Shields are considered as weapon mainly meant for body protection. Conceived as an elongation of warrior's armour, shield is a protective device that is held in the hand as opposed to armour or a bullet proof vest. Intended for intercepting attacks, shields are attractively manufactured by master shield creators and added as unique conversation and decoration pieces to the interiors.

Prehistoric and Middle ages :
In the prehistorical times, to barricade attacks by several hand weapons such as swords, axes, maces or missiles like spears and arrows, oldest form of protection used was shields. During the 13th-14th century BCE, the Sards or Shardana utilized large and small round shields against the Hittites. At that time, design of several ancient shields were featured in cuts of one sort of another just to reconcile the shaft of a spear and tactics required by the soldiers to stand close together forming a wall of shields.
In the early European Middle Ages commonly used kite shields, are rounded at the top and tapered at the bottom. Easily used on horseback and provide easier leg movement when dismounted. These are made up of several layers of laminated wood with a gentle curve in cross section.

Design
Over different time and places, shields have varied greatly in construction. Several materials used in the making of shields are either metal, wood or animal hide, turtle shells etc. Size and weight of shields also vary as heavy troops are equipped with large heavy shields to protect most of their body and lightly armored warriors use lighter shields that are smaller and thinner in shape.

Modernistic shields
Still across the world, shields are used for protection from armed attacks by many police and military officers. Mainly, these advanced and modern shields are meant for two distinct purposes, they are : Used for riot control and protection from relatively large and low velocity projectiles such as rocks and bottles as well as blows from fists or clubs. Modern police shield employed by special police, such as SWAT teams in high risk entry and siege scenarios.

Types of shields

• African Shields
• Egyptian Shields
• German Shields
• Greek Shields
• Medieval S1hields
• Roman Shields
• Scottish Shields
• Viking Shields

Styles
Some other modes of shields are :

• Synthetic Riot shield : They are lightweight protection devices deployed by police and some military organizations which are normally transparent, allowing full use of the shield without obstructing vision.
• Metal riot shields : They are most commonly used to block and push back crowds when the users stand in a wall and to protect against shrapnel, projectiles, molotov cocktails and during hand-to-hand combat.
• Police shield : They are manufactured from advanced synthetics such as kevlar, designed to be bulletproof.