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Old 30th November 2018, 07:56 PM   #1
kahnjar1
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Nice lot of pics on the thread now, but description of the shaft of ARABIAN spears states the shaft is (usually) bamboo. Many of those shown appear to to be of some other wood (not that it means they are not Arabian)....just an observation.
Stu
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Old 1st December 2018, 01:15 AM   #2
Jim McDougall
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kahnjar1
Nice lot of pics on the thread now, but description of the shaft of ARABIAN spears states the shaft is (usually) bamboo. Many of those shown appear to to be of some other wood (not that it means they are not Arabian)....just an observation.
Stu
Good observation, and it does seem that virtually all these Arabian shafted weapons do seem to have used various types of bamboo, reed and cane in their shafts. Most of the entries I read in Elgood noted that these woods were used from early times and brought in from various places.

The shafts on some of these appear to be smooth and not ribbed like I always think of bamboo, but it seems botanically (NOT my area by far) there are male and female plants.

In the entries that comment on the scarcity of these lances, spears and javelins it does seem that one of the factors that may contribute to this is that the shafts have not survived. Possibly numbers of these heads and butt items have been rehafted with hard woods of other kinds. Elgood does note one type of javelin (mizrak) from the Hijaz with a shaft of 'hard, pliant wood' which was of unknown identity.
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Old 2nd December 2018, 07:44 PM   #3
Ibrahiim al Balooshi
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If I can just add what I have about the Talisman effects but not to forget the trade in the region bringing bamboo and other timber across from India and Africa as well as locally grown bamboo etc
The lozenge shape is apparent in many metal objects and similar to the spear butt decoration . I illustrate a rather long winded phrase to describe this object as an Islamic Architectural Talisman Nail... used to ward off evil spirits from newly built houses by being hammered into the area above the main door. The lozenge even appears with similar dots which may in the 3 or 5 dot configuration...

I have a picture somewhere of another devil style decorative object of similar shape which I will add as this thread develops. I have some battle scenes where the spear plays an important role and will add later.

See Below ~ Islamic Architectural Talisman Nail...Next to project spear end.
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Last edited by Ibrahiim al Balooshi; 2nd December 2018 at 08:25 PM.
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