Marking of weapons: Anthropologically and Sociologically

[fernando]

Hi Jim,
As a matter of fact, i love marks in weapons as much as i hate not to be able to decipher them
Many a times i see marks that do not actually exist, being simply casting flaws or, in the best, innocent decoration motifs.
These are two lance heads from North Cameroon, which bear nice engraving details on the blades.
I also include a drawing of a similar weapon, illustrated in Waffen aus Zentral-Afrika, with a detail within the same philosophy.
I wonder if these are simply free style decorations, following the taste of each blade smith, whether equally repeated in all their pieces or with timely variations, or if they instead follow patterns of a more comited purpose, like symbols of each ( family ) smith, or tribal "crests", etc.
Fernando