CAN ANYONE ID THIS ALL IRON SPEAR ?
 

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.

Possibly Tuareg?

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.

That was my thought ... but not sure.

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