The Spear - King of Weapons? Or Just a Pointy Stick?

The spear is not as chronically overlooked as the axe, but still not usually given as much attention as the sword, so here we go. A few observations about the pros and cons, usage, and importance in history. Also some examples to illustrate the wide variety of designs.

Battle Axes - How Underrated Are They?
https://youtu.be/OGy5fUZoNlI

Arms & Armor 12th Century Spear VS. Riveted Mail and Ballistic Gel
https://youtu.be/NGSL7XApz2s

Sword vs. Polearm - Can You Just CUT it Off?
https://youtu.be/_Fa-3gUhxC0
Sources:

The oldest spears:
https://phys.org/news/2012-11-archaeologists-spear-half-million-years.html
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121115141542.htm
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=2981
https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/schoninger-spears-mankinds-earliest-wooden-weapons

Yulia Shtyryakova, A quest for the atgeir: the unknown Viking weapon in Icelandic sagas and archaeological data
https://content.sciendo.com/configurable/contentpage/journals$002fapd$002f7$002f1$002farticle-p27.xml

Historical manuscripts
https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Category:Staff_Weapons
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