A question... Scuta and reenacting

[Marcus Hortensius Castus]

salve!

What are the dimensions to a republican scuta? Also, what type of wood is used by those who make them for the shield-long boss? I am putting together an ancient history camp here in southwestern new mexico and the kids in my first group know what a "typical" 1-2c AD legionare looks like, but some want to know what the earlier legion looked like, pre-and directly after marius's reforms. This is why in earlier posts and threads I was leaning towards the Hamata over segmenta.

ALSO, on the Romanarmy.com main page on the reconstruction/reenactor's gallery on the very last page is a few pictures of Roman soldiers that appear to be some form of praetorian guard, complete with early oval scutum and attic helmets with muscle armor. What exactly do they represent? just wondering.
Thanks!

EDIT: I found Legio VI's website and that answered my questions as to the praetorian!

[Matt Lukes]

Salve Caste,

Well the Kasr al-Harit shield (also referred to as the Fayum shield) is dated I believe to the 3rd century BC (the reference I have states the site was where Celtic mercenaries were given land at that time) and although it may not be Roman, it's of the style that the Republican scutum is supposed to have been. It's made of three layers of birch strips, measures 1.28x0.64m and is 1.25cm thick in the middle and 0.95cm at the edges. It also has remnants of glue-soaked felt on its surfaces. I belive Polybios' description of the Republican scutum says it's about 1.25mx0.75m. He doesn't mention the type of wood and gets it wrong by saying there are only two layers of strips, so he's not the most reliable source :wink: It's likely that many kinds of wood were used- the Dura shield fragments are of several species, planewood comes to mind as one of them.