One translation of Juvenal's poetry by Barten Holyday in 1661 makes note that the Roman trainees learned to fight with the wooden wasters before moving on to the use of sharpened steel, much in the way modern reconstruction groups progress.
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Wooden practice swords have been in use since the Late Bronze Age, with an original sword found on Orkney's Mainland in Scotland still in existence at the National Museum of Edinburgh.
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Translations of Roman poets Horace and Juvenal provide evidence of this training weapon in use.
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One translation of Juvenal's poetry by Barten Holyday in 1661 makes note that the Roman trainees learned to fight with the wooden wasters before moving on to the use of sharpened steel.