Knowing next to nothing about African spears, they may be ceremonial, but they seem to be at least derived from hunting types because of the barbs. One would generally not want one's spear to get caught in a human opponent during combat (as opposed to an arrow or even javelin perhaps), but if stuck in a severely wounded large animal, that animal could be tracked to its death or dispatched with a coup de grace whne weakened. One could presumably retrieve the spear head by cutting it out during butchering.
|