Well Made Small African Spear Head

[katana]

Originally Posted by fearn

David, how long is your stabbing spear shaft?

Best,

F

Hi Fearn,
the shaft (from edge of socket) is approx. 30"

Originally Posted by Lew

I measured it at 10mm across.

Lew

Hi Lew,
that would make the shaft a little 'thin'. I suppose the shaft could be 'stepped' so that the diameter of the shaft would be the same as the external diameter of the socket, but suspect this would only increase the diameter of the shaft by a couple of mm.
Some spears are designed with a short, thin fore-shaft, which connects the head to the thicker, heavier main shaft.....but have not seen an African example. But this arrangement is used with many examples of African arrows.
I'm now leaning towards a throwing spear, perhaps one that is used at short range so that it could be thrown accurately at vital areas of an animal /human (?). Some larger game is trapped or surrounded and then basically 'speared to death'. An accurate strike to an artery would speed up the animals demise and certainly 'weaken' it quickly (due to blood loss)

David