Further use of the \"furca\" as a tent pole.

[M. Demetrius]

I don't know where the leather tent fragments have been found, but no matter, that doesn't automatically restrict the geographical usage. Even if the only bits found were, say, in a Germanic peat bog, that means little. It just means that's where they were found. Legions were moved all over the Empire, so a tent found in the bog might have been used in Parthia and Egypt and Hispania previously.

The argument for linen is attractive to me, but it does not fit the "sub pellibus" word often used to mean "camping". Flax is not a hide.

So maybe leather tents were not that good on the northern provinces.

Remember that they didn't go camp just for a weekend like we do. Each conturburnium had a mule assigned to it, and the Centurion a second mule. I don't see the problem with a mule carrying the tent, and poles, especially if the ridge pole were jointed or hinged in the middle. My ridge pole for a 12' long wall tent, hinged, fits in a Toyota Camry. A mule could manage, I'd think.

Unless there were a good reason, I doubt that the camp would break if all the tentage were wet. It's not just the weight, it's the mold and mildew. That destroys leather and canvas (cotton or linen) in a short time.