The buckler is not a new concept.  It is so old that its origins are lost to history.  Bucklers are plainly visible in carvings from Sumeria, Ur, and Babylon.  Greek Peltasts were named after their shields, peltae, which in many cases resembled bucklers.  Roman gladiators called Hoplomachi were equipped with bucklers, which they frequently used as offensive weapons.  And bucklers have seen extensive use from the fall of Rome through the early modern era, a thorough review of which is freely available online.

As the age of gunpowder and duelists developed, some would say devolved, into an age of industrialized warfare, bucklers gradually fell out of favor and eventually disappeared entirely.  Modern ballistic shields owe nothing of their form or function to it. This is an oversight that must be corrected, for the form of the buckler makes it a uniquely useful and versatile implement today — especially when it is made of an advanced ballistic steel alloy.