Thread: Spear?
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Old 13th April 2023, 07:20 PM   #13
Jim McDougall
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As this is clearly a very old piece and is simply made as would be done by a blacksmith, and in the manner known to have been used in boar hunting spears, it would seem that by Occams principle..it must be a boar spear head.As this is a discussion sharing opinions, all we can do is speculate, and present our cases accordingly.

It is well known that often tools (implements) could become weapons, just as often weapons became tools (using swords for utility). Hunting swords were essentially hangers and used for both.

It is well noted that the lugs on the naval boarding pike I posted are narrow, however the blade seems to have remarkable similarity. Here I would note that pikes did not always have such lugs or crossbars, often simply with blade alone. However, looking into other contemporary polearms, the spontoon typically seemed to have this kind of crossbar, though often in decorative shapes.
Perhaps the cross bar equipped spontoon might have been used in boar hunting?

According to the late Howard Blackmore ("Hunting Weapons",1971) in describing the tucks (thrusting swords) used in hunting boar, sometimes had the crossbar or some type of device to limit penetration (sometimes a disc on the blade) but not invariably. The purpose noted for protecting the hunter seems of course to have become more thoroughly present through the years.

Returning to the potential for this being perhaps an ersatz weapon, for the 'cause' in Revolutionary War times, George Neumann (op.cit.) notes on p.193:
"...when the American Revolution began, the colonies were unable to arm all of their forces with firearms. As a supplementary interim weapon they resorted to the 17th c. pike. The heads were easily forged by local blacksmiths and mounted on poles averaging 12-16 ft. in length".

Further, "...apparently the same crude heads used on land were employed by American naval vessels for boarding spears. The shafts were generally shorter than the land pike (about 5-7 ft.) and omitted the iron butt cone which cut into the wood decks".

It is worth noting that in the American Revolution, much as the circumstances in the Spanish colonies, firearms were much more an issue than typically described in the literature. In the Spanish colonies, especially in the northern frontiers far from regular supply entrepots, guns were not especially reliable and poorly serviced. To make matters worse, the even bigger issue was powder, almost invariably of poor quality and lack of availability. This led to the lance becoming the most commonly used weapon.
This was not just in warfare, but hunting.

In the American Revolution, contrary to popular belief, the flintlock long gun on every mantle was not a standard, and fewer colonists had or knew how to use guns than realized ("Arming America", Michael Bellisles, 2000). Again, the even bigger problem was the lack of ammunition and powder.

While these kinds of crudely made weapons are not commonly found in collecting, as most were simply discarded through the years, and did not have the obvious appeal of edged weapons or guns, they remain most interesting relics when found.

Shown is a British spontoon, detail listed on these notes that the crossbar is intended to prevent penetration into enemy from going too deep, thus preventing withdrawal of the weapon and effectively disarming the user.
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