You also see variations of the "spiked end" in China and SE Asia on various polearms.
I had assumed this was simply to protect the shaft itself. If you're a guard, and you spend a good part of your day standing around at attention with the butt-end of your spear touching the ground, I'd think there would be a real danger of an unprotected spear rotting (particularly in hotter climates, such as the rainforests of SE Asia). This would also explain why the Moro lances do not have this feature (you don't normally stand around at attention with a lance).
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