07-26-2004, 06:42 PM
You’re probably right about the rawhide, Matt, I don’t have Robinson handy at the moment. I’m only vaguely aware of the difference between rawhide and hardened leather, and I think careless descriptions by archeologists probably add to the confusion. As for the function of the lamellar piece from Dura, I think the different interpretation is based simply on the size, shape and general construction of the thing. Though there may be some representational evidence to back up that interpretation; there aren’t many surviving depictions of armored horses, but one or two seem to suggest that in some cases different parts of the bard were constructed of different types of armor.<br>
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Tom - As we seem to agree on the definition of lamellar, I believe that examples of rawhide or hardened leather lamellar are pretty common from the later Middle Ages. Dating before that, I know of a few examples from Central Asia that were made of lacquered rawhide, and another from Eastern Central Asia that was described as dyed leather, possibly dyed rawhide (the lamellar piece from Dura Europas was dyed). There's even an example from Siberia made of bone. I’m not precisely sure about the dating of these pieces; I think they may all be from around the Late Roman or Dark Age period. But I know that rawhide/hardened leather was being used to construct scale cuirasses as far back as the Scythians, so the chances are that rawhide/hardened leather was being used alongside iron and copper alloy to construct lamellar from the moment it was first developed.<br>
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Gregg <p></p><i></i>
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Tom - As we seem to agree on the definition of lamellar, I believe that examples of rawhide or hardened leather lamellar are pretty common from the later Middle Ages. Dating before that, I know of a few examples from Central Asia that were made of lacquered rawhide, and another from Eastern Central Asia that was described as dyed leather, possibly dyed rawhide (the lamellar piece from Dura Europas was dyed). There's even an example from Siberia made of bone. I’m not precisely sure about the dating of these pieces; I think they may all be from around the Late Roman or Dark Age period. But I know that rawhide/hardened leather was being used to construct scale cuirasses as far back as the Scythians, so the chances are that rawhide/hardened leather was being used alongside iron and copper alloy to construct lamellar from the moment it was first developed.<br>
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Gregg <p></p><i></i>
