CAN ANYONE ID THIS ALL IRON SPEAR ?

[thinreadline]

Hi
Just fished out this all iron spear . It is 54'' long . I assume its N African but dont know anymore than this. It has 2 pairs of curious projections on the shaft just below the head .. one pair point towards the tip , the other pair towards the heel. There are some decorations on the blade and on the heel. Would appreciate your opinions.

[Lew]

Possibly Tuareg?

[Iain]

Absolutely Tuareg. This is an 'allarh' the all iron lance. The barbs below and the head are common. This one I believe is not particularly old, older examples have a mid rib on the head rather than this flat style of blade from what I've seen. Also the style decorative patterns on the head are something I usually associate with newer Tuareg work. Hopefully Lee can jump in here, he has a few of these and knows more about them than I do. I could be wrong about the dating, but those are my impressions.

[thinreadline]

Possibly Tuareg?

That was my thought ... but not sure.

[katana]

I am seen a number of these on E-prey, all seem very recent as Iain has already mentioned. One of the ones I have seen was actually listed as a 'tourist' piece, I suspect they all are.

Regards David