Newstead Armour girth loop fastening methods

[mcbishop]

Although an archaeologist would probably disapprove of using something which can't be positively confirmed as being used with a lorica segmentata.

You can bet your life on that!

Seriously, though, there's no reason that you can't experiment with plausible solutions to problems in reconstruction; if such fittings are of the right date (and from Bar Hill it is) then it makes sense to at least give it a whirl, bearing in mind that experimental archaeology will only ever grant you a 'could', never a 'was': it is so easy for 'this could have been done' to metamorphose into 'this was done' (I know, I've heard the re-enactor spiel enough times ;-) no names, no pack drill) and thus we see the birth of factoids. It was in this spirit that James Curle tried the saddle horns from Newstead on his feet, thinking they might be armoured shoes. Seems daft now, but he wouldn't have discovered that they weren't if he hadn't tried.

Mike Bishop