Roman Body Armour, Hilary & John Travis

[Crispvs]

I think the difference was that they decided to use the Chichester plate as the basis of the shoulder guard, reasoning that both the find site and the unusual style made it possible that it came from a Kalkriese type armour. They also used Corbridge type tie loops on the girdle plates of the one I saw. I asked Rob Travis about this a few years ago and if I recall correctly (and of course, I may not be) he said that as Mike Bishop's Lorica Segmentata 1 had not drawn any firm conclusion about the method of closure used on Kalkriese girdle plates and they were in any case unsure about how well so many straps and buckles would work, they decided to use a Corbridge style tie loop instead on their reconstruction, on the basis that if the two armours were, in part at least, compatible, then it would be reasonable to think that new Corbridge type girdle plates might have been teamed up with older Kalkriese chest, back and shoulder parts in the mid to late first century. I hope I am not doing Hilary and Rob a disservice by misrepresenting them here.

Crispvs