Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Matthew Amt]

Huzaah! I finally found what it's called! It's a Celtic Hand Lance! (Whether that's the official name or not I don't know) Apparently it was used by the Celts before Roman domination in order to pierce mail and plate armour and was designed to be used by hand from horseback against dismounted armoured legionaries. Sadly though, it seems to have died out by 100BC, in Europe anyways. But what about the Picti? Could they have held on to such a weapon after so long? (Figuratively, not literally) And if so, could it have been transfered back to the northern british?

Yoiks! Sorry, but I'm REALLY dubious about this! Never heard of such a thing. There simply was no need of a weapon *designed* to pierce armor back then, because so few people *wore* armor. And repeated tests have shown that armor generally worked. Aside from the fact that most Gauls never fought Romans before 100 BC... Now, there were weapons (generally javelins) which do seem designed to pierce *shields*, such as the pilum, and while those are great things they were hardly a wonder-weapon. Do you have any pictures of this gizmo, or--more importantly--Roman-era descriptions? Cuz it sounds like Wikipedia run amok.

Vale,

Matthew