Neanderthals were constructing stone spear heads from as early as 300,000 BP, and by 250,000 years ago, wooden spears were made with fire-hardened points.ДЇrom circa 200,000 BCE onwards, Middle Paleolithic humans began to make complex stone blades with flaked edges which were used as spear heads. Wood does not preserve well, however, and Craig Stanford, a primatologist and professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California, has suggested that the discovery of spear use by chimpanzees means that early humans may have used wooden spears before this. Hunting spear and knife, from Mesa Verde National ParkДЄrchaeological evidence found in present-day Germany documents that wooden spears have been used for hunting since at least 400,000 years ago, and a 2012 study from the site of Kathu Pan in South Africa suggests that hominids, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, may have developed the technology of hafted stone-tipped spears in Africa about 500,000 years ago. It was used in virtually every conflict up until the modern era, where even then it continues on in the form of the fixed bayonet on a long gun, and is probably the most commonly used weapon in history. As a weapon, it may be wielded with either one or two hands. Along with the club, knife, and axe, it is one of the earliest and most important tools developed by early humans. The spear has been used throughout human history both as a hunting and fishing tool and as a weapon. Spears can be divided into two broad categories: those designed for thrusting as a melee weapon and those designed for throwing as a ranged weapon (usually referred to as javelins or darts). The word spear comes from the Old English spere, from the Proto-Germanic speri, from a Proto-Indo-European root *sper- 'spear, pole'. The heads of fishing spears usually feature barbs or serrated edges.

The most common design for hunting or combat spears since ancient times has incorporated a metal spearhead shaped like a triangle, lozenge, or leaf. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to the shaft, such as bone, flint, obsidian, iron, steel, or bronze. Spear-armed hoplite from Greco-Persian WarsДЄ spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head.

Hunting sear