As general rule of thumb the original purpose of a weapon is always the same. Killing stuff. Throughout history, hunting and warfare have led to novel, whimsical and downright ingenious concepts, designs and technologies, as horrifying in their application as they are awesome in their operation. The aim of this list is to canter through the ten that this writer feels are the most inventive. You will have undoubtedly heard of at least a few of the more commonplace and pedestrian weapons in this article, but hopefully they can be cast in a light that demonstrates how remarkably clever they are.
10. Bows And Slings
I believe these two actually deserve a spot at number one, as they represent one of the most significant developments in history, but it may be a little anti-climactic, considering what is to follow. They have been lumped together not because they are similar but because the principle that they apply is. Slings are likely the oldest projectile weapon around, short of just lobbing stuff at your prospective dinner, and bows are at least eight thousand years old, with evidence implying they could be as much as sixty-four thousand years old. And that's the point, before these weapons we were grubbing around for what we could get our hands on. Trapping and snaring are great but once you've caught dinner you then need to wrestle it into the pot before you can tuck in, which isn't as energy efficient as straight up killing something. Throwing a rock at something doesn't work too well. Even if you have a pretty good arm, it's not easy to get close enough to an animal that you can accurately hit it with a stone, hard enough that you then have a chance to scoff it down before it gets up and runs away or, worst case scenario, mauls you. A sling enables you to twirl a stone around and release it at previously unprecedented velocities. Nail Bambii between the eyes with that and quick as a flash you've got dinner. So there it is, you've used less energy than hurling your rock, and applied a greater force. Once you get on to the bow things are even better. You use your arm muscles to draw back a string and can store the elastic energy as you breathe... take your aim... take your time... and loose. The string snaps back propelling an arrow at a rate of metres per second, with greater accuracy than anything before, which will hopefully slam into your mark bringing it down in an instant. This is an incredible power, even if you didn't kill dinner outright it probably won't get too far before it dies of its wounds. It's not nice but when the choice is between being nice and being fed. Plus, if you're a rubbish hunter you can use your superior projectile weapons to kill your neighbours and take their food. Which leads neatly on to the next point, because of course it can't be ignored that with better ways of killing things to fill your belly comes better ways of waging war. Being able to kill an aggressor, or indeed defender, long before they are able to get to you is a massive advantage. Although a pouch with a couple of bits of cord attached and a flexible stick with some string connecting the ends are crude by today's standards pretty much every advance in projectile weapons since has been to push the boundaries of what was possible before, and it can all be traced back to these two developments. After all, you know what they say "sticks and stones may break my bones, but an arrow to the face will properly mess me up." Or something like that.