Book Project Snippet IV (11/22/2022)
Added 2022-11-22 20:23:41 +0000 UTCTime for another book snippet!
This snippet is a good example of how the 'equipment' sections of the overall project are structured. Each one takes a piece of battlefield equipment and first discusses who wielded it and when (adoption dates end up only really being relevant for the Romans, mostly). The attention to exactly which soldiers seem to have carried what matters because the end goal here is to reconstruct the resource demands of each soldier 'type' and thus estimate the demands of the whole army.
Then I outline, based on the archaeological evidence (sometimes presented in neat table form, as here) the basic properties of the type as we know them, before using whatever evidence we have to estimate a weight in metal and non-metal components. In this example, I use a mix of weighed examples and digital reconstruction (which means I had an engineer buddy recreate the metal components in CAD-software and then make the software measure the metal weight in iron). Labor is harder so my estimates here are mostly qualitative ('more' or 'less') rather than quantitative ('X hours').
The full list of items to reconstruct this way for the whole project is:
Hellenistic:
- Sarisa
- Xyston (cavalry spear)
- Dory (infantry spear)
- Xiphos
- Kopis
- Aspis/Pelte
- Thureos
- Breastplates
- Reinforced type-IV textile armor
- Helmets
- Greaves
Gaul/La Tene
- Spear
- Sword
- Javelin
- Oval Shield
- Mail Armor
- Helmets
Spain: Iberians, Celtiberians
- Swords (three types, inc. falcata)
- Caetra (small shield)
- Oval Shield (big shield)
- Javelins (esp. the soliferreum, a unique Spanish javelin)
- Spears
- Helmets
- Celtiberian disc-cuirass
Rome
- Gladius hispaniensis
- Pilum
- Hasta (thrusting spear)
- Hasta velitaris (light javelins used by the velites)
- Scutum
- Parma (both equestris and velitaris)
- Mail (lorica hamata)
- Pectoral
- Helmet (Montefortino-type)
- Greaves
So around 35 artifact types total, each getting a section more or less like this one. It's quite a lot and I'll probably have to cut these sections down pretty tight to keep the length under control, but that's going to be a lot of the book.
Comments
I think it's striking here because Roman fighting was so unusual in being sword-centered, rather than focusing on the spear. So it's surprising that they adopted a sword-focused mode of fighting *before* they adopted the sword they're famous for.
Naldiin
2022-11-23 04:31:05 +0000 UTCSo I did all of the initial research as part of the dissertation, so it really becomes here a question of 'are there any pieces of gear where the scholarship has moved meaningfully in the last four years.' And the answer there is yes and it's mail, mostly due to the work of Martin Wijnhoven. There are some pieces where the answer is just 'we don't know' - the small Roman shield, the parma, for instance is a 'we don't know very much' category. Gallic textile armor seems like it was probably a thing but once again a lot of 'we don't know.'
Naldiin
2022-11-23 04:30:00 +0000 UTCThat's a lot of gear to describe. Are there any pieces that are proving remarkably tricky to nail down?
Evan Howard
2022-11-23 00:10:41 +0000 UTCIs it really that surprising that the adoption of the Gladius hispaniensis didn't create a tactical revolution? I would have thought that armies switching out from one sword to a different type of sword would be doing so because the new blade better fits the sort of tactics they were already using, rather than revolutionizing the tactics alongside a new weapon.
Adam
2022-11-22 23:23:03 +0000 UTC
