Although the earliest evidence of martial arts goes back millennia, the true roots are difficult to reconstruct. Inherent patterns of human aggression which inspire practice of mock combat, combat sports, and optimization of serious close combat as cultural universals are doubtlessly inherited from the pre-human stage and were made into an "art" from the earliest emergence of that concept. Indeed, many universals of martial art are fixed by the specifics of human physiology and not dependent on a specific tradition or era.

Specific martial traditions become identifiable in Classical Antiquity, with disciplines such as shuai jiao, Greek wrestling or those described in the Indian epics or the Spring and Autumn Annals of China.

Early history

The earliest evidence for specifics of martial arts as practiced in the past comes from depictions of fights, both in figurative art and in early literature, besides analysis of archaeological evidence, especially of weaponry. The oldest work of art depicting scenes of battle, dating back 3400 BC,World grappling styles . Retrieved 2013-06-22. was the Ancient Egyptian paintings showing some form of struggle.Iwona Czerwinska Pawluk and Walery Zukow (2011). Humanities dimension of physiotherapy, rehabilitation, nursing and public health. p. 21 Dating back to 3000 BC in Mesopotamia (Babylon), reliefs and the poems depicting struggle were found. In Vietnam, drawings and sketches from 2879 BCE describe certain ways of combat using sword, stick, bow, and spears.

The spear has been in use since the Lower Paleolithic and retained its central importance well into the 2nd millennium AD. The bow appears in the Upper Paleolithic and is likewise only gradually replaced by the crossbow, and eventually firearms, in the Present Day. True bladed weapons appear in the Neolithic with the stone axe, and diversify in shape in the course of the Bronze Age (khopesh/kopis, sword, dagger)

Wrestling is the oldest form of combat sport, and while its foundational origins lie in global prehistory, different styles of wrestling were created independently and practiced throughout the world at various times in human history. Some early examples are the depiction of wrestling techniques in a tomb of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt at Beni Hasan (c. 2000 BC) and pictorial representations of fist fighting in the Minoan civilization dating to the 2nd millennium BCE.

In ancient China, Yellow Emperor (2698 BC) is described as a famous general who, before becoming China’s leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology and the martial arts. Literary descriptions of combat began in the 2nd millennium BC, with mention of weaponry and combat in texts like the Gilgamesh epic or the Rig-Veda. Detailed description of Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age hand-to-hand combat with spear, sword and shield are found in the Iliad (c. 8th century BC) and also the Mahabharatha.

Africa

An Egyptian fresco, dated to 3400 BC, and depicting military training at Beni Hassan is the world's oldest known artistic representation of an organised fighting system. In gymnasiums similar to those of Greece, recruits would practice wrestling, callisthenics and duelling with single-stick. The attacking weapon apparently had a basket-guard protecting the hand, while the left forearm had a splint strapped on to serve as a shield. Soldiers fought with spears, large shields with an eye-hole, clubs, axes, poleaxes, flails, bows, slings, and swords of various forms.

Later, martial styles as varied as Gidigbo (a form of wrestling practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria), Donga (a form of stickfighting practiced by the Suri people of Ethiopia), Musangwe (a form of bare-knuckle boxing practiced by the Venda people of South Africa), Tahtib (a form of stickfighting practiced by the Copts of Egypt) and Engolo (a form of kicking, dodging and leg sweeping practiced by the tribes of the Cunene river region of Angola), to name just a few, were developed by cultures all over Africa.

China

Antiquity (Zhou to Jin) A hand-to-hand combat theory, including the integration of notions of "hard" and "soft" techniques, is expounded in the story of the Maiden of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue (5th century BCE).trans. and ed. Zhang Jue (1994), pp. 367-370, cited after Hennin (1999) p. 321 and note 8.

The Han History Bibliographies record that, by the Former Han (206 BC – 9 AD), there was a distinction between no-holds-barred weaponless fighting, which it calls shǒubó (手搏), for which "how-to" manuals had already been written, and sportive wrestling, then known as juélì or jiǎolì (角力).

Wrestling is also documented in the Shǐ Jì, Records of the Grand Historian, written by Sima Qian (c. 100 BCE).Henning, Stanley E. (Fall 1999). Academia Encounters the Chinese Martial arts. China Review International 6 (2): 319–332.

Jiǎolì is also mentioned in the Classic of Rites (1st century BCE).Classic of Rites. Chapter 6, Yuèlìng. Line 108.

In the 1st century, "Six Chapters of Hand Fighting", were included in the Han Shu (history of the Former Han Dynasty) written by Ban Gu. The Five Animals concept in Chinese martial arts is attributed to Hua Tuo, a 3rd-century physician.Dingbo. Wu, Patrick D. Murphy (1994), "Handbook of Chinese Popular Culture", Greenwood Press,

Middle Ages In the Tang dynasty, descriptions of sword dances were immortalized in poems by Li Bai and Du Fu. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, xiangpu (the earliest form of sumo) contests were sponsored by the imperial courts.The customary Bowing of martial arts is thus due to the "transmission of the task or work to be carried out", in ancient times precisely for the reigning Empire

In regard to the Shaolin fighting system, the oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is a stele from 728 CE that attests to two occasions: a defense of the Shaolin Monastery from bandits around 610 CE, and their subsequent role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621 CE. From the 8th to the 15th centuries, there are no extant documents that provide evidence of Shaolin participation in combat.

Late Ming The modern concepts of wushu emerge by the late Ming to early Qing dynasties (16th to 17th centuries).China Sportlight Series (1986) "Sports and Games in Ancient China". New World Press, .

Between the 16th and 17th centuries there are at least forty extant sources which provided evidence that, not only did monks of Shaolin practice martial arts, but martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life that the monks felt the need to justify it by creating new Buddhist lore.Shahar, Meir (2000). "Epigraphy, Buddhist Historiography, and Fighting Monks: The Case of The Shaolin Monastery". Asia Major Third Series 13 (2): 15–36.

References of martial practice in Shaolin appear in various literary genres of the late Ming: the epitaphs of Shaolin warrior monks, martial-arts manuals, military encyclopedias, historical writings, travelogues, fiction, and even poetry. However these sources do not point out to any specific style originated in Shaolin.Shahar, Meir (December 2001). "Ming-Period Evidence of Shaolin Martial Practice". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 61 (2): 359–413. .

These sources, in contrast to those from the Tang period, refer to Shaolin methods of armed combat. This include the forte of Shaolin monks and for which they had become famous — the staff (gun); General Qi Jiguang included these techniques in his book, Treatise of Effective Discipline.Henning, Stanley (1999). "Martial arts Myths of Shaolin Monastery, Part I: The Giant with the Flaming Staff". Journal of the Chenstyle Taijiquan Research Association of Hawaii 5 (1), Shahar, Meir (2007), The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion and the Chinese Martial arts", Honolulu: The University of Hawai'i Press

20th Century At the beginning of the century, first attempts were made to standardize the practice of Traditional Chinese Martial Arts in cities. A notable example was that of the Jing Wu Academy.

The rise of the People's Republic of China has gradually led to many changes in the practice, culture and dissemination of Chinese Martial Arts. While on one hand, many martial arts teachers were persecuted because of their political view or activities, the communist government also invested in the creation of new styles: Sanda, Modern Wushu, and Standardized Taiji Quan. Later, beginning in the 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party also began to promote Traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

From the 1970s, Traditional Chinese Martial Arts slowly became very popular in Western Countries as well. The development and spread of Chinese Kung Fu movies from Hong Kong greatly contributed to this, especially via the influence of Bruce Lee.

India

Antiquity

Classical Sanskrit epics contain the earliest written accounts of combat in India.Shamya Dasgupta (June–September 2004). "An Inheritance from the British: The Indian Boxing Story", Routledge 21 (3), p. 433-451. Stories describing Krishna report that he sometimes engaged in wrestling matches where he used knee strikes to the chest, punches to the head, hair pulling, and strangleholds. Another unarmed battle in the Mahabharata describes two fighters boxing with clenched fists and fighting with kicks, finger strikes, knee strikes and headbutts.Section XIII: Samayapalana Parva, Book 4: Virata Parva, Mahabharata. Krishna Maharaja, who single-handedly overcame an elephant according to the Mahabharata, is credited with developing the sixteen principles of armed combat.

Kalaripayattu, the most ancient and important form of India, was practiced in Kerala. Its origins date back to the 12th century. Unniyarcha, Aromal Chekavar and others were Thiyya warriors of Chekavar lineage. It was during their period that kalaripayattu spread widely in southern Kerala.

Many of the popular sports mentioned in the Vedas and the epics have their origins in military training, such as boxing (musti-yuddha), wrestling (malladwandwa), chariot-racing (rathachalan), horse-riding (aswarohana) and archery (dhanurvidya). Competitions were held not just as a contest of the players' prowess but also as a means of finding a bridegroom.

Ten fighting styles of northern India were said to have been created in different areas based on animals and gods, and designed for the particular geography of their origin. Tradition ascribes their convergence to the 6th-century in the Buddhist university of Takshashila, located in today's Punjab region.

Middle Ages

Like other branches of Sanskrit literature, treatises on martial arts become more systematic in the course of the 1st millennium CE. The grappling art of vajra-mushti is mentioned in sources of the early centuries CE. Military accounts of the Gupta Empire (c. 240–480) and the later Agni Purana identify over 130 different weapons, divided into thrown and unthrown classes and further into sub-classes.Parmeshwaranand Swami, Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Purāṇas, Sarup & Sons, 2001, , s.v. "dhanurveda"; Gaṅgā Rām Garg, Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World, Concept Publishing Company, 1992 , s.v. "archery". The Kama Sutra written by Vātsyāyana suggested that women should regularly "practice with sword, single-stick, quarterstaff, and bow and arrow."

The Sushruta Samhita (c. 4th century) identifies 107 vital points on the human bodyG. D. Singhal, L. V. Guru (1973). Anatomical and Obstetrical Considerations in Ancient Indian Surgery Based on Sarira-Sthana of Susruta Samhita. of which 64 were classified as being lethal if properly struck with a fist or stick. Sushruta's work formed the basis of the medical discipline ayurveda which was taught alongside various martial arts. With numerous other scattered references to vital points in Vedic and epic sources, it is certain that Indian subcontinent's early fighters knew and practised attacking or defending vital points.