A humble rustic lance head

fernando · 26th August 2010, 06:08 PM

Thanks a lot for your input, folks.
I am more with Barry on what concerns the socket aperture. It all indicates that one of the folders was corroded by the acid soil.
Indeed the offset blades are often seen in this type of rustic artifacts, David, judging by two other examples i have in my collection, which are no doubt lance heads. This would be one of the reasons i took this one to be a rather early piece.
I reckon its construction is a bit fragile; however the blade has all the looks of an actual weapon and this still could (could) well be an artisanal "chuço" (the antecessor of the pike), massively used by peasants for own defence or engaged into war infants.

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Lee · 26th August 2010, 09:26 PM

Spears can be so difficult to place and date. Fernando's spear of interest appears to be of fairly simple design and I suspect the socket never was completely closed. I believe that 'rustic' is a a very good description for the forging of this lance - simple, but adequate. I'd surely think it is at least a couple of hundred years old, if not more and, being of good size, likely would have been both for hunting and local defense.

Of course, it is difficult to really know what has been lost to corrosion and I have rather arbitrarily selected to show what I interpret as two small Migration Period javelin heads originally made with a partially open socket and have omitted showing a pattern-welded winged lance head that I believe has opened through corrosion.

I'd expect a large lance head made by a skilled smith to have a well formed, complete socket. But how much effort would be placed into sockets of smaller javelins, meant to be thrown and more likely made for the hunt? Surely with adhesive and wrapping, these partially open sockets should have been adequate for that purpose.

fernando · 27th August 2010, 02:44 PM

Thank you so much Lee, for your input and for the inclusion of those very nice examples.
It seems as indeed regional lances and similar items, being procuced by the local multiuse smith, didn't have the care taken by arsenals, like centering the socket to the blade an with give it enough material for full wraping.
Herewith pictures of three more examples, foccusing on such sections, with a "would be" ID:
A XVI cent. hunting lance, a XVII cent. defence lance and a XVI-XVII cent. polearm head.
Although clearly belonging to different breeds, their rusticity speaks for itself.

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26th August 2010, 06:08 PM	#1
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Thanks a lot for your input, folks. I am more with Barry on what concerns the socket aperture. It all indicates that one of the folders was corroded by the acid soil. Indeed the offset blades are often seen in this type of rustic artifacts, David, judging by two other examples i have in my collection, which are no doubt lance heads. This would be one of the reasons i took this one to be a rather early piece. I reckon its construction is a bit fragile; however the blade has all the looks of an actual weapon and this still could (could) well be an artisanal "chuço" (the antecessor of the pike), massively used by peasants for own defence or engaged into war infants. . Attached Images

26th August 2010, 09:26 PM	#2
Lee EAAF Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Upstate New York, USA Posts: 937	Spears can be so difficult to place and date. Fernando's spear of interest appears to be of fairly simple design and I suspect the socket never was completely closed. I believe that 'rustic' is a a very good description for the forging of this lance - simple, but adequate. I'd surely think it is at least a couple of hundred years old, if not more and, being of good size, likely would have been both for hunting and local defense. Of course, it is difficult to really know what has been lost to corrosion and I have rather arbitrarily selected to show what I interpret as two small Migration Period javelin heads originally made with a partially open socket and have omitted showing a pattern-welded winged lance head that I believe has opened through corrosion. I'd expect a large lance head made by a skilled smith to have a well formed, complete socket. But how much effort would be placed into sockets of smaller javelins, meant to be thrown and more likely made for the hunt? Surely with adhesive and wrapping, these partially open sockets should have been adequate for that purpose. Attached Images

27th August 2010, 02:44 PM	#3
fernando (deceased) Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Portugal Posts: 9,694	Thank you so much Lee, for your input and for the inclusion of those very nice examples. It seems as indeed regional lances and similar items, being procuced by the local multiuse smith, didn't have the care taken by arsenals, like centering the socket to the blade an with give it enough material for full wraping. Herewith pictures of three more examples, foccusing on such sections, with a "would be" ID: A XVI cent. hunting lance, a XVII cent. defence lance and a XVI-XVII cent. polearm head. Although clearly belonging to different breeds, their rusticity speaks for itself. . Attached Images