08-02-2013, 11:14 AM
I think that we have to be very careful about drawing conclusions from such a small basis. The Dacian Wars of Trajan were fought between AD 102-6 and Hadrian reigned from AD 117 to 138 - so only around 30 years span. Mention has been made of the Imperial Gallic 'J' helmets coming in to use in this period, but there are only three of these known, and the best-preserved one (in the museum, (here), at Caerleon isn't even reliably dated. It came originally from Bregetio in Hungary and there is a reference to it in a 1914 French publication - but that's it! The 'J' type seems to be characterised by a brow guard set at a steep angle, and parallel to a large neck guard, suggesting that he soldier who wore it fought in a crouched position. Is this a distinct 'type' - or is it (and the other two known examples) a "Friday afternoon" job?
The Romans were a very conservative people. They seemed to have followed the maxim that: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If they saw a need to make a change, then this would be done (e.g. the added bars across the top of the helmet, supposedly in response to the use of the Dacian falx weapon - although I've seen some doubts expressed recently about this idea). It should be noted that, whereas the Trajanic column makes extensive reference to lorica segmentata armour, none of the roughly contemporaneous Adamklissi monument metopes shows that type of armour at all, only mail and scale types. Unfortunately, the armour shown on the TC isn't detailed enough to be able to say whether any of it is of the Newstead variety. There is mounting evidence to indicate that, at least by the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD, both Corbridge and Newstead types were co-existing.
Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
The Romans were a very conservative people. They seemed to have followed the maxim that: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If they saw a need to make a change, then this would be done (e.g. the added bars across the top of the helmet, supposedly in response to the use of the Dacian falx weapon - although I've seen some doubts expressed recently about this idea). It should be noted that, whereas the Trajanic column makes extensive reference to lorica segmentata armour, none of the roughly contemporaneous Adamklissi monument metopes shows that type of armour at all, only mail and scale types. Unfortunately, the armour shown on the TC isn't detailed enough to be able to say whether any of it is of the Newstead variety. There is mounting evidence to indicate that, at least by the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD, both Corbridge and Newstead types were co-existing.
Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
