Some Sarauter revisionism

[Kineas]

Friends,
I was in Greece the last three weeks and I visited the National Archaeological Museum four times, as well as the other standards--the Agora Museum, the Benaki, etc, etc.

I had the chance to visit the NAM with Giannis, and we noticed something that was new to us.

Sarauters are hollow in the Archaic and Classical period. They are hollow from the entry point of the shaft to within about 2 cm of the tip.

As far as I could tell,there are no exceptions, and now that I know what to look for, I can't find any sign of solid ones in Angriffswaffen from the Olympia series, either.

This matters, because if true, it means that the sarauter DOES NOT balance the weight of the shaft. Far from it--most of the ones I saw would weigh a little less than a mid-sized spear head in period, or a very little more than the smallest heads. And for those of you who don't have the Olympia books, I'll add that many of the side-wall appear to be thin sheet metal, and some sarauters are as small as the ferule on a walking stick.

In addition, there is almost NO solid part. Careful examination suggests that the shaft ran all the way through the hollow, or close to it, and that sarauters snapped where the shaft ended--which to me suggests that the shafts of these spears DID NOT break in battle, but perhaps the sarauters did. That's my guess based on the way they have sheered.

As a final note, thanks to Giannis, I now have a cornel-wood shaft which may be a walking stick in my final kit or may be a spear shaft. I have this to say about it, though. Cornel wood is thin the way the illustrations show shaft size. it has a NATURAL taper that is remarkable. It is also about the toughest stuff I've ever held. The man who made my stick (4'6" long) flexed it between his hands about 15 degrees and dared me to try to break it. I'm not weak. I couldn't break it.