* Codex Extoniensis, æsc-stede, “a field of battle” [HEWITT 1996: P.28]
* Beowolf, Eald æsc-wiga, “some old spear warrior” [HEWITT 1996: P.28]
===== Discussion =====
Manuscript drawings tend to be stylised and often copied older templates. Spears are depicted often and most warriors are seen to be carrying them. Unfortunately the spearheads are usually shown as a simple arrow shape which bears no resemblance to the actual spearheads found in archaeology.<br>
We do have a number of depictions of spears from stone sculptures in Britain. The carving of Christian stone crosses became popular in northern England in the 10th and 11th centuries [RICHARDS 2004: P.214].<br>
Paul Hill points out that the term æsc is only used to refer to large two-handed, long bladed weapons used by a high status warrior [HILL 2004: p.65]. He then goes on to argue that the term geir was more commonly used.<br>
<br>
== Spearheads ==
===== Archaeology =====
* England. So far I have identified 45 spearhead finds from England. 20 are of type K/M or M. 7 others are of winged form.
Most spearhead finds dated from 800AD to 1100AD in Britain are single discoveries often from rivers and are dated by their form against Petersen’s typology. <br>
We do however have a few graves in Scotland, the Isle of Man and northern England. Unfortunately most of these were excavated in the 19th Century with only basic notes about the burials being recorded. To make things even worse many of the spearheads from this era have ended up in private collections or have become ‘lost’. Haakon Shetelig [SHETELIG 1940] has helped us here by compiling a series of books of Viking Age finds from England and Scotland. These books list all of the known finds up to 1940 including some that are now lost.<br>
We do have a number of depictions of spears from stone sculptures in Britain. The carving of Christian stone crosses became popular in northern England in the 10th and 11th centuries [RICHARDS 2004: P.214].<br>
Manuscript drawings tend to be stylised and often copied older templates. Spears are depicted often and most warriors are seen to be carrying them. Unfortunately the spearheads are usually shown as a simple arrow shape which bears no resemblance to the actual spearheads found in archaeology.<br>
Paul Hill points out that the term æsc is only used to refer to large two-handed, long bladed weapons used by a high status warrior [HILL 2004: p.65]. He then goes on to argue that the term geir was more commonly used.<br>
<br>
Magi-Lougas has devided spearhead decoration into 3 types [MAGI-LOUGAS 1994] <br>
<br>
===== Type I – Silver Decoration =====
characterised by the use of different metals, or metals of different colours, to form the ornament
E-, I- K- and K-type spearheads, but also in some cases to G-type<br>
<br>===== Type II – Ringerike Style =====
1000 – 1060AD<br>
<br>===== Type III – Runic Style (Urnes) =====
1025 – 1100AD<br>
<br>
66% of the spearheads from Dublin had rivet holes with the hole size usually being between 2 to 3 mm in diameter [HALPIN 2008: p.134]. <br>
An example of Linen being used to help secure a spearhead can be found on a spearhead from Balladoyne in the Isle of Man. This type K spearhead retained traces of a fine linen fabric that had been wrapped twice around the point of the wooden shaft (BJORN and SHETELIG 1940, p.26).<br>
<br>
===Painted===
A spear shaft painted in a single colour.
Anglo-Saxon manuscripts only show spear shafts as a thin black line. Some Western European manuscripts depict thicker shafts filled in a single colour.
* Life of St Aubin, Angers Abbey c.1100AD
===== Literature =====
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===== Discussion =====
Currently we have no evidence for spear shafts being painted in more than one colour from the Viking Age.<br><br>
=== Carved ===
===== Archaeology =====Danish bog finds <br><br>
== References ==
* [*ANDROSHCHUK and TRAUSTADOTTIR 2004] Androshchuk, Fedir, and Ragnheiður Traustadottir. “A Viking Age spearhead from Kolkuós.” Framvinduskýrsla 6, 2004.