10-20-2006, 05:27 PM
Welcome to the Forum Dario
11 Laudes points for a single post is that something of a record?
It seems that while there are a number of people who might disagree with you there are possibly many others remaining silent who might support you.
You may have seen some of my own work in reconstruction art. I like to use archaeological sources wherever possible but in many types of reconstruction this is not always possible.
Combining archaeological sources with ancient iconography and literary sources is extremely difficult. What is very frustrating for us today is that sometimes the Roman artists are very accurate in their depictions of armour and equipment but at other times they seem to show things which do not seem possible.
However this may be more the fault of us rather than the ancient artist. In this I am reminded of a quote by the respected textile historian and archaeologist John Peter Wild who wrote in his book 'Textile manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces', Cambridge 1970:
"Many trades and crafts which were once a familiar part of the lives of the inhabitants of the Northern Roman provinces were still being used up to a hundred years ago. But most have now been transformed out of all recognition by the rapid advance of modern science and technology. The layman has a reasonable excuse for pleading ignorance of them. But the archaeologist cannot afford to neglect any aspect of the work of the ancient craftsman simply because he does not immediately understand it on the basis of his own experience".
How much evidence for leather armour may have been lost in the past or lie unrecognized in museum collections? How many of today's archaeologists would recognize pieces of leather Roman armour if they saw it? Especially if the modern academic view is that it did not exist at all and that anyone who might think that it does is quite mad.
Graham.
11 Laudes points for a single post is that something of a record?
It seems that while there are a number of people who might disagree with you there are possibly many others remaining silent who might support you.
You may have seen some of my own work in reconstruction art. I like to use archaeological sources wherever possible but in many types of reconstruction this is not always possible.
Combining archaeological sources with ancient iconography and literary sources is extremely difficult. What is very frustrating for us today is that sometimes the Roman artists are very accurate in their depictions of armour and equipment but at other times they seem to show things which do not seem possible.
However this may be more the fault of us rather than the ancient artist. In this I am reminded of a quote by the respected textile historian and archaeologist John Peter Wild who wrote in his book 'Textile manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces', Cambridge 1970:
"Many trades and crafts which were once a familiar part of the lives of the inhabitants of the Northern Roman provinces were still being used up to a hundred years ago. But most have now been transformed out of all recognition by the rapid advance of modern science and technology. The layman has a reasonable excuse for pleading ignorance of them. But the archaeologist cannot afford to neglect any aspect of the work of the ancient craftsman simply because he does not immediately understand it on the basis of his own experience".
How much evidence for leather armour may have been lost in the past or lie unrecognized in museum collections? How many of today's archaeologists would recognize pieces of leather Roman armour if they saw it? Especially if the modern academic view is that it did not exist at all and that anyone who might think that it does is quite mad.
Graham.
"Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream" Edgar Allan Poe.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
"Every brush-stroke is torn from my body" The Rebel, Tony Hancock.
"..I sweated in that damn dirty armor....TWENTY YEARS!', Charlton Heston, The Warlord.
