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Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Caballo - 06-13-2010
Am reading through the superb Carlisle Millenium project (Vol 2- the Finds), which also has a DVD with Vols 1, 2, and 3 on it- very good value at £25. Seriously recommended- scale armour, early Newstead lorica fragments, a lorica breastplate with a bolt hole in it, manicae ( I need to revise my article), leather saddle covers, part of a wooden saddle frame, a decorated spear head, etc. etc.
This thread aims to focus on the discovery that on some fragments of a lorica find, the conservation works indicates that these may have been painted black. The article is from page 687 of the book, written by our Mike Bishop and C Howard-Davis.
"a few fragments where conservation seems to suggest that some of the armour could have been painted black."
In the opening section, page 496 (author unstated) :-
"most of the plate armour is of the Corbridge type, characteristic of the mid-first to mid-second century AD, or the Newstead type, characteristic of the mid-second to mid-third century. Made from hammered or rolled iron sheet, it would have originally been silvery grey in appearance, but would presumably have changed its colour through time, and depending on circumstance, could have been a range of colours from a metalllic grey to rust red. Copper alloy fittings would, of course, originally have been pinkish or brassy in colour, but would have dulled and in their most neglected state become green. Conservation has suggested that some fragments of armour were painted black which adds a new element to their appearance; it might simply have stopped it from rusting, but also raises the possibility that there were times when it was not prudent to stand out in the landscape."
I was lucky enough to have a tour round the Royal Armouries last month with the Academic Director (nice bloke and very knowledgeable). We discussed blueing and blackening armour. The RA collection is more medieval and later, but he showed me several pieces of black painted armour- for example from Germany where black and white armour was used for decoration. Piece below not from the Royal Armouries, but as an illustration.
http://www.livesteelarmor.com/hm/bwamr.html
We also discussed forge blackened and blued armour. Forge blackened armour was often used where you needed to kit troops out quickly and the examples we looked at showed the hammer marks clearly still there- ie not polished out. It was also a good rust inhibitor and often seen in paintings of the time, especially of the common man in armour.
Blued armour he saw in medieval times as being more decorative and less effective against rust- often used with decorative inlays.
I am very sensitive to the danger of taking a medieval view and putting it back in time to Roman times- but there may be some useful insights there.
A thought- when you are on the edge of Empire in a wet, cold, north west province, you are more likely to be able to customise your kit to local conditions and get away without it being as shiny as a Rome-based Praetorian might want it back at "head office". You see the same things in Afghanistan today. And black painted lorica would contrast well with the copper alloy fittings and edgings. And only some of the finds from Carlisle indicate black painting- not all.
Oh, and another thing. The copper alloy binding of an Imperial Gallic / Italic helmet cheekpiece was found. Nothing too unusual there- except that "interestingly, conservation suggests that it bound leather rather than iron"......
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - jvrjenivs - 06-13-2010
Hi Paul, do you have a ISBN or something like that. Just did a small search on it, but couldn't find. Seems very interesting. (as I'm also very interested in the saddle finds)
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - jvrjenivs - 06-13-2010
Ah, found it already. Had to do a better search
And ordered 
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Caballo - 06-13-2010
Here you go (I got mine from Oxbow).
The Carlisle Millennium Project: Excavations in Carlisle, 1998-2001, Volume 2: The Finds
by Christine Howard-Davis
From 1997 to 2001, works associated with Carlisle City Council's Gateway City (Millennium) Project on castle Way and Castle Gardens provided an important opportunity to conduct a programme of archaeological excavations on the site of the Roman fort at Carlisle, and to examine the development of part of the medieval castle, which occupies most of the fort site. Five main areas were investigated prior to the construction of the Castle Way (Irish Gate) footbridge and the Millennium Gallery and underpass, in what was the largest archaeological excavation undertaken in Carlisle since the early 1800s.
The results of the work will greatly enhance understanding of the development of the fort during the Roman period, and of Carlisle's role in the origins and development of the Tyne-Solway frontier system. Important evidence for occupation within the medieval castle's outer ward was also recovered, and the large ditch separating the castle from the city was investigated. Waterlogging of the lower levels resulted in exceptional preservation of organic materials, which rarely survive on archaeological sites in Britain. These included the remains of numerous wooden buildings and other structures within two superimposed timber forts of the late first- to mid-second century AD, a multiplicity of wooden and leather artefacts of Roman and medieval date, and a wealth of environmental information.
Volume 2 presents detailed evidence of the artefacts and ecofacts from the site. It draws together the many reports produced by specialist researchers into a synthesis and discussion. This sheds light on day-to-day activity in and about both the Roman forts and medieval outer ward of the castle and illustrates the lives of those who built and inhabited the buildings within them. Much of the detailed project data have been compiled into a third, digital, volume; this takes the form of a DVD accompanying this book. 1000p (Oxford Archaeology 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0-904220-57-5
ISBN-10: 0-904220-57-5
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - mcbishop - 06-13-2010
Quote:"a few fragments where conservation seems to suggest that some of the armour could have been painted black."
In the opening section, page 496 (author unstated) :-
"most of the plate armour is of the Corbridge type, characteristic of the mid-first to mid-second century AD, or the Newstead type, characteristic of the mid-second to mid-third century. Made from hammered or rolled iron sheet, it would have originally been silvery grey in appearance, but would presumably have changed its colour through time, and depending on circumstance, could have been a range of colours from a metalllic grey to rust red. Copper alloy fittings would, of course, originally have been pinkish or brassy in colour, but would have dulled and in their most neglected state become green. Conservation has suggested that some fragments of armour were painted black which adds a new element to their appearance; it might simply have stopped it from rusting, but also raises the possibility that there were times when it was not prudent to stand out in the landscape."
Anything unattributed is by the main volume author (in this case Christine). Looking through my notes suggests that I never actually saw this piece. This is not as surprising as it might seem, given the huge amount of stuff that came from the site and, as a specialist, I was pointed to the larger pieces (although the conservator, Jenny Jones, fed me other stuff to look at when I went to Durham to work on the armguards and provided me with comprehensive illustrated conservation reports on everything from the deposits in question).
Sometimes, as a specialist, you just want to be left alone to rootle through the boxes of junk/can't identify/odds'n'ends to see what you can find, but time, funding, circumstances, and above all volume of material (particularly in the case of Carlisle Millennium - my jaw dropped when I first saw all the military equipment and, frankly, I was a tad more excited by the Newstead lorica seg backplate with intact shoulder hinge than I was about the armguards - seen one, seen 'em all ;-) ) ) do not always make this possible. Being allowed to do that has, in the past, revealed a decorated dagger scabbard in the store at Corbridge and a ring-pommel amongst the Chesters ironwork, both completely ignored since the day they were excavated.
As for it being paint, well I wouldn't get too excited. The Carlisle deposits in question contained every form of goo, gunk, and gunge under the sun, along with the more familiar bits and pieces, so since any form of paint used was going to be as organic as anything non-painty (if you catch my drift) I would be hard put to it to say definitively that this is not something that has just oozed over the plate, rather than it being deliberately 'painted' (which is not the same as blackening or bluing, of course) and I sincerely doubt Jenny would have come out and said 'oooh, it's paint!' without hedging it round with all sorts of caveats, 'might be's, and so on. It doesn't warrant a mention in the conservation report in Appendix 4 of the DVD so was clearly not that earth shattering.
Basically, this is not as cut-and-dried as, say, the tinned plate from Xanten. My advice would be to bear it in mind for the day that something much less equivocal comes to light.
Mike Bishop
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Matthew Amt - 06-13-2010
Also like to see if that "paint" is on the OUTside or the INside....
Matthew
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Gaius Julius Caesar - 06-17-2010
This was discussed by someone over theweekend, same question, was the paint on the insode or outside.
Also the leather cheekpiece edged in copper..that is interesting. Was it definately only leather, no evidence of a metal component?
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Caratacus - 06-24-2010
Two things I found of great interest in this report (apart from the lorica segmentata, of course!)
(1) The use of both iron and copper alloy scales in the lorica squamata, arranged in a decorative pattern. This isn't the first time I've seen this in print - but it may be the clearest indication I've seen so far that this was done for decorative purposes, rather than a running repair.
(2) The way that the lames of the armguards overlap. So far as I am aware, the Leon manica was, prior to this Carlisle discovery, the only complete armguard that we had (i.e. articulated, rather than individual lames). Some of the pictorial/sculptural evidence (e.g. some of the metopes from the Adamclisi monument) seemed to indicate that the lames overlapped like the tiles on a house roof - i.e. the overlap was downwards, from the shoulder (actually in the same fashion as the girdle plates on the segmentata armour). The Leon guard, however, overlapped the other way around. Mike B argued (I think - no doubt he'll tell me if I'm wrong) that this was logical, as a blow to the arm would have slid up into the elbow area, where the bend would overlap the plates here, so increasing the protection.
It wasn't the arguement that worried me, so much as the use of a specific case to argue that this was the general way things were done (scientists are always taught that you never proceed from the particular to the general!)
"You never get nowhere by bein' 'asty!"Mike Thomas
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Caballo - 06-24-2010
Thanks Mike. There is another virtually complete iron manica from Rumania- but as yet unpublished.....but it also supports the under-lapping approach as far as I can make out.
I've also worn a reconstruction manica a fair bit, and it works, with suprisingly little constraint on movement (e.g. I can still draw a sword on my right side with my right hand).
And I agree re the scales section. Very interesting!
Cheers
Caballo
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - Astiryu1 - 06-24-2010
I see a lor-i-ca and want to paint it black... :lol:
This is pretty cool! If it was paint is it flat or glossy? It would probably be hard to tell but the ramifications are flat=camouflage and gloss=decoration. At least to most viewpoints. The goo thing is understandable and in some conditions staining could occur.
Re: Carlisle find: Black painted lorica and more - mcbishop - 06-24-2010
Quote:Thanks Mike. There is another virtually complete iron manica from Rumania- but as yet unpublished.....but it also supports the under-lapping approach as far as I can make out.
The good news is that my Romanian contacts tell me it is about to be (interpret that how you will) published... and the bad news is that it has been lost!
Mike Bishop