During the Paleolithic period (pre-15000 BC), primitive men, such as those now identified as the Pithecanthropus erectus, were little more advanced than the anthropoid ape.
The manner of combat as such primitives must have largely depended on empty handed fighting tactics augmented by such natural objects as sticks and stones.
More highly developed Pleistocene men, too, have been found by archaeological efforts. All these settlers employed instruments, such as hand-axes, which were made of unpolished stone and slightly tapered at one end (by chipping) against another stones.
These crude instruments were probably used without handles or halting to serve as both tools and weapons.Between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (15000-3000 b.c) in the Mesolithic, or transitory period, primitive inhabitants learned to fashion stone implements, sometimes actually sharpening them. Most of the stone implements of this period are ground and polished.Asian continental influences stemming from Indochina, Annam, Laos and possibly upper Burma and as far as India, arrived about Neolithic time.
The bronze culture of the Dong followed and neighboring areas perhaps were also special contributors; it is probable that they gave the use of iron and attendant metallurgical skills to the primitive Malays.
Malay Pre-History
