. The others known were disc maces with oddly formed stones mounted perpendicularly to their handle. The [[Narmer Palette]] shows a king swinging a mace. See the articles on the [[Narmer Macehead]] and the [[Scorpion Macehead]] for examples of decorated maces inscribed with the names of kings.

[[File:Moche stone mace-heads.jpg|thumb|220px|left|[[Moche (culture)|Moche]] stone maces, [[Larco Museum]], Lima, Peru]]

The problem with early maces was that their stone heads shattered easily and it was difficult to fix the head to the wooden handle reliably. The Egyptians attempted to give them a disk shape in the predynastic period (about 3850–3650&nbsp;BC) in order to increase their impact and even provide some cutting capabilities, but this seems to have been a short-lived improvement.

[[File:Mace head MET vs1985 356 24.jpg|thumb|right|Calcite mace head, 7th–6th millennium BC, [[Syria]]]]

A rounded pear form of mace head known as a "piriform" replaced the disc mace in the Naqada II period of pre-dynastic Upper Egypt (3600–3250&nbsp;BC) and was used throughout the Naqada III period (3250–3100&nbsp;BC). Similar mace heads were also used in Mesopotamia around 2450–1900&nbsp;BC. On a Sumerian Clay tablet written by the scribe Gar.Ama, the title Lord of the Mace is listed in the year 3100&nbsp;BC.<ref>[https://www.schoyencollection.com/scribes-collection/scribal-training/lexical-list-oldest-autograph-ms-2494-4 The Schoyen Collection: MS 2429/4]</ref> The Assyrians used maces probably about nineteenth century BC and in their campaigns; the maces were usually made of stone or marble and furnished with gold or other metals, but were rarely used in battle unless fighting heavily armoured infantry.

An important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle.

The Shardanas or warriors from [[Sardinia]] who fought for [[Ramses II]] against the Hittites were armed with maces consisting of wooden sticks with bronze heads. Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.