Herculaneum soldier

[mcbishop]

All the bling everyone keeps talking about with the gladius, is, according the Bishop & Coulston, Roman Military Equipment (2nd ed - page 107) simply a second belt which was wrapped around the sword. The soldier was carrying it, not wearing it. The gladius appeared to be attached to this second belt. The leather would have long since vanished, like his skin, etc. did, but wood carbonizes and can in certain circumstances survive in that carbonized state-witness some of the finds of carbonized food items at Pompeii.

Well you can't believe anything they say. Actually, leather can survive as a mineral-preserved organic, pretty much the same process as fossilization except the organic component is replaced by iron oxide (in a best case scenario you can allegedly identify leather by species), and a number of examples of leather survive in this way, including the internal leathers in the Corbridge Hoard armour. If you look at the photo reproduced above there is material beneath the discs-and-terminal-with-wiggly-edges thingy and above the embossed scabbard which might represent leather (but it could also be a number of other things, including general organic crud or perhaps even a blade) - it is impossible in such cases to be certain without examining the object itself or the X-rays (which one assumes have been taken). Wood will also mineralize, by the way, and the depositional conditions prevailing at Herculaneum differed markedly from those at Pompeii, due to the circumstances.

Mike Bishop