W. African cavalry javlins.
 

Picked these up today. Not sure how good my pictures are. They are beautifully engraved and inlaid with brass. I will try better latter. You can see a similarity to the all metal "allarh" These are light, but with enough wieght to be delivered with force. I was surpised at the quality of a weapon that may be thrown at a line and not retrieved. I imagine that the cavalry had a status much like medievil knights, so even throw away items were made to reflect this position in life. The picture of the cavalry man with a bunch of javlins reminds me of the Bayeux tapestry depicting the Norman knights with there kite shaped shields. They used a similar tactic of worrying a line by repeated cavalry volleys of javlins. Where does the "allarh" start and finish? which culture inspired the form? is it shared and adapted for differing warfare and combat situations?

This spear type was reportedly used in the maritime environment by Moro Sea Raiders as a preliminary to boarding vessels .

Wish I could show an example .. :o

Nice spears, Tim. For some reason I've always thought that the all-iron type (with some brass inlay) belong to the desert-dwelling Taureg, where there would be little suitable wood for spear-shafts. The type like yours, with a wooden shaft, I presumed to be from the Muslim sahel peoples, eg. Hausa, Fulani etc., who would have access to longish tree branches...

But I have no hard evidence for this theory.

Regards.

I have reason to believe this form of spear is wide spread in varrious forms but I am no expert. The all metal version would work as a lance for horse/camelback. I am also sure it would also work as an infantry weapon. The two versions "javlins" that I post are really too light for infantry spears. Here they are next to two all metal version starting from the right.

All metal spear butts from the right.

A few close ups.