Changes

Lugged spear-heads of this kind, sometimes referred to as the Carolingian type, are common from Viking contexts from the 9th century onwards, both in Scandinavia and England, but the most recent studies cautiously point out that it can no longer be regarded as exclusively Scandinavian in character.

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Though Petersen used the lugs as diagnostic features for his typology of spears, recent scholars have very properly challenged the notion that they serve as chronological or stylistic indicators. Because the lugs have a function in preventing too deep a penetration of the blade, this type of spear was used primarily as a hunting weapon, since with it the animal could be more easily held at bay. So successful was it that it survived in use until the end of the Middle Ages. That it was so employed is demonstrated by the 10th-century cross Middleton A, near Pickering, which depicts a stag hunt with the huntsman wielding a lugged spear. Signe Horn Fuglesang's [FUGLESANG 1980: P.136] discussion of such sockets has convincingly removed the lug as a typological factor, and as a chronological criterion too.

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