[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[JaM]

Mathew backed his claim by archaeological findings.. he mentioned multiple pieces of speartips and sauroters, their weight etc.. its all in his book which you didnt care to read..  similarly, he also mentioned a study of over 150 pieces of armors from Olympias, which practically didn't contain any hits from  wide speartips impacting them from the upper trajectory.. only small javelin heads...

about height, as mentioned before, earlier study mentioned hoplite spear being usually 1.5x higher than a man using it.. his "spear" is just above his head, it doesn't have sauroter,  so balance is adjusted towards front. also as he mentioned in some other video, his spear is not made of ash, as there are none in his area. So making assumptions with all these inaccuracies is just way too much to take it..

also, his claims about spears being always used like this, is also very problematic, as so far, besides  pictures of Normans which show javelin throws, i'm not aware of any  actual portrayal of spear use in overarm, besides the Greek vases. (if there are any, i'd like to see them)  Only other culture that we know of that definitely used overarm grip are Zulu, but they used much shorter spear for it, as a supplement of a javelin they used as well.. and btw, spear and shield was well used even in Renaissance,  Soldiers from Italian States used them for quite some time.


Yet, i give him one thing. that throwing attack is interesting way how to use a javelin for close combat.. but i would not want to be in reach of a spearmen while doing this...

here is the quote about armors:

Perhaps the most telling sign that the overhead position was not used to wield the thrusting spear in combat comes from the damage left by weapons on the armour worn by the hoplite. Any thrusting attack delivered with a weapon held in the overhead position will follow a downward-curving trajectory. However, there is no evidence of any weapon impacting with a piece of hoplite armour in this manner. A forensic survey of more than 300 helmets, 100 greaves, shields, breastplates, thigh guards and groin protectors (dated from the eighth to the fifth centuries BC) housed in the collection of the Deutsche Archaeological Institute at Olympia in Greece found evidence of weapon impacts on more than 150 pieces of defensive armour. Of these, not one helmet had been struck with a weapon following the downward-curving trajectory of an overhead thrust; all damage had been received from weapons following a shallow upward path.

btw, did anybody seen that study in detail? was it released for public? Maybe worth a try contacting somebody from that institute about details..

http://www.ifa.de/en/culture-and-foreign...ramme.html



p.s: i'll email Chris to ask if he wants to elaborate on his book here.