What did the first crossbow look like?

I never realized how a lot of you were history fans or at least wanted to be history buffs.  But, among the most asked articles I've received was a piece on the roots and background of the crossbow.  I've always been a bit of a history geek, so I knew some of this.  However, to make this as detailed as I could, I spent several weeks in profound search looking for everything I could find on the history of this potent weapon.

Origins in East Asia

We do not know precisely who invented the handheld crossbow, but we know that it originated in East Asia.  The earliest signs of crossbows in early China and neighboring lands point to at least the 6th Century BC, and Sir Joseph Needham states in his Science and Civilisation in China that it is not possible to determine precisely which of the East Asian peoples invented the weapon. 

When you have a look at the linguistic origins of the term, it derives from outside China by their then neighbors, that were often hired as marksmen mercenaries. In spite of that, most of the evidence in terms of documents and discoveries of crossbow remains are from China itself. Textual evidence of crossbows also dates back quite far. The first Chinese document mentioning the crossbow is located in broadcasts in the 4th to 3rd Centuries BC, attributed to the followers of Mozi. This specific mention makes mention of the use of a giant crossbow from the 6th to 5th Centuries BC, which will be right across the late Spring and Autumn Period.

Crossbows in warfare

If you are interested in recordings of this crossbow used in war, the oldest reliable records of the character refer to an ambush, the Battle of Ma-Ling, at 341 BC. Within 150 decades of the struggle, from the 200s BC, the crossbow was well developed and widely used for war and hunting in China. Obviously, a number of these references would be too giant crossbows, but even the handheld crossbow was in ancient usage in China and other parts of East Asia.

So far as archaeological finds proceed, the Terracotta Army buried in the tomb of Qin Shihuang from approximately 221--210 BC were found to possess handheld crossbows with complicated bronze trigger mechanics. The following Han Dynasty (202 BC to 220 AD) had specimens like those located on the Terracotta Army, along with the crossbowmen explained from the Qin and Han dynasty discovered drill formations and were mounted as cavalry units. Writers throughout the Han Dynasty blamed much of their success in conflicts from the Xiongnu to massed crossbow volleys.