A
club (also known as a
cudgel,
baton,
truncheon,
cosh,
nightstick, or
bludgeon) is among the simplest of all
weapons: a short staff or stick, usually made of
wood, wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times. There are several examples of blunt-force trauma caused by clubs in the past, including at the site of
Nataruk in Turkana, Kenya, described as the scene of a prehistoric conflict between bands of hunter-gatherers 10,000 years ago. In popular culture, clubs are associated with primitive cultures, especially
cavemen.