Re: Lorica segmentata from Caerleon

[Caballo]

Many thanks to Cunicula for posting, and great to meet you today in Cardiff. And what a privilege to see the artifacts themselves.

Some notes from today. Any mistakes are entirely down to me!

Firstly a lovely metal piece , bronze, has been found with a stencilled Capricorn ( the Legio II Augusta motif) in a border.solder marks on the edges. I haven't seen a picture of this before.

The iron work was found towards the very end of the dig...and includes girth hoops, shoulder plates, single plates, scale, and the very odd circular scale- the size of a small drawing pin.

Couple of comments made on reenactors-
- hinges in modern replicas are far too thick. The originals are very, very thin.
- shoulder padding needs to be worn to get the shoulder sections to hang right, as well as to ensure that the chest plates do not overlap. Mike Bishop has also made this point, and I very much agree.

Much of the iron plates have mineralised, so x rays are the only way of examining them in detail. More pictures will be taken. At this stage, it is unlikely that the plates will ever be able to be displayed outside the earth blocks.

One iron plate was found with an enamelled belt buckle and a coin from Carausius datied 292 AD....more below.

The girth hoop was found with a tie ring; one plate has a rolled edge.

One of the single plates also has a rolled edge- perhaps a chest plate?

Much of the copper fittings had been stripped off.

Scattered individual scales in copper alloy were found.

I also examined the small head on a bronze backing shown in the photographs in the blog. The head has a Phrygian cap, a fringe of curly hair, and is slightly cross eyed! The length of the rivets indicate that this was peened over a thick piece of leather-perhaps horse harness decoration. Byron asked if it was a breastplate with neck cutout. It's smaller than I expected from the photographs, and is too small for this, unfortunately.

The small circular copper alloy pieces were found in a Squamata like overlapping arrangement and are c.5 mm in diameter. On the back are single rods, again about 5 mm, that have been clenched- no sign of a rove or peening. On the back of some of these are crossed diagonals. These are odd. Individually clenched scales would be very flexible, but how practical would the protection be? Perhaps a manica? Perhaps an edging or filling vulnerable gaps in the armour?? I confess I am puzzled.

One theory for the plate armour is as follows.

1. Segmentata goes out of use in early 3rd century.
2. Plate armour stored and copper alloy partially stripped.
3. Around 300 AD, Caerleon goes out of use. Legion clears out stores, and leave plate on a shelf or loft above floor. Coin of Carausius dropped.
4. Building collapse, and armour scattered on floor of derelict building.

I'm not convinced that the coin does not indicate a late 3rd century date for the lorica segmentata in UK.

Finally, unpublished work indicates that along the road were small booths , some of which were repairing armour and kit. We could do with them at events!

A great day- thanks to all at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff!