(Another) Roman Saddle Question

[mcbishop]

I did hear once in the past that there was never any wood head tree or horns in a Roman saddle, and I may stand corrected but was this not the way that one of the foremost practical experts such as Junkelmann who proved this.

Junkelmann didn't prove anything, he merely speculated that it was so. Connolly and van Driel-Murray had the proof in the leather covers. The coincidence of those leather saddle covers and the copper-alloy saddle horns remains too close to be so lightly dismissed. The metal horns do not go on the outside as some have suggested (otherwise why have leather appliqué designs on the saddle covers?), so presumably go inside in some way as yet to be satisfactorily explained (but just because it hasn't been explained doesn't mean we all have to give up and opt for a shapeless beanbag). A possible wooden saddle component was found in the Carlisle Millennium excavations.

Mike Bishop