Difference between revisions of "Steel spear"

Revision as of 20:13, 31 December 2006

Description and uses

Real-life context

A spear is a versatile weapon that can be used for hunting and warfare, and in melee and as a missle. In regions of limited resources this alone was reason enough for the spear to become ubiquitous: the tool that brought down game for meals also slew animals that threatened crops and livestock also was an effective weapon in war.

A spear is a relatively low cost weapon or tool by comparison with other weapons available in the periods of the spear's greatest use. In pre-industrial societies where metals and the ability to work them are expensive materials and skills the spear was seen as "cost effective". The steel required for a sword, for example, would be sufficient to make two, three or more spear heads. A spear not only takes less metal, but does not require the same quality of material, time or ability to manufacture and the result is still a weapon of potentially lethal effect.

A spear is relatively easy to use. Again in comparison with contemporary weapons in the periods of the spear's widest use, a spear requires less training and practise to be effectively wielded. (Please note that is "effectively" not "expertly".) Modern experiments by reenactors in the United Kingdom have shown that a group of people could be trained to use spears in an effective shield wall as militia in a few weeks of part time training.

Spears are effective in several senses, some of them already mentioned. Effective in being a cost effective, relatively easy to wield weapon that could be quickly deployed to field relatively large numbers of militia. Effective in that the enemy or prey by the nature of the weapon is kept at a distance. And, finally, effective, in the sense important for all weapons: in the hands of an experienced user it is fast and lethal.

The above information was taken from the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spear.

Images

Image Source: Armeria Frinchilucci