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FOUND IN THE GROUND :
SPEAR-SHAFTS FROM ARCHAEOLOGY

Spear shafts do not often survive to be excavated.
Instead, we can
  • see stains where the wood once was
  • measure the distance between spearhead and butt-spike if there is one
Using these methods there are various measurments -


  • Birka - 1.8 to 3.5m, majority 2.2 to 2.4m
  • Anglo-Saxon Mucking - 1.85m to 3.54m
  • Sutton-Hoo burial 2.5m

Then there are some special finds from waterlogged sites which have preserved the shaft entire.

  • Hjørtspring Boat, 325BC _ ash wood shafts, 1.97m remaining but originally c.2m
  •  Ostrow Lednicki, Poland c.1000AD  - 3.04 and 3.21m
  • Various bog finds, Danmark., Roman Iron Age -  3.5m maximum , most shorter


OSTROW LEDNICKI  deserves a bit more detail becaus it is such an interesting site.

It may also be borne in mind that the earliest known spears - eight examples found at Schöningen near Braunschweig in Germany, are 1.82 to 2.5 metres long. Assuming the human physical factors such as height, weight and strength, are more or less constant, this range fits remarkably well with the figures above. These spears are balanced well for throwing and are associated with a lot of horse bones which may be remains of the intended targets.





PICTURES
Some are mine but I plunder the internet in good viking style. If you find your picture used here I will remove it if you want.
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