lanza

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Find coordinates (within 5 meters): 38.420335, -6.448073

Description: This palm-sized piece of quartz (shot through with iron ore) appears to have been ground into the form of a biface lanza, or spearhead. The piece has two notable characteristics: its tang, or stem which would have fit into a wooden haft, is partially intact. It’s been chipped diagonally but the break is clean, suggesting trauma rather than weathering as the cause of its current state. The other notable characteristic is its edge, which appears to travel from front to back over its parabolic course from flared corner to flared corner, crossing from the front side to the back side at the piece’s point. This edge migration from front to back appears to have been a planned result built into the design of the lanza.

Let’s say you study the piece edge-on (and there are photos of this view in the slideshow above) and held vertically. Notice the top-right and bottom-left edges have been ground to form diagonal planes reminiscent of the flat of a modern propeller. This design is present in other pieces I’ve found on the mountain. I presume that this was done to help the spear to shed air and turn over in its flight toward its target.