12-26-2008, 12:08 PM
Quote:The Germans seem to have been very unconcerned about collecting weapons for re-use or recycling. After Teutoberg Forest, they gathered up all the Roman gear and left it in piles in their sacred groves.The key word here is "sacred" -- it wasn't that the Germans were "unconcerned", but that they were indeed "re-using" weaponry as dedications to their gods.
Quote:We know from finds in Denmark and France that captured gear was often dumped in bogs and lakes.Again, in case anyone gets the wrong idea, "dumped" is a terribly loaded term. The captured gear was probably dedicated to the watery gods.
Quote:I'm not saying the Romans would leave obvious things like shields and armored men lying around, nor that the locals might not keep a few handy spears and swords if they had the chance, just that we shouldn't assume that metal objects were so valuable that an army would carefully comb the ground after a battle to make sure they'd gotten everything.Maybe just "almost" everything, then? :wink:
Quote:Somewhere in Britain there is a site which was apparently an artillery practice range.You're probably thinking of Burnswark, which I have argued was actually under siege. (The older theory, that it was an artillery range, seems very unlikely to me, but still pops up from time to time.)
