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Linothorax construction with alternative fabric
#14
(07-24-2016, 10:40 AM)Sean Manning Wrote: Great!  Then why don't you give us one piece of evidence that glued linen armour existed before Peter Connolly made his first piece?  I sure could not find any in your book, but archaeologists and papyrologists are always finding new things.

Cartonnage mummy masks are not glued linen armour.  References to "linen cuirasses" are not evidence for glued linen armour.  Paintings of smooth, white cuirasses are not evidence for glued linen armour.  A fragment of a glued linen cuirass in a Thracian tomb would be evidence for glued linen armour. A joke about an armourer's glue-pot in a fragment of Menander would be evidence for glued linen armour.  A recipe for how to make some in a Mughal tailor's notebook would be evidence for glued linen armour.

You're very much misunderstanding my comment. The fact is, we do not know if glued armor existed or did not exist. This isn't an argument that it did. But to proclaim glued armor did not exist would be to say something we do not truly know.

Herodotus talks about wrapping Egyptian mummies in strips of linen that were laden with resin/gum, which Herodotus notes that they use instead of glue (2.86). Gluing linen strips together in a wrap was thus common for someone like Herodotus. Appian writes about garments of linen being used to disrupt the flight of arrows (Mithridatic Wars 11.74). Cloth used to stop arrows. Pliny mentions glues. Polybius (6.23) describes the Roman shield's laminate construction. Turnus had a seven-layered shield in the Aeneid (12.925).

Again, I am not saying any of this is indisputable proof for glued armor. And these references are, admittedly, circumstantial and weak in an argument for glued armor. But, the knowledge is there, the technology is there, the tools and supplies are there. I would love for a piece of glued linen armor to be discovered in a tomb, but I am not holding my breath. Linen, if not cared for or kept in the wrong environment, will begin to decompose in as little as two weeks ("Biodegradation of Textile Materials," 2011, The Swedish School of Textile Materials). So if something is discovered it would be a miracle. But to fight so voraciously against even entertaining the idea or the possible concept of something just doesn't seem too scientific or thorough.

I think we all need to relax a little and be open to what may come. I'm not looking for certainty, I'm not looking for black and white answers. I'm open to ideas and if there is even the smallest amount of evidence for something, then I am open to investigating that further. I'm not going to discount anything if there is a sliver of chance.
Scott B.
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RE: Linothorax construction with alternative fabric - by rocktupac - 07-24-2016, 04:58 PM

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