The Armour Archive

Bored at work?
I was

http://www.hulu.com/watch/94153/modern- ... attle-tech

Documentaries like this are always interesting to watch, but like most, this one showed a poor level of research beyond the typical commentary made by many authors in books and research that prove to be less than comprehensive in their details.

One of the first points of contention I had was the length of the Celtic sword that Hector Cole reproduced at the beginning of the segment in relation to the artifact dispalyed for the audience. The sword from Kirkburn was slightly longer than three feet in length, and presented a typical example of the outstanding skill (note - the outstanding, not necessarily the most widely used) that the Celtic craftsmen possessed by the 4th century BC. Yet, the computer-generated examples and the Cole reproduction were both shorter than the standard impressive swords of the era, and their length's importance was particularly de-emphasized when the generation matched the Celtic sword's length to that of the typical Roman Gladius!

Secondly, when it came to the Huns I thought far too much emphasis was placed on the recurve bow as being outstanding and foreign technology compared to that of the Romans and their Germanic neighbors. The entire success of the Huns lay not so much in their bows as in their cohesiveness as massed light cavalry units. By the 400s the Romans had been in contact with numerous nomadic and Persian cultures that emphasized the use of light cavalry archers and recurve bows. What is new with the Huns is the sheer numbers and tactics involved in their campaigns, which took the scale of this mode of warfare to an entirely new level.

I only got through the Huns, as 20-something minutes of that was a nice way to wrap up the evening but I figured I'd throw out some feedback. I liked the work that Hector Cole did, and the British Celtic chariot reproduction was absolutely beautiful. I'll have to go back and catch the man's name and see if I can dig up more information regarding that bit of research online. It was interesting that they threw in the debate about stirrup use by the Hunnic armies during the late Roman era. Probably not something that's caught the attention of too many producers, even at the "History Channel."

-Gerhard

Like I said, bored at work?

I stopped holding any hope for the History channel when they contacted my old group about helping them do a show on evolution of the axe

They wanted to focus on mostly the viking age.
We told them we would do it for free (just asking for credits)

In the end they choose the Medieval Times guys in Chicago to do the segment because they were 'cheaper'

As such, they got the show they paid for and it blew bad