Scutum Covers

[Marcus Velius Avitus]

Hello All,

I am wondering if there is any evidence whtsoever for CLOTH (like heavy linen?) Roman scutum covers? Were they all likely leather? Just curious.

[Crispvs]

There is no evidence for cloth shield covers that I am aware of. All of the surviving fragments of shield covers which have so far been identified have been of leather. That said, recognising them can be difficult. Although most people think of the large pieces of shield covers found in such places as Valkenburg, the majority of shield cover fragments which have so far been identified have been small offcuts from the edges of covers. These are typically curled over thanks to having been stretched over the edges of shields in a tubular form and have rows of cuts which would have been used to lace leather thonging through in order to turn the edge into a tube to accept the drawstrings.

The Romans seem to have been in the habit, under normal circumstances, of recycling whatever they could and so when a shield cover wore out it seems to have been normal to salvage as much leather as possible for other purposes and cut away only what could not be re-used, which would be the stretched and cut edging and any badly damaged parts. Becuse of this, shield cover fragment are normally identified by the curled over appearance I described above. Any other fragments which had been reused as parts of other things would be difficult to recognise unless they retained shied appliquees or identifiable patterns of decorative stitching.

Incidentally, shield cover appliquees found at Casr El Ibrim in Egypt had been dyed with yellow and pink dyes, suggesting that the uniformly brown coloured fragments dug out of northern soils may originally have been quite garishly coloured.

But your question was about the possibility of cloth shield covers. Theoretically a waxed or oiled linen canvas cover might have been a possibility, but cloth rarely survives well in the archaeological record and so except under exceptional circumstances there would be no identifiable evidence anyway.

For me then, this means that we must continue to assume that all shield covers were leather while at the same time allowing that there may be a slim possibility that cloth covers may have existed which we cannot reconstruct because we are without evidence for such things.

Crispvs

[Marcus Velius Avitus]

Thank you for the information. It was just a question I was pondering. I imagine that through conjecture we could think that perhaps they did such a thing, but it seems the consensus is that there is no archaeological or written evidence of it?

Thanks Again!

[Peroni]

On a practical side, the tegimen was primarily for keeping the shield board in good order and protecting from rain etc. Being constructed with animal glues, these boards can fail if there is any water ingress. A well-oiled leather cover would certainly be more water resistant than a fabric cover which is by its woven nature porous.

Wool with natural lanolins would be a better option than canvas or linen I expect. Unfortunately fabrics tend not to survive well!

[John Conyard]

......and perhaps leather shield covers up to a certain point, around the mid 3rd century,when shield construction changes. Planked shields require less protection.