Finally, evidence strongly indicates that swords were secondary weapons, which further
suggests that melee combat was not the primary aim in western Mediterranean armies.
Indeed, when facing enemies who were primarily armed with javelins and spears, soldiers
wielding swords would have been severely disadvantaged. Consequently, the congruencies
within the archaeological evidence pertaining to Celtic, Celtiberian, Iberian, Italic, and North
African soldiers which has been examined throughout this thesis, strongly suggests that
warfare in the western Mediterranean between 350-264 was primarily fought between
similarly equipped, but heterogeneous armies who engaged each other with common
tactics in what was primarily missile based skirmish orientated warfare.