At what point do you call fighting a martial art?
It could have started in a cave where one caveman made fist and hit another caveman with it. If the second caveman was smart he learned to sidestep or block the punches and hit back.
As far as weapons,.... probably when the first caveman picked up a rock to hit the second caveman over the head with it because he kept evading his punches.
Since there are very few written records on martial arts and fighting and warfare is as old as mankind this question is impossible to answer.
I guess, there are three, probably - the oldest Martial arts in the world history: Wrestling, Boxing and Kung Fu...all other present Martial arts are mostly derivatives of these ancient arts of fighting.
1. The origins of Wrestling go back to Stone age - 15 000 years through cave drawings. Later, Babylonian and Egyptian reliefs show wrestlers using most of the holds known in the present-day sport.
2. Boxing evolved from fist fighting. The earliest known depiction of Boxing comes from a Sumerian relief from the 3rd millennium BC. Later depictions from the 2nd millennium BC are found in reliefs from the Mesopotamian nations of Assyria and Babylonia, and in Hittite art from Asia Minor. The earliest evidence for fist fighting with any kind of gloves can be found on Minoan Crete (1500–900 BC), and on Sardinia (2000–1000 BC).
3. Kung Fu originated during the Xia Dynasty, more than 4000 years ago. The earliest written references to Chinese martial arts are found in the Spring and Autumn Annals (5th century BCE), where a hand to hand combat theory, including the integration of notions of "hard" and "soft" techniques, is mentioned. Since ancient Wu-Shu combat systems until today - there are over 300 distinct styles of Kung Fu (not including substyles).
The oldest record record of martial arts is in the bible the second would be a a Greek art. I'll as the name in later.
The earliest recorded occurrence of organized empty-hand fighting is wrestling found in the Beni Hasan tombs in Egypt, dating back well over four millenia:
http://monumentsinegypt.blogspot.com/201...
http://www.athleticscholarships.net/hist...
As for weapons? Hard to tell. The earliest weapons were hunting and farming tools. Perhaps the bow/archery might be the first to have a systemized, human-killing method. Arrow-heads made for killing humans had to have a horizontal relationship to the ground in order to slip between the ribs, as opposed the a vertical relationship needed to hunt four-legged beasts. Archery requires more advanced skills than bludgeoning with a club or stabbing with a spear.
The oldest martial art is of course fist fighting.
Of course Chinese Kung-fu the ancestor of all martial arts
Tan-yam-boo
depends on your definition of a martial art
is it codified?if not i would assume savate
Can you give us more info?
I want the oldest martial art and the oldest martial art from Europe...Bare-handed and with weapon...
