Questions about the forging of a pugio and a balteus

[Crispvs]

Magnus,

Hmmm.

Your frogs are at about the right distance from your suspesion rings and I agree that the rings should be tied to frogs with thongs as you have done.

I can't say however that I like the other straps you have added. I am sure that they do increase the stability somewhat but the evidence as it stands says that the lower rings were unused during that period. This evidence includes most of the figural stele from the rhineland (the remainder do not show daggers) and surviving sheaths. The Velson sheath is very instructive here. Its upper suspension rings were made of iron but its lower suspension rings were made of (softer) silver. The upper rings were quite worn but the lower rings showed very little sign of any wear. If they had been used, being silver, they would have worn more quickly than the iron rings and so would show a greater amount of wear. The fact that they do not show that they were unused.

Crispvs