10-22-2004, 06:29 PM
Heresy time:<br>
<br>
The number of girth hoops/girdle plates (call them what you will) was probably - if you are stupid enough to ask me - <em>not</em> linked to the type of armour but to the size of the wearer. Before Stillfried the hypothesis ran eight for the Corbridge A, seven for the Corbridge B/C, and six for the Newstead <em>because</em> Robinson believed in the decline of the number of hoops with time. To be fair, based on the Corbridge Hoard (and the absence of an actual find of Newstead girth hoops other than the enigmatic Zugmantel pieces), he could not really come to any other conclusion. The Stillfried find (Newstead type with seven plates in one half, eight in the other), however, changes this irrevocably. Why do it this way? Simple: because such things were dictated by realities, not by pattern books.<br>
<br>
How then did they vary the sizes of segmentata? Either by producing the same number of plates with different widths (awkward and time-consuming) or simply making them with a varying number of plates and allowing the slack in the internal leathers to accommodate the intermediate sizes. To me, the evidence seems to point convincingly to the latter rather than the former.<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>
<br>
The number of girth hoops/girdle plates (call them what you will) was probably - if you are stupid enough to ask me - <em>not</em> linked to the type of armour but to the size of the wearer. Before Stillfried the hypothesis ran eight for the Corbridge A, seven for the Corbridge B/C, and six for the Newstead <em>because</em> Robinson believed in the decline of the number of hoops with time. To be fair, based on the Corbridge Hoard (and the absence of an actual find of Newstead girth hoops other than the enigmatic Zugmantel pieces), he could not really come to any other conclusion. The Stillfried find (Newstead type with seven plates in one half, eight in the other), however, changes this irrevocably. Why do it this way? Simple: because such things were dictated by realities, not by pattern books.<br>
<br>
How then did they vary the sizes of segmentata? Either by producing the same number of plates with different widths (awkward and time-consuming) or simply making them with a varying number of plates and allowing the slack in the internal leathers to accommodate the intermediate sizes. To me, the evidence seems to point convincingly to the latter rather than the former.<br>
<br>
Mike Bishop <p></p><i></i>
