Three African spears for ID

[colin henshaw]

Hi Iain

Good looking spears - would you be able to post images of them full length, also of the butt ends ?

Spears with those shoe ends are usually from the Sahel of West Africa, although Madagascar spears are similar, but the Madagascar ones I have seen usually have longer shoes. Isn't there an illustration of a cavalryman with a double-bladed spear in the 19th century exploration book by Denham ? The types with the inlaid brass like that, I usually think of as Hausa... Its very difficult to allocate African spears to specific tribes (although I havn't really made a close study). The following very general points may assist :-

a) Where there is Islamic influence, the construction is normally more sophisticated.
b) Spears north of the Zambesi are usually socketed and tanged southwards.
c) Spears sourced in the UK are more likely to be from ex-British colonies, eg Nigeria. Likewise spears from France would be more likely to originate from ex-French colonies etc...

I am attaching some extracts from the book "Weapons & Implements of Savage Races" by L Montague, 1921 that may be of interest. Also images of a couple of my Sahel spears for general comparison.

All the best
Colin

[Iain]

Originally Posted by colin henshaw

Hi Iain

Good looking spears - would you be able to post images of them full length, also of the butt ends ?

Spears with those shoe ends are usually from the Sahel of West Africa, although Madagascar spears are similar, but the Madagascar ones I have seen usually have longer shoes. Isn't there an illustration of a cavalryman with a double-bladed spear in the 19th century exploration book by Denham ? The types with the inlaid brass like that, I usually think of as Hausa... Its very difficult to allocate African spears to specific tribes (although I havn't really made a close study). The following very general points may assist :-

a) Where there is Islamic influence, the construction is normally more sophisticated.
b) Spears north of the Zambesi are usually socketed and tanged southwards.
c) Spears sourced in the UK are more likely to be from ex-British colonies, eg Nigeria. Likewise spears from France would be more likely to originate from ex-French colonies etc...

I am attaching some extracts from the book "Weapons & Implements of Savage Races" by L Montague, 1921 that may be of interest. Also images of a couple of my Sahel spears for general comparison.

All the best
Colin

Hi Colin,

Thanks for the info and images.

Actually I had hoped I had something like what Denham pictured. Unfortunately the differences were pretty clear once it was in hand.

I'll try to take some overall shots later this week. Bit tricky with the big one due to the size, the butts on two of them are already shown above, the Ethiopian one I didn't photograph the shaft since it has no butt (doesn't look like it ever did).

[Iain]

An image showing all three overall - not the best image I'm afraid. But the large one impacts a lot what distance I can shoot from!

[Richard G]

Christopher Spring's, "African Arms and Armour" page 38 has a picture of a lancer of the Sultan of Bagirmi with a double headed lance very similar to No.2.
Regards
Richard

[Iain]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Christopher Spring's, "African Arms and Armour" page 38 has a picture of a lancer of the Sultan of Bagirmi with a double headed lance very similar to No.2.
Regards
Richard

Hi Richard,

I believe the illustration you mention is the taken from Denham, from memory Nachtigal reproduced it as well.

I'd had some hopes this spear would be from that region - but sadly, once it was in hand it became fairly obvious it wasn't. The scale of the heads is not correct and the construction and details like the shape of the shaft are not correct for the Bagirmi region. Certainly an interesting style and I still hope someday to acquire an example.

[zalmoxis]

Hi there are some books:
"Mande blacksmiths" (book) deals with some info about West Africa. A lot of west African spears are in "Armes Blanches De L'Afrique Noire". A similar double headed spear as your Ethiopian spear is depicted in " Spears and staffs with two or more points in Africa".
Actually Madagascar spears are easy to spot: the head and the end varies in length and even shape but they are the only spears the the shaft is carved to fit the head flush and not just inserted into it after making a pointy end on a stick. Most of the time the carving of the shaft is so good that wood also fits the space left from forging in the socket making it flush with that too. No other African spears to my knowledge are fitted like that. Most of the time the socket on both the head and end will have 2 or 3 brass inlay rings like yours. Your Madagascar spear has the head fitted perfectly if you look at it also the silver ring is aligned with the shaft and socket by means of carving. The end looks inserted which might mean that the spear might have been shortened and repaired quickly not allowing time for proper fitting.

[zalmoxis]

The photo of the spear from Madagascar has a larger head and this is typical for later examples, this one is from around 1940, spears were more prestige objects by then. The older one like yours tend to have a more javelin smaller head more appropriate for use. But still has the brass rings.
In the case of "Mossi" spear a more appropriate term would be West African.
The metal work on a HUGE space there that covers many countries was directly made or influence by Mande blacksmits. You will find similar file work and chiseling on spears from Mali/Dogon to Mossi/Burkina Faso and Hausa/Nigeria etc.
Your spears are probably 19th century or early 20th.

[colin henshaw]

Originally Posted by zalmoxis

Hi there are some books:
"Mande blacksmiths" (book) deals with some info about West Africa. A lot of west African spears are in "Armes Blanches De L'Afrique Noire". A similar double headed spear as your Ethiopian spear is depicted in " Spears and staffs with two or more points in Africa".
Actually Madagascar spears are easy to spot: the head and the end varies in length and even shape but they are the only spears the the shaft is carved to fit the head flush and not just inserted into it after making a pointy end on a stick. Most of the time the carving of the shaft is so good that wood also fits the space left from forging in the socket making it flush with that too. No other African spears to my knowledge are fitted like that. Most of the time the socket on both the head and end will have 2 or 3 brass inlay rings like yours. Your Madagascar spear has the head fitted perfectly if you look at it also the silver ring is aligned with the shaft and socket by means of carving. The end looks inserted which might mean that the spear might have been shortened and repaired quickly not allowing time for proper fitting.

Just reading through this thread again a bit more carefully and saw this post by Zalmoxis. Its not quite correct ... the African spears in question from Northern Nigeria/Bornu also have the wood shaft well carved to flush fit the socket and have brass and copper bands inlaid to the metal. The workmanship to these spears is pretty high.