12-04-2006, 05:19 PM
This theory is easy to refute since segmentata weighs less than mail, which remained in common use after the segmentata was phased out.
Hmmm. Don't know that that really holds water, Dan. I would take a lot of convincing that the extensive use of mail armour continued after segmentata fell out of use. I would contend that it would be an extremely difficult thing to prove unless there was something like sculptural evidence because I would doubt that the archæological record alone could supply us with a reliable conclusion. My reasons for saying this are set out below.
The archæological reports that are sitting on my shelf and which cover sites with dates of the 1st to 3rd century AD for the most part, show very little evidence for the use of mail armour at all. The Wroxeter report, for example, shows a couple of pages of fragments of segmentata armour but not one ring! Of course, this site is (roughly) mid 1st century AD - but I don't believe for a moment that no mail armour was used by the soldiers who were garrisoned there. Vindisch (Vindonisssa, 1st century AD) shows about five pages of segmentata finds and only half a page of hooks from hamata armour, while Risstissen (also 1st century, but extending into late 2nd century) has oodles of segmentata armour - not one piece of iron mail at all (and this is supposed to have been an auxiliary encapment).
What is absolutely certain is that segmentata armour was in extensive use for a period of around 300 years. More than 100 sites have been logged where it has turned up - all along the Rhine-Danube frontier, into North Africa and all over Britain. What would be required to prove the continued use of mail armour after segmentata's use ceased would be the excavation of a number of sites that date from the late 3rd into the 4th and 5th centuries. This would be a very difficult undertaking as such sites are few and far between, difficult to date accurately and subject to all sorts of difficulties of interpretation. I don't think this has been done yet. In short, I doubt that reliable evidence for the continued and extensive use of mail armour exists at present.
However, having said that, I have doubts myself that it was solely a weight penalty factor that led to the phasing out of armour. It's a bit like the hoary old question as to why the Roman Empire collapsed - form a queue here with your ideas, folks! There may have been any number of contributing factors and we will probably never know which of them was the more important - or whether they were all acting in concert to force the armour out of use!
Dr. Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
Hmmm. Don't know that that really holds water, Dan. I would take a lot of convincing that the extensive use of mail armour continued after segmentata fell out of use. I would contend that it would be an extremely difficult thing to prove unless there was something like sculptural evidence because I would doubt that the archæological record alone could supply us with a reliable conclusion. My reasons for saying this are set out below.
The archæological reports that are sitting on my shelf and which cover sites with dates of the 1st to 3rd century AD for the most part, show very little evidence for the use of mail armour at all. The Wroxeter report, for example, shows a couple of pages of fragments of segmentata armour but not one ring! Of course, this site is (roughly) mid 1st century AD - but I don't believe for a moment that no mail armour was used by the soldiers who were garrisoned there. Vindisch (Vindonisssa, 1st century AD) shows about five pages of segmentata finds and only half a page of hooks from hamata armour, while Risstissen (also 1st century, but extending into late 2nd century) has oodles of segmentata armour - not one piece of iron mail at all (and this is supposed to have been an auxiliary encapment).
What is absolutely certain is that segmentata armour was in extensive use for a period of around 300 years. More than 100 sites have been logged where it has turned up - all along the Rhine-Danube frontier, into North Africa and all over Britain. What would be required to prove the continued use of mail armour after segmentata's use ceased would be the excavation of a number of sites that date from the late 3rd into the 4th and 5th centuries. This would be a very difficult undertaking as such sites are few and far between, difficult to date accurately and subject to all sorts of difficulties of interpretation. I don't think this has been done yet. In short, I doubt that reliable evidence for the continued and extensive use of mail armour exists at present.
However, having said that, I have doubts myself that it was solely a weight penalty factor that led to the phasing out of armour. It's a bit like the hoary old question as to why the Roman Empire collapsed - form a queue here with your ideas, folks! There may have been any number of contributing factors and we will probably never know which of them was the more important - or whether they were all acting in concert to force the armour out of use!
Dr. Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
