Leather Cuirass

[Dan Howard]

Any test that tries to claim that leather provides better protection than an equivalent item made of metal contradicts nearly 4000 years of military tradition. The entire point of using metal in the first place is because there isn't a low-tech material on this planet that provides the same level of protection without weighing considerably more. I ask again, what was the metalurgical composition of the bronze used in this test? What was its hardness? Until someone can provide details of the targets used by Blythe then this is the biggest red herring here.

Red Herring #2: that the Greeks did not produce enough flax to meet local demand. As Paul said, there is no way that anyone can demonstrate the relative costs of leather and linen during the time periods in question so it is a waste of time trying to introduce "cost" into the debate.