The dagger-axe, or Ge (戈), is a long, sharp bronze (or sometimes jade) blade mounted at a right angle on a pole, or walking stick.

It's the iconic weapon of the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE), used extensively by infantry and chariot warriors.

It didn't start as a weapon. It was a harvesting tool used to hook and pull down crops. The martial arts version is simply a re-use of a farming implement.

In fact, research indicates that most martial arts & weapons stem from a sprawling evolutionary process that predates the famous Shaolin Temple by thousands of years.

The scholarly consensus maps the development of Chinese martial arts through three distinct phases: survival/hunting, military codification, and philosophical abstraction.  

The Dagger Axe, while evolving into a battlefield weapon for hooking and slashing, is found in many excavated tombs and was used for ceremonial purposes and as symbols of power.

The Survival Origins (Neolithic to 2000 BCE)

The origins of martial arts were the rudimentary survival needs of Neolithic tribes. Before there were "styles," there were functional movements developed for hunting and for defense against wildlife and other aggressive people: Early man had to fight off predators without modern weapons. Scholars point to the development of specific striking and grappling techniques necessitated by close-quarters encounters with animals.

Jiaodǐ (Horn-Butting): Academics recognize this as one of the earliest verifiable "proto-martial" behaviors. Dating back to roughly 2700 BCE, it was a ritualized form of wrestling where participants wore horned headgear. It served as both a combat drill and a religious rite, eventually evolving into Shuai Jiao (modern Chinese wrestling).

Hunting and Archery: The Six Arts of the Zhou Dynasty (archery, charioteering, etc.) are seen as the first state-sanctioned codification of these survival skills. Hunting, in particular, was the primary "training ground" where humans learned footwork, camouflage, and the "killing strike" that would later be perfected for ritualized human-on-human combat.