Late Roman Shield Personalization

[Robert Vermaat]

I've been meaning to ask about this for some time. I'm sure it's been discussed/debated (probably in excruciating detail) elsewhere on RAT, but what's the prevailing wisdom on the shift from elongated flat ovals to rounder dished ones? What's the rough timeline we have? Was the shift more prevelant in some areas than others? Britain, for example, I would expect to be slightly behind the curve (pun intended) the farther you get into the V century.

The wisdom is that this changed during the 3rd c. like the rest (square scutum, gladius, pilum, lorica segnentata and Imperial Gallic helmets). There's hardly a rough timeline but I see no reason to suppose that Britain would have been lagging behind. And no reason at all to look for these changes as late as the 5th c.! Britain was a very militarised diocese, prone to see these changes earlier than, say, Spain or North Africa. Troop movements would bring these changes soon enough, and I would say the downfall of Allectus' government would be a perfect time to look for new-style arms and armour to begin arriving in Britain.