RomanArmyTalk

Gloves? That's what they were for?

http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewvideo/...ry_solved/

Wow! This is awesome! Not directly 'proven', but the fact that this works is a very compelling argument... You'd have to come up with something at least equally convincing to beat this hypothesis...

This would solve a very old mystery! :woot:

I only don't know of any evidence for the Romans to use the kniting technique... As far as I do understand it differs significantly from the Naalbinding technique that the Romans did use a lot.

While I tend to agree with Jurjen, in recent years, I have become more convinced that everything we say the Romans did not do or did not have should be very CAREFULLY weighed. Even if direct evidence has not been found, the idea that two things could not be combined is dangerously naïve. For instance.....although OT......The only two squamata scales found with a rib are from Masada and there is another fragmented scale from England. Tons of sculptures show ribbed armor and YET the finds are insignificant in number and the Masada one may have belonged to a zealot. So.....are we to assume that the Romans NEVER EVER had ribbed armor? I think the conclusion is futile because if it existed ANYWHERE in the Roman provinces and they had contact with it......and the fact that scale-mail hybrids were also ribbed....there had to be at some point or other a soldier with ribbed squamata. It cannot be that EVERY sculpture is stylized or that EVERY sculptor did not know anything about equipment......

Have a look at these socks from Egypt. How can me say these are or are not Naalbinding?? I know someone who made an exact copy using crochet hock:

Cheers

Certainly ingenious!

Same technique in miniature here which I was taught by my mother when I was a child. You end up with a column of knitted wool which can then be sewn together to make almost anything. It is not far off naalbinding in many respects, and perhaps rather than knitting five fingered gloves (although ingenious) one simply selected the size of knitted hole one required to produce a similar column of knitted wool - or any other material for that matter - flax, possibly hemp?

The issue with it is that the wool can only be wrapped around the knob five times, which means the stitch is weak in those areas.

Those socks date from roughly 350-450 AD. I've seen some great replicas of them too, and yes they were made with Naalbinding. I need to get a set for my Late Roman impression.

Also, can someone post a picture of "Ribbed" armor please? I honestly don't know what you're talking about.

Quote:Also, can someone post a picture of "Ribbed" armor please? I honestly don't know what you're talking about.

Try this thread, Evan:
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/17-roman-mi...tml#297192

Quote:The issue with it is that the wool can only be wrapped around the knob five times, which means the stitch is weak in those areas.

Not sure I understand this, Evan? Can you explain, please?

I saw someone mention it on FB RAT. I'll link you to it.

Quote:the general concensus on the various historic knitting sites is fair play to them for trying this, but utterly implausible, both from the perspective that we have zero evidence of the Romans using knitting (though they do have nalbinding which looks superficially similar until you examine the structure) but also from a technical point, whatever you 'knit' on these is limited to 5 stitches (one per knobble) and would result in an impractical, poorly fitting item. Just because you can do something with an item doesn't mean that's what it was actually used for.

Seems a sadly hidebound attitude to me.

How so "an impractical, poorly fitted item" - has she made one then?

No.1 I thought Naalbinding was of Scandinavian Origin, as Romans did, they adopted something that was good and worked.
No.2 Naalbinding is a very time consuming and ....ARGH thing to do, ask anyone who has done it.
No 3 Poorly fitting item....What was a Roman Tunics size then, impractible?, poorly fitting?.....hell yes, all tunics were..
No 5 Historic knitting sites say no.....have they tried it?
I am not having a dig at Evan, I think he knows that, but at the response given. Once again it seems that some people who have not had the need to wear the stuff, say it does not exists.
One thing I can assure you all........its not a Roman Rubics Cube.
Kevin

It might be for making toe socks, different size holes for different sizes big toes....

Whatever it is its mighty clever ;-)

Sally Pointer is one of the foremost authorities on this kind of thing, so her opinion carries a lot of weight. How the celtic group thought of this is extremely imaginative, and it seems that this was one of their first attempts. Perhaps after four or five tries it will look better?

I have no doubt she is an expert, but until she actually uses one I stand by my statement.

It's a bit like everyone quoting Ann Hyland and ancient cavalry and taking everything she says as Gospel.

Quote:

Magister Militum Flavius Aetius post=356032 Wrote:Also, can someone post a picture of "Ribbed" armor please? I honestly don't know what you're talking about.

Try this thread, Evan:
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/17-roman-mi...tml#297192

Oh, I know what these are now, yeah they remind me immediately of these: