Glued Linen Armour- a simple test

[Benjamin Abbott]

I remain unconvinced. Dubious scholarly work often dominates a field of inquiry until questioned and revised. All sorts of strange notions about classical and Hellenistic warfare have had their day in the sun. Extraordinary claims, such as the ancients using bows five times weaker than in later periods, demand extraordinary support. What do you and Blyth bring to the table? Detailed reconstructions of a number of surviving examples? Remember, a single find isn't necessarily representative. You have to careful with how you interpret data. Short arrows don't always mean feeble bows. Den Erickson says he can draw 230+ pounds at 26.5 inches. Textual sources from the period in question stress the strength required to be an effective archer. That doesn't match the idea of most folks drawing only forty or fifty pounds.

Bows aside, your figure of 30 +/- 15 joules is simply too low. That wouldn't even stop a strong dagger thrust. In a modern test of stabbing performance, males averaged 28.6 J per underarm attack. The best managed 64 J underarm and 115 J overarm. Most of the folks tested had no martial inclination or experience with knife thrusts. The researchers gave them only one or perhaps two attempts, allowing no time to improve technique. As such, I suspect the maximum values correspond better to what you'd find on an ancient battlefield. With swords and spears, warriors would surely produce higher energies. We lack solid data on the power of such weapons but know Olympic-level javelin throwers manage around 360 J with their missiles. Classical armor had to protect against a variety of potent threats.