The problems of studying hunting weapons and hunting techniques are traditional for archaeological and ethnological studies focused on the analysis of economic activities of peoples and cultures that practice appropriating forms of economy. However, hunting remained a very important field of activity in the countries of settled agricultural civilization during the periods of antiquity and the Middle Ages. The work of the international scientific conference "Hunters and Hunting Weapons in Ancient and Medieval Times", organized by the Lodz Branch of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences on November 27-29, 2008, was devoted to the study of various aspects of this topic. This conference was the 11th scientific forum dedicated to the problems of weapons and military affairs, which was held thanks to the efforts of the staff of this institute. The conference was held in the hunting castle "Ustrone" and was attended by scientists from Great Britain, Germany, Poland and Russia. The meeting opened with a speech by one of the leading experts in the field of medieval weapons research in Poland and the organizer of the conference, V. Svetoslavsky (Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of Poland). He noted the importance of scientific forums on the history of weapons and expressed regret that some researchers were unable to attend the conference. The report of P. Tarakh (Warsaw University, Poland) was devoted to the analysis of weapons and hunting techniques among the ancient population of the Eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia, Hittites, Luwians, Minoans and other ethnic groups based on images on Toreutics, frescoes, stone bas-reliefs, seals and gems. Of interest is a bronze blade with scenes of heroic hunting of warriors who are attacked by an angry lion. The warriors are protected by shields and spherical helmets with a composite dome and a curved crest. As analogies, the author uses similar images of soldiers i ... Read more