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Spear-armed hoplite from Greco-Persian Wars. A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as bone, flint, obsidian, copper, bronze, iron, or steel.
A spear in situ. Most of the spears were made using trunks of slow-growing spruce trees, except for spear IV, which is made from pine.The complete spears vary in length from 1.84 to 2.53 m (6.04 to 8.30 ft), with diameters ranging from 29 to 47 mm (1.14 to 1.85 in). [30]
An "æsc wiga," which stands for 'ash-spear warrior' (from the Beowulf). Spears were the most common weapons in Anglo-Saxon England. [12] They have been found in about 85% of weapon-containing early Anglo-Saxon graves.
Under Philip II of Macedon, hoplites were equipped with extremely long spears (up to 21 feet) called sarrisae. Used in conjunction with the phalanx formation, this made an impregnable wall of spears in front of the infantry; the enemy's shorter weaponry could not reach the phalanx because of the sarissa .
Throwing spears were constantly used by the warrior class; despite popular belief, it was also the principal weapon of the Viking warrior, an apt fit to their formations and tactics. They consisted of metal heads with a blade and a hollow shaft, mounted on wooden shafts of two to three metres in length, and were typically made from ash wood.
The sarissa is made of two core parts: a long wooden shaft and a metal tip. A third part that may have existed for some sarissas was a metal spear-butt at the reverse end. The metal butt of the sarissa could be used to safely stow it in the ground without damaging the shaft when not in use. [3]
Piercing weapons consisted of both short and long-range weapons. They were used for hunting and combat. Spears were used by the Native Americans to thrust and strike their enemies or the animals they were hunting. The spears were made of a short blade or tip, made from stone, and attached to the end of a long wooden handle or shaft.
In the genre scene of Achilles and Ajax playing dice, here with Athena presiding, the heroes often hold two spears (Attic black-figure hydria, ca. 510 BCE BC). The dory was about 2-3 meters in length (6'7" in. to 9'10 in.) and had a handle with a diameter of 5 cm (2 in) made of wood, either cornel or ash weighing 0.91 to 1.81 kg (2.0 to 4.0 lb).