07-15-2004, 10:52 PM
Ave! It seems like there's a new interest in making Newsteads out there, which is wonderful! Adding a Newstead to one's unit is a great way to broaden the public's (and our own) awareness as to the progressive development of Roman armor. (I would like to add, however, that I hope those building this style of armor will display it with the other equipment appropriate to its 2nd-3rd C. time period: closed-toe <em>calcea</em>, semi-spathae, mid-Imperial helmets, short/nonexistant cingulum straps, etc... simply wearing a Newstead pattern lorica with otherwise 1st C. equipment would do a huge disservice to both the public and other reenactors, IMHO, by blurring what is a pretty distinctive change in the appearance of the Army in the 2nd C.) What follows are some Newstead-specific points that will hopefully help in the construction of such armor.<br>
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<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">CHEST/SHOULDER SECTION:</span></strong><br>
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I was reading the "belt hook on the girdle plate" thread, and wanted to add another detail folks may not be aware of: that of plate thickness. Whereas the Corbridge armor was manufactured from iron plates equivilant to a modern 18 guage (or 1-1.2mm) thickness, the Newsteads departed radically from this idea. MD Thomas (who wrote the second volume to Dr Bishop's Lorica Segmentata book, and in which he basically catalogs every scrap of lorica segmentata ever found/published) tells us that the entire upper portion of the armor was much thicker. The pectoral plates, back plates, and major shoulder guards, aside from being much larger than the Corbridge varient, were of 1.5mm thickness, or 16 guage. Further, the mid-collar plates were actually 1.7-1.8mm thick... 14 guage! There is no mention of the thickness of the Newstead sleeve plates, so they presumably may have remained at 18 guage, we don't really know.<br>
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Legio VI's Diogenes/ Arik Greenberg has successfully completed a Newstead segmentata to these specifications (look for pics to be posted soon). The mid-collar plates are so thick that there's no need to roll the neck hole over on itself, as is done with the Corbridge... rolling the edge up once is all that was (and is) necessary. Additionally, Diogenes decided to make the mid-shoulder guard (that is, the small center plate of the major shoulder guard assembly, the ones that lie directly atop the mid-collar plates) of 14 guage thickness as well... while this particular Newstead plate has yet to be found, he surmised that it, too, would have been thicker, as it dovetails with the Romans' clear intention of making the armor impervious to such heavy, downward-slashing weapons as the Dacian falx, the Frankish ax, et al.<br>
<br>
Incidently, the girth hoops of the Newstead were equal in thickness to those of the Corbridge: 18-20 guage. The Romans seem to have felt enough confidence in their large, rectangular scutae as to justify reducing the overall weight of the armor in that area.<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">GIRTH SECTION:</span></strong><br>
<br>
The number of plates found on most Corbridges, including all in the Corbridge Horde, was 7-8. Specifically, there were eight plates of 55mm width (top-to-bottom) on the Corbridge A model, and seven plates of similar width on the Corbridge B and C models.<br>
<br>
It's necessary at this point to note that there's two versions of the Newstead: the Stillfried model, which dates to the Antoinine Period (140-160 AD... I still like AD better than CE), and the Zugmantel model, from roughly 225-259 AD. And on these two versions, the girth hoop construction varies dramatically. Two haves of the Stillfried Newstead were recovered; one had seven girth hoops, the other eight. All were of similar width (the bottom plate was not the über-wide one you see on the Museum Replicas reproduction).<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
<br>
<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">CHEST/SHOULDER SECTION:</span></strong><br>
<br>
I was reading the "belt hook on the girdle plate" thread, and wanted to add another detail folks may not be aware of: that of plate thickness. Whereas the Corbridge armor was manufactured from iron plates equivilant to a modern 18 guage (or 1-1.2mm) thickness, the Newsteads departed radically from this idea. MD Thomas (who wrote the second volume to Dr Bishop's Lorica Segmentata book, and in which he basically catalogs every scrap of lorica segmentata ever found/published) tells us that the entire upper portion of the armor was much thicker. The pectoral plates, back plates, and major shoulder guards, aside from being much larger than the Corbridge varient, were of 1.5mm thickness, or 16 guage. Further, the mid-collar plates were actually 1.7-1.8mm thick... 14 guage! There is no mention of the thickness of the Newstead sleeve plates, so they presumably may have remained at 18 guage, we don't really know.<br>
<br>
Legio VI's Diogenes/ Arik Greenberg has successfully completed a Newstead segmentata to these specifications (look for pics to be posted soon). The mid-collar plates are so thick that there's no need to roll the neck hole over on itself, as is done with the Corbridge... rolling the edge up once is all that was (and is) necessary. Additionally, Diogenes decided to make the mid-shoulder guard (that is, the small center plate of the major shoulder guard assembly, the ones that lie directly atop the mid-collar plates) of 14 guage thickness as well... while this particular Newstead plate has yet to be found, he surmised that it, too, would have been thicker, as it dovetails with the Romans' clear intention of making the armor impervious to such heavy, downward-slashing weapons as the Dacian falx, the Frankish ax, et al.<br>
<br>
Incidently, the girth hoops of the Newstead were equal in thickness to those of the Corbridge: 18-20 guage. The Romans seem to have felt enough confidence in their large, rectangular scutae as to justify reducing the overall weight of the armor in that area.<br>
<br>
<strong><span style="text-decoration:underline">GIRTH SECTION:</span></strong><br>
<br>
The number of plates found on most Corbridges, including all in the Corbridge Horde, was 7-8. Specifically, there were eight plates of 55mm width (top-to-bottom) on the Corbridge A model, and seven plates of similar width on the Corbridge B and C models.<br>
<br>
It's necessary at this point to note that there's two versions of the Newstead: the Stillfried model, which dates to the Antoinine Period (140-160 AD... I still like AD better than CE), and the Zugmantel model, from roughly 225-259 AD. And on these two versions, the girth hoop construction varies dramatically. Two haves of the Stillfried Newstead were recovered; one had seven girth hoops, the other eight. All were of similar width (the bottom plate was not the über-wide one you see on the Museum Replicas reproduction).<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>
