Opinion about this Philippine spear
 

HELLO!
THIS IS A BIG SPEAR FROM PHILIPPINES,I THINK TYPE SINALAWATAN, MEASURE 2,30 METERS , THE OWNER SAYS THAN IS A ORIGINAL SPEAR BRING BACK BY A SPANISH NEAR 1900.
REGARDS
CARLOS

Big, very nice. The wood halft looks heavy, how is the other end finished? often more important to me. I wish I had one :o .

ANOTHER PICTURE
 

ANOTHER PICTURE...

Are there any signs that this end may have had metal fitted on in some way here? Does it feel like you could throw this spear? i have a picture of a fellow holding one as if to throw but he is posing for the camera.

Igorot ...
 

This appears to be an Igorot spear from northern Luzon, and could well date from the late 19th C. You can see similar examples in Plate 5 of Krieger's article. The plates can be found here http://www.vikingsword.com/rila/krieger.html

ian.

Supposedly these were used to ward off evil spirits.

worked then, didn't it.

Tim, The Luzon spears do have metal spikes on the end, used in climbing. These spears were used for ceremonial or head hunting. The multi-barbed ones are often refered to as ceremonial. Hunting spears (throwing) are without the barbs & an example is Plate 6, spear 10 from Ian's link. Pictures of headhunting victims show the backs of their legs with multiple lacerations. My guess it's from being hooked with these spears. The mountain tribe shields also had 3cm wood strips attached with ratten on either side. My guess is that they were for "break-away" if hooked by one of these spears.