 Neue Folge 3" (1983), p. 125.</ref>

Though single-edged cutting swords already existed in the Ancient world, such as the ancient Egyptian and Sumerian sickle swords, these (usually forward instead of backward curving) weapons were chopping weapons for foot soldiers.This type of weapon developed into such heavy chopping weapons as the Greek Machaira and Anatolian Drepanon, and it still survives as the heavy Kukri chopping knife of the Gurkhas.However, in ancient China foot soldiers often used a straight, single edged sword, and in the sixth century CE a longer, slightly curved cavalry variety of this weapon appeared in southern Siberia.