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.)