Lorica hamata / segmentata

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

I don't think any evidence for the Romans using welded lniks exists. Examination of slag inclusions and the uniformity of the rings suggests that they were punched.

In chronological order:

1. James Curle, A Roman Frontier Post and its People: The Fort of Newstead in the Parish of Melrose, 1911, p. 161:

The third variety of body armour, Lorica Hamata, was also represented at Newstead. Among the finds from the pit in the Principia were pieces of chain mail, reduced by rust almost to a solid mass. They were composed of rings of iron wire having a diameter of about a quarter of an inch. These rings were of two kinds. In one case the ends of the wire forming the ring had been hammered flat and riveted together, in the other they appear to have been welded.

2. Simon James. The Excavations at Dura-Europos Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters, 1928 to 1937: Final Report VII, The Arms and Armour and Other Military Equipment, 2004, p. 110:

In the absence of X-rays the details of manufacture of the iron mail are obscure. Even the best-preserved fragments are too corroded for us to be certain whether rings were butted (i.e., the ends of the wire forming the rings simply met end to end, without overlapping) or overlapped and riveted, and whether stamped rings were used. Where studied, Roman mail seems to have consisted of riveted and welded rings [ref. to RME 1st ed.], although Sim argues that stamped rings are also to be found.

3. RME 2nd ed., 2006, pp. 241-242:

It is often stated that the rings in Roman mail were alternately riveted and stamped...Curle commented that riveted and welded rings appeared to have been used on mail from Newstead. Likewise, mail from the Danish bog deposits, some at least of which may be Roman in origin, used welded and not stamped rings, which tend to have a rectangular, rather than circular, section. One possible example of Roman stamped-ring mail came from Carlingwark Loch.