He encontrado estos comentarios sobre el uso de lanzas y jabalinas en una web inglesa de simuladores históricos, www.regia.org , me han parecido bastante interesantes:
Although a javelin weighs a pound or two ( one kilo ), it develops enough inertia when thrown to go straight through a lime wood shield, whether it is clad in leather or not, and possibly into the owner of the shield at the same time. When we tried a javelin against a cloth covered pig carcass, it nearly passed all the way through the body, and with mail on, it only managed to penetrate some 5 inches ( 13 cms ) or so. We also discovered that such a weapon does not even need to be sharp to be successful.
The spear was, without doubt, the commonest weapon of this period and its almost universal use within all ranks and cultures testifies to its effectiveness. It is a weapon that can make an untrained man fairly dangerous very quickly. It keeps your enemy at a fair distance, and most importantly cheap to make. The ash shaft being easy to acquire, and a relative small amount of expensive iron necessary for the blade. Even a poorly made spear could be dangerous. This cannot be said of the other weapons available then.
The spear was retained for as long as possible in a battle and it is probably for this reason that the armoured fighting glove was apparently considered a waste of time, if it was considered at all. Some of the spears found in Scandinavian contexts have an almost rapier-like blade in appearance; others tended to be squatter. At any rate, it must be said that even the best mail and padding would not be proof against a strong thrust from such weapons.
Spears were generally used in an overarm technique, ( this can be seen in period manuscripts ), which meant the prime targets were the face ( particularly the eyes, the weakest part of the skull ), the throat and upper chest; there being little sense in embedding the blade too permanently in your opponents shield. One big advantage of this method of using a spear is that there was no need to change the grip in order to throw it.
Goblin
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