Antler Spear Heads

[Alex Hovorka]

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[Alex Hovorka]

I found this picture of spear heads found in the Hjortspring bog.
http://oldtiden.natmus.dk/typo3temp/pics/1f9f0faa8c.jpg

In other articles it mentioned a few antler and bone spear heads being found. I would imagined them being shaped somewhat like iron spear heads and probably tanged, though in this picture there just seems to be antler spikes with a hole in the side. They seem to be cone shaped too. To me this looks like they might have been made into a socket and riveted. Considering the size this means that the shaft would pretty far into the antler itself for the rivet to be effective, more like a sheath for a sharpened stick. From this picture its impossible t see if they are hallow or not.

Not being flat seems like it also suggests that they were not for hand to hand combat but for throwing considering a puncture from a thrust would probably not disable the opponent, though I've never stabbed anyone with an antler spike so I don't know how effective it would be. If anyone knows more about spike weapons and their effectiveness please speak up.

For those Germanic re-enactors out there a couple antler tipped javelins would be an interesting piece of equipment to carry. I know I'm going to make some.

Does anyone have anymore information on these antler tips?

[Alex Hovorka]

Any info on any antler or bone tips would be nice actually.

[Bob Roeder]

Alex,

I corresponded with a German "Germanic" reenactor who had a antler-tipped spear (a al Hortspring find) from one of the Roman reenactor's forums.

I believe he saw the tips first-hand, and it seemed to him that the hole was for an iron pin, which is how he made his - Yes, the spear shaft fits into a hollow base of the tip. He said the problem with them is that one he tried using didn't hold up very well because the shaft split the tip, which doesn't appear to be the case with the ones from Hortspring. I wonder if it depends on how green OR dried out and brittle the antler is, which may affect its durability as a weapon. I was also thinking they may have been cheap disposable (or ersatz) javelins. Also, why are some bleached white and some dark? Are they bone or antler or some of both???

I'm planning to make a few myself. one a longer spear, and possibly a few javelin size.

Bob

[Alex Hovorka]

I'm so glad you had some information and that I was accurate.

[Alex Hovorka]

I wonder why people assume their spear tips if their just riveted cones? Isn't that a classic spear but shape?

[Bob Roeder]

I wonder why people assume their spear tips if their just riveted cones? Isn't that a classic spear but shape?

Hi Alex,

I was reading some postings on another forum (MyArmoury.com) and under the thread Weapons and Arms of the Germanic Tribesmen circa 1 AD the following was offered:

"Piotr Łuczkiewicz writing about the weaponry of the Vandals in the pre roman iron age in the Przeworsk culture (last 3rd of the 1st cent BC) found that metal weapons are much more abundant amongst the eastern tribes. Spears and lances predominate and whilst some had bone or antler tips many were of metal. The tips are of celtic form, but longer, some 50 cm long and 8 cm wide though there are a great number of shorter tips of between 20-30 cm. Swords too are of La Tene types, again at first imported and later modified copies were made locally, reflecting increased lengths. Single edged short swords start to appear at the beginning of the 1st cent BC in the Oksywie Kultur on the southern shores of the Baltic. At the start of this period, these are few and far between. Their numbers increase markedly in the latter half of the 1st cent. BC. These finds support Tacitus' statement about the Rugians. "

I wish I could find this source, but then unfortunately I don't read very much German; the poster added this at the end of his post:

Łuczkiewicz's paper, Die Bewaffnung der Vandalen Während der Vorrömischen Eisenzeit is one of 12 papers on the Vandals which are, along with 4 other papers about their neighbours, the Goths, the Balts, the Burgundians and the Heruls published in Die Vandalen. Die Könige - Die Eliten - Die Krieger - Die Handwerker, a compilation for the museum exposition which was held at Schloss Beversen in 2003. It has a lot of photos of the exhibits and many line drawings but, it is only available in German and the detail is in the text. There are no tables from which information can be gleaned and the indexing for the line drawings are not helpful.


Hope this was of interest.
Bob

[Alex Hovorka]

Very interesting.