Historical martial arts reconstruction

Historical martial arts reconstructions are attempts at reviving martial arts with no living tradition. In recent years, with the resurgence of interest in martial arts, schools of fighting long since discontinued have generated enough interest for individuals and organizations to reconstruct them from historical sources.

The reconstruction of a martial art is very difficult indeed, and opinions on how it is best done differ quite a lot. Usually, written material is used, along with paintings and diagrams of movement. This is, however, usually not enough to capture the dynamics of a martial art, and practical experimentation becomes necessary.

Examples of martial arts reconstruction are: Pankration and the various historical European schools of fencing (no nomenclature is yet agreed upon). (See fencing, historical fencing.)