May i query again on this lance?

Mark · 8th May 2006, 10:25 PM

It looks like there is a hole through the head/shaft below the pins attaching the head to the shaft, where perhaps a cross-bar once existed. If there is evidence of a cross-bar, I would say this is conclusive of it being a hunting spear. If you have more than a half meter or so of the shaft, and there is no cross-bar or evidence of one, I would say it is not a hunting spear (at least not a European one).

The cross-bar is necessary in a hunting spear to prevent the game (a charging boar, for example) from "running up" the spear and getting at the hunter. A war spear, on the other hand, is designed to penetrate as far as possible and so has no cross-bar.

8th May 2006, 10:25 PM	#3
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 987	It looks like there is a hole through the head/shaft below the pins attaching the head to the shaft, where perhaps a cross-bar once existed. If there is evidence of a cross-bar, I would say this is conclusive of it being a hunting spear. If you have more than a half meter or so of the shaft, and there is no cross-bar or evidence of one, I would say it is not a hunting spear (at least not a European one). The cross-bar is necessary in a hunting spear to prevent the game (a charging boar, for example) from "running up" the spear and getting at the hunter. A war spear, on the other hand, is designed to penetrate as far as possible and so has no cross-bar.