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Spears
are basically any weapon with a wooden shaft and pointed tip
used exclusively for thrusting and throwing; the spear is
more a category than a particular weapon design. Simple wooden
spears have been around since the beginning of human history.
Spear points have been made of every conceivable material which
can be edged or pointed: wood, stone, bone, animal spines,
and metal. Throwing spears were generally very long while thrusting
spears tended to be shorter. The basic spear, when used for
thrusting, was the ancestor of all weapons in the polearm group
(the idea being to fight your enemy at arms length or
greater).
As a combat weapon, throwing spears had one very significant
disadvantage: they could be used only once unless your enemy
decided to throw them back at you. For this reason, most spearmen
always carried a secondary weapon such as a sword, axe, or
mace for use in close quarters fighting.
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