Here's how muskrat spears come out of the soil around here!

[Ia.FurTrade]

As you can see, iron stuff does not fare well!
HH! Dale

[Rege-PA]

Hi IA.....neat stuff, your spear appears to be a local/ blacksmith made example, does it have evidence of the side tang at the top? Condition might be a factor of site location, if it is low and retains water, iron items might not fare too well.

[Rege-PA]

Patina is right on...There will be more variation as to length of spear and distance between barbs on the earlier blacksmith examples. The English kind of standardized the measurements in the later period. Just a thought, I have not seen any trident type frog/fish spears that were more common in the great lakes areas during later periods come from any fur trade sites. Ice chisels are a common trade item listed in the old records so maybe the "Muskrat Spear" did double duty on sturgeon and pike?

[Ia.FurTrade]

It was bent in a complete "U"! I was lucky to straighten it without breaking. The end does seem to have a natural taper. The front barb is as big as the back one.....just doesn't show in the scan.
Most stuff from these sites is 1780-1820.