Celtic mail armour. When?

[MeinPanzer]

Thank you Ruben.

One more question, this museum seems to sel those publications, but I have hardly a qlue about what book would contain info about the Iron age... Can You tell??

[url:21sn4kdy]http://www.maramuresmuzeu.ro/ro/en/publications.htm[/url]

Folkert

Doesn't look like any of them is devoted to Iron Age finds. Some of the more general ones may include some information, but I'm not sure. It seems that most of those publications are about Bronze Age artefacts from the region.

[hispano]

Hello everyone,

I know that it is generally accepted that chainmail is a celtic invention, better still gallic, and I won't say the opposite. But it isn't too well known that rests of mail have appeared in celtiberia dated in the 5th century BC or beginning of the 4th (Magdalena Barril, Esperanza Manso, Virginia Salve. 1998. Boletín Museo Arqueológico Nacional Tomo XVI, nº 1 y 2. pages 65-80), which seem to confim what Strabo said (III, 3, 6) in reference to the lusitanian warriors when saying "...most of them wear linen breastplates, few use mail ones...".

Rests have been found in Navafria necropolis (Clarés. Guadalajara. Spain), with 72 squared cm., excavated in the beginnings of the 20th century, also in the necropolis of Sigüenza (Guadalajara, Spain) and at least mail fragments in six more tombs in Almaluez necropolis (Soria, Spain), one of them 375 squared cm., to which correspond the next images (not all of them are have the same scale).

Mail from Clarés (drawing by Fernando Fernández)

Mail from Almaluez (drawing by Fernando Fernández)

Mail from Sigüenza


They are all made with bronze rings, with two different techniques: In some all the rings are similar, while in other framgents four smaller rings are attached to a central one. All the rings are open.

Not every investigator consider them as fragments of chainmails, they could be parts of ornaments attached to dresses. But the important thing is that I think they could be the oldest known mail fragments.

[martijn.wijnhoven]

Very interesting information. A similar arrangement of rings is demonstrated (also mixed in with small pieces of plate) by Cosson & Burges (1880: 556, Fig. 152). They describe it as a piece of Etruscan mail now in the Musée d’Artillerie in Paris. IIRC it was dated to the fifth century BC.

Cosson & Burges
1880 Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ancient Helmets and Examples of Mail. The Archaeological Journal Vol. XXXVII: pp. 454-594.

Regards,

Martijn

[john m roberts]

This brings up an intriguing possibility: maybe mail armor was derived from jewelry. After all, jewellers were in the business of fastening little metal rings together for thousands of years before mail armor was invented.

[martijn.wijnhoven]

That is indeed feasible. Nevertheless let’s not forget that rings were also used in other products such as in chains.

Cheers,

Martijn

[Dan Howard]

The tools and techniques needed to make jewellery have far more in common with mail making than smithing does.

[martijn.wijnhoven]

Very true, this was also noted by E. Martin Burgess (The Mail Maker’s Technique) and David Sim (Roman Chain-Mail: Experiments to Reproduce the Techniques of Manufacture).

Both papers can be found online here:
[url:a4fq3f87]http://www.themailresearchsociety.erikds.com/other_research_articles.html[/url]

This page also contains studies on specific early examples of mail, such as:

• - The manufacture of chain-mail - Arne Jouttijärvi
  - Ein Ringpanzer Der Hallstattzeit - Vilem Hruby
  - The Lexden Tumulus: A re-appraisal of an Iron Age burial from Colchester, Essex - Jennifer Foster
  - Iron Age Cemeteries in East Yorkshire (Kirkburn) – I. Stead

Regards,

Martijn

[Caturix]

...The type of fastener found shows that this mail was cut with 'shoulder cape' celtic style hanging over the shoulders, rather than the later style of narrow shoulder pieces similar to those of the Greek Tube-and-Yoke corselet, whose shoulder pieces don't meet, necessitating a connecting 'S' shaped hook.....

A question... maybe rather silly, but... there is any iconographical evidence of "shoulder cape" instead of Humeralia "doublers"?

Thank you for your time.

[martijn.wijnhoven]

A question... maybe rather silly, but... there is any iconographical evidence of "shoulder cape" instead of Humeralia "doublers"?

Yes, they are fairly common on Roman cavalry stelae from the first century AD (see e.g. Römische Reitergrabsteine by Schleiermacher) but can also be observed on earlier sculptures such as those from Entremont, France, dated to the 3rd or 2nd century BC (one of which is illustrated in Robinson).

Regards,

Martijn