Corbridge A Breastplates - to cross or not cross diagonally?

[Matt Lukes]

We'll never know if the originals ever lined up.
We'll never know if the shapes, as found, were as worn.
If the plates, as found, are mis-shapen then any replica based on that would be in error.

Perhaps the originals were made to fit their wearer's? .... shaped, formed and bent to fit.. which means that if exact replicas of originals are put on the wrong body shape the resulting fit would be incorrect.

All 6 of the originals from the Corbridge Hoard exhibit the same general shape, which has the mid-collar plates angled out such that the breastplates can only come together at an angle- only if all 6 are missahpen the same way and to the same extent could this possibly be a factor. But this doesn't make sense anyway since the issue is not the curvature of the plates, but the way they're joined, and any alterations in that due to the circumstances of their time in the ground would be obvious in the form of warping of the hinges- which is not the case. So unless Allison-Jones got all 6 quite wrong when she produced the diagrams, this is how they have always been. If we had just a single example then sure, questioning whether or not its features were intentional or incidental would be reasonable, but we have many and their arrangement is clear. Even if there were some real doubt, it's the only solid information we have. It cannot be discounted in favor of 'experience'- evidence shouldn't be adjusted to fit a theory, a theory must be adjusted to fit the evidence.

And as is so often the case, 'experience' related to modern production pieces has nothing to do with the issue- what one person has decided is the 'best' may not be what another would, or indeed what the Romans did. For all we know they ranked the importance of things quite differently, yes? No amount of experience will allow one to alter the facts of how the known artifacts are assembled.

As for sizing, the Corbridge artifacts aren't all odd or small- I found that at least one isn't too bad a fit for me and I'm 6'1", 200lbs. The differences are where it makes sense for alterations for fit to be- the length of the mid-collar plates, and to a lesser extent the width of the breast and back plates, but the former are still always being noticably narrower than the latter.