Spear
A spear is a pole weapon used for hunting and war, consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a sharpened head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with bamboo spears, or it may be of another material fastened to the shaft, such as obsidian or bronze. The most common design is of a metal spearhead, shaped like a triangle or a leaf.
Spears were one of the most common personal weapons from the late Bronze Age until the advent of firearms. They may be seen as the ancestor of such weapons as the lance, the halberd, the naginata and the pike. One of the earliest weapons fashioned by human beings and their ancestors, it is still used for hunting and fishing, and its influences can still be seen in contemporary military arsenals as the rifle-mounted bayonet.
Spears can be used as both melee and ballistic weapons. Spears used primarily for thrusting tend to have heavier and sturdier designs than those intended exclusively for throwing. Two of the most noted throwing spears are the javelin thrown by the ancient Greeks and the pilum used by the Romans.
History
Spear manufacture and use is also practiced by the Pan troglodytes verus subspecies of the Common Chimpanzee. Chimpanzees near Kédougou, Senegal were observed to create spears by breaking straight limbs off of trees, stripping them of their bark and side branches, and sharpening one end with their teeth. They then used the weapons to hunt galagos sleeping in hollows.[1]. Orangutans have also used spears to fish after observing humans fishing in a similar manner.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page)..
Archeological evidence documents that wooden spears were used for hunting 400,000 years ago.[2] However, wood does not preserve well. Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California, has suggested that the discovery of spear use by chimpanzees probably means that early humans used wooden spears as well, perhaps five million years ago.[3]
By 250,000 years ago wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points. From 80,000 years ago humans began to make complex stone blades, which were used as spear points. By 50,000 years ago there was a revolution in human culture, leading to more complex hunting techniques.[citation needed]
Usefulness
The utility and longevity of the spear as a universal personal weapon rises from several factors, including versatility, cost efficiency, ease of use and effect.
A spear was a relatively low cost weapon or tool compared to other weapons available in pre-industrial societies. In this period, when metals and the ability to work them were expensive, the spear was seen as "cost effective". The steel required for a sword, for example, would be sufficient to make several spear heads. A spear not only takes less metal, but does not require the same quality of material, the same amount of time, or the same level of skill to manufacture; the result is still a weapon of potentially lethal effect.
A spear is relatively easy to use. Again, in comparison with other weapons in the periods of the spear's widest use, a spear requires less training and practice to wield effectively (though not necessarily expertly), notably for formation use since its thrusting techniques minimize disruption to teammates on either side. Modern experiments by reenactors have shown that a group of people can be trained to use spears in an effective shield wall as militia in a few weeks of part-time training.
Spears vary greatly in function depending upon the length of the shaft, weight of the point, and location of the grip. Short spears, like those developed by the Zulu, were used for single combat in close proximity. Most short and mid-length spears were also used for throwing; in fact, the Roman pilum was specifically built to stick in and foul a target's shield. Greek long pikes, on the other hand, were used in large battle formations, called phalanges (sg. phalanx), to keep the opponent at a distance. With the rise of heavily armored knights in the medieval age, spear shafts began to be reinforced to be planted against the ground and halt charging cavalry. The lance, a form of spear gripped at the base and wielded with one hand, was also developed to be used from horseback. Though cavalry spears had been used before, the lance was made popular by the medieval sport of jousting.
In addition to being a cheap, relatively easy to wield weapon that could be quickly manufactured and used in large numbers, often at a considerable distance from the target, a spear in experienced hands is fast and lethal.
Spear Handling
Spears, although apparently simple weapons, have a remarkable variety of wielding methods. Some are listed here from most passive to most active motions.
- Holding the spear or bracing it against the ground, the enemy impales himself.
- The spear is thrust out with the arms alone.
- The spear is held stiffly, and the thrust is delivered by stepping forward.
- The spear is thrust out with the arms while stepping forward with one or both feet.
- The front hand releases as the back hand and back foot move forward to perform a long thrust.
- The spear is slid through the front hand, propelled by the back hand. The forward foot steps forward and the back circles the body out of the line of thrust.
- The spear is thrown, often at a run, releasing when the opposite foot to the throwing arm is forward.
- The spear is held couched under one arm, allowing a swinging motion as well as a powerful thrust.
- The spear is swung, causing the tip of the blade to slice open the foe's flesh. The spear can then be brought around in a stabbing motion.
This versatility led to the continued use of spears, in the form of pikes, for many years even after the invention of firearms.
Symbolism
More than a weapon, a spear may be a symbol of power. In the Chinese martial arts community, the Chinese spear (Qiang 槍) is popularly known as the "king of weapons". In ancient Greece it was a yoke of spears that had to be borne when submitting to an enemy. The Celts would symbolically destroy a dead warrior's spear to prevent their use by another.
Livy records that the Romans and their early enemies would force prisoners to walk underneath a 'yoke of spears', which humiliated them. It has been surmised that this was because such a ritual involved the prisoners' warrior status being taken away. In the early Roman armies the first two lines of battle, the hastati and principes, fought with swords, while the elite triarii who formed the final line fought with spears.
Odin's spear (called Gungnir) was of ashwood, made from the "World-Tree" Yggdrasil, and it may be remarkable that Chiron's wedding-gift to Peleus when he married the nymph Thetis at a wedding attended by all the Olympians, was an ashen spear (although this could be coincidental, as the nature of ashwood with its straight grain made it an ideal choice of wood for a spear).
Also in Greek Mythology Zeus' bolts of lightning can be interpreted as a symbolic spear, and some would carry that into the spear that is frequently associated with Athena, interpreting her spear as a symbolic connection to some of Zeus' power beyond the Aegis.
Another spear of religious significance was the Spear of Destiny, an artifact believed by some to have vast mystical powers.
Sir James George Frazer in The Golden Bough noted the phallic nature of the spear and suggested that in the Arthurian Legends the spear or lance functioned as a symbol of male fertility, paired with the Grail (as a symbol of female fertility).
Types of spears
Spears which are not usually thrown
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Spears usually thrown
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Famous Spears
- Gungnir Spear of Odin, famous god in Norse mythology.
- Spear of Destiny or Lance of Longinus; Spear that pierced the side of Jesus.
- Amenonuhoko Spear of Izanagi and Izanami, creator gods in Japanese mythology .
- Spear of Lugh or Spear of Lúin named after Lugh, a god in Irish mythology.
- Gáe Bulg Spear of Cúchulainn, hero in Irish mythology.
- Trishula Spear of Shiva, a Hindu god.
- Octane Serpent Spear of Zhang Fei (Yide) from the Three Kingdoms period in China
- Posiden's Trident Greek sea god's three pronged spear given to him by the undersea Cyclops, also a Roman god Neptune
See also
- Pole weapon
- Dart
- Arrow
- Lajinaa
- Atlatl
- Woomera
- Migration period spear
- Viking Age arms and armour
- Lance
- Pike (weapon)
Notes and references
- ^ Jill D. Pruetz1 and Paco Bertolani, Savanna Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes verus, Hunt with Tools", Current Biology, March 6, 2007
- ^ Lower Palaeolithic hunting spears from Germany. Hartmut Thieme. Letters to Nature. Nature 385, 807 - 810 (27 February 1997); doi:10.1038/385807a0 [1]
- ^ Rick Weiss, "Chimps Observed Making Their Own Weapons", The Washington Post, February 22, 2007