SPEAR HEAD COLLECTED FROM THE 'WILD'.
 

I have always envied forum members who have actually been 'out there' and collected weaponry and gathered info in the field . As a field biologist I spent many years in the wilds of N Africa and the middle east as well as remote parts of the Indian Ocean . In those days sadly I didnt have the 'bug' , so though collecting opportunites were there I never did bring anything back .. exept this rather heavy duty spear head which I picked up on a small uninhabited island of the Chagos Archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. It is probably the least interesting thing I ever did encounter on my travels and I have no idea why I kept it .. but it lay in the garden shed for years until I found it whilst doing some tidying ! It's 28 cm overall with a blade width of 6 cm and the socket diameter is a massive 5 cm.

Facinating, in what year was it collected?

I was with a British miltary expedition to the Chagos in 1977/78 ... I landed on around 50 small islands in the archipelago .

Could it be for hunting small wales perhaps?

Spiral

Hope you mean whales ... living near Wales as I do , that's a polically incorrect pastime ! Well I certainly saw plenty of cetaceans both large and small in the seas arond the islands and mant sharks . Nothing on land to hunt except the cow that once attacked me in the forest !

Hi
collected weapons on the field, became a real "treasure hunting",
when by chance (extremely rare) you found something interesting,
the price requested is 3 to 4 times above the reasonable ... :rolleyes:

much more easy, convenient, to purchase from auction room,
or by default through some Internet auctions sites,
largest choose, and prices are more in line with the market

I've been to Bukhara, I searched all the local market (suk),
I found nothing, and in Samarkand same thing ... :o
in Egypt, the market is dry, ...
I pass by often through Istanbul and his the "Great Bazaar",
full up with India's copy, otherwise nothing ...
Syria is the exception, indeed as well as,
the suks from Saudi Arabia, but the access to the last country it's very restrictive :shrug:

also no reason to envy those who travel,
fortunately (I mean for me) the pleasure and interest to discover other persons, societies, civilizations,
compensates for the frustration of not finding the "object of my dreams" :p

à +

Dom

Well I still say you are a lucky man .. you have had a chance to visit these places which is excellent. I have to agree with you about the crazy prices often asked in the countries of origin ... I was in Dharan in the 1st Gulf War and found a lot of very good stuff but at prices at least 2x what I would pay in England !
Richmond
QUOTE=Dom]Hi
collected weapons on the field, became a real "treasure hunting",
when by chance (extremely rare) you found something interesting,
the price requested is 3 to 4 times above the reasonable ... :rolleyes:

much more easy, convenient, to purchase from auction room,
or by default through some Internet auctions sites,
largest choose, and prices are more in line with the market

I've been to Bukhara, I searched all the local market (suk),
I found nothing, and in Samarkand same thing ... :o
in Egypt, the market is dry, ...
I pass by often through Istanbul and his the "Great Bazaar",
full up with India's copy, otherwise nothing ...
Syria is the exception, indeed as well as,
the suks from Saudi Arabia, but the access to the last country it's very restrictive :shrug:

also no reason to envy those who travel,
fortunately (I mean for me) the pleasure and interest to discover other persons, societies, civilizations,
compensates for the frustration of not finding the "object of my dreams" :p

à +

Dom[/QUOTE]

Woops! :eek: :D


A 2 inch thick shaft seems like its for dealing with heavy prey.

Spiral

Yes I would agree... there is no history of whale fishing from the Chagos but there was much local shark fishing ... so perhaps for larger sharks ?