Late Shields...Plank or Ply?

[falco]

Hoping for thoughts....As far as I'm aware the latest shield existant is the Dura Europos one,which is planked.....after a few hundred years we then have planked Saxon ones.....but a lot of modern sources still refer to late Roman shields as being Ply composition...Am I missing something or are they just easier to make for modern use?
Steve

[Carlton Bach]

I'm guessing - both.

Planked shields are easier to make if they are flat, but they have some structural problems compared to plyweood construction. Curved or dished shields are equally complex in plank of ply (though if you have ready-made plywood, curved is dead easy to cheat). Planks are easier to prepare without an industrial powertool, but plywood shields are tougher and more resilient. It is usually assumed (I don't know details of the evidence, but the people who say so are knowledgeable) that Byzantine and Islamic shields were sometimes of plywood construction. So my guess is that wherever shields were made by specially trained craftsmen in large enough quantities to justoify dedicated facilities, plywood wasa an option that was taken for some (not necessarily all). Where the production was handled by generic woodcrafters, planks would have been preferred for all designs.

I'd love to get my hands at one of those deep-dished 8th-11th century round shields in the original to see how they were constructed...

[Tarbicus]

plywood shields are tougher and more resilient.

Some of the Dura shields had a layer of (possibly ligneous) fibre strands glued to the planks, stretching from one end/side to the other. James speculates that these were to add a very effective binding and strengthening bond between the planks.

[Carlton Bach]

plywood shields are tougher and more resilient.

Some of the Dura shields had a layer of (possibly ligneous) fibre strands glued to the planks, stretching from one end/side to the other. James speculates that these were to add a very effective binding and strengthening bond between the planks.

Makes sense. I'd love to see more about how it was done. That should take care of the biggest problem with planks.

[Tarbicus]

Makes sense. I'd love to see more about how it was done. That should take care of the biggest problem with planks.

Problem with the Dura finds is the original excavation and restorations were a screw up (though maybe not when they were originally found). Trying to reconstruct much of it is apparently a nightmare. The famous painted scutum seems to be impossible due to the botched job of its restoration, which as good as wrote off the back of it, as well as changing the curve totally - a nice painting but we'll never see the whole thing as it originally was.

[Felix]

If I recall correctly, there was a threeply curved shield also found at Dura Europos as well as the famous oval flat painted one made of planks - or am I confusing the descriptions?

[falco]

Yes,If I was making a planked one,I think I'd drill holes & insert short lengths of dowel between planks to strengthen the joints...Other than that I go along with ply being the ideal,but planks becoming more common...
Steve