Curious spear-head

[fearn]

Hi Jake,

The piece does look like the head of a rogatina, minus the toggle. I'm guessing that the toggle is like the cross-bar on a boar spear, meant to keep the bear from charging up the spear staff? I'd also guess that's why the spear is was forked in the old days.

Just as a cross-reference, the Chinese used a tiger fork in hunting tigers, so I don't think it's unusual to use a large, sharp forked anything to hunt a large predator.

As an aside, back in the 80s, an arctic explorer decided to carry a 12' pike rather than a gun. They were working in a polar bear area, and he thought it was more fair to carry a spear. He never had to use it, which was just as well, because he assumed he'd die if he had to face off against a bear. Considering he didn't have a cross-piece on the spear, he was probably right.

F