Polybius, horse archers arrows, roman armour, oh my.

[Matthew Amt]

only bodkin head arrows would have a chance of piercing good quality heavy mail at relatively close range,trilobite head arrows would be far less effective.

Interestingly, all surviving medieval bodkin arrowheads have been shown to be unhardened wrought iron, and quite light in weight. The heavier broadheads turn out to be very high-quality hardened steel, and 3 times as common as bodkins. Since medieval English archers were typically supposed to carry 18 heavy "sheaf" arrows and half a dozen light "flight" arrows, the only conclusion is that bodkins were flight arrowheads, shaped to fly a long way, while the broadheads were the armor-piercers.

I've got a tanged ancient arrowhead that is basically a short bodkin. I've also got a socketed trilobate one that really isn't much bigger. Either one *might* go through mail, given enough force. I just don't think it was a common occurrance.

Vale,

Matthew