Hey, new Roman armor!

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 12:24 pm

From Guardian Online:

Archaeological dig unearths Roman army treasures

Martin Wainwright
Thursday April 26, 2001
The Guardian

A workshop which may have produced armoury for cavalry escorts of the Roman
emperor Hadrian has been unearthed by archaeologists in the most significant
find for 50 years from Britain's Roman period.
Weapons, siege equipment and some of the best-preserved armour ever
discovered from the days of the legions are among hundreds of finds which
will go on public display next year. Waterlogged ground on the site of the
dig - by the main east-west street in Roman Carlisle - contained preserved
leather bindings and complex iron scales joined by bronze wire which are
thought to have protected cavalrymen's shoulders.

"We believe this is a unique discovery from anywhere in the Roman world,"
said Thom Richardson, keeper of Oriental and European armour at the Royal
Armouries. "It has the potential to solve the puzzle of how such armour
worked," he said.

The scale of the finds, which also include extremely rare sets of armour for
arms and legs, was revealed when clods of rock-like, congealed mud and metal
were taken for x-ray checks at the armouries in Leeds.

To the delight of the dig team, scans revealed the ghostly shape of the
armour sections, plus brighter twists of wire, hidden inside. "Basically,
they look like lumps of gunk at the moment, but we should have something
really spectacular to show the world when conservation is finished," said Mr
Richardson. Specialists will chip delicately away at the metal's mud casing,
salvaging leather components as the work is carried out.

The finds, discovered during a rescue dig on the site of Carlisle's new
Millennium Gallery by the former Roman fort of Luguvallium, are thought to
be rejects and scrap which accumulated under the armourers' workbenches.

Mr Richardson said: "It looks as though we've got years of the sort of stuff
engineers and craftsmen put to one side or throw away - bits of this and
that which all help to build our picture of how the Roman army was
equipped."

Mike McCarthy, head of Carlisle Archaeology (a commercial offshoot of
Bradford university, which carried out the dig) said: "It's been a wonderful
discovery, one of the most important yet from Roman Britain. The hundreds of
different items are going to give us a fascinating insight."

The discovery is the biggest since large scale excavations in Corbridge in
Northumberland, where material unearthed in 1964 changed historians' views
of the Roman defensive system.

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Lodhur · Post by **Lodhur** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 2:25 pm

WOW!!! This is the find we've been waiting for! A roman armour workshop! OMG!!! That rucking FOCKS!! I'm giddy, for crying out loud. They better put up a live streaming website, & FAST.

Now, they need to find that ancient salt mine where those vikings stashed all their stuff before being chased off by Charlemagne.

I mean, they've got the LEATHER, the strapping, the 'arm armour'. ITS ALL THERE> Wow. I can't wait to see this stuff. Are there any pictures to go w/ that article? A website, something?

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 3:06 pm

Nuttin' yet good buddy. Sorry to tease you like that. ;> They'll publish it all in good time, I'm sure...

Brodir · Post by **Brodir** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 3:14 pm

Do keep us posted, thanks

CBA · Post by **CBA** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 6:14 pm

WHOAAAA!

This could be cause for YEARS of "discussion"
here on this board .

As if I didn't have enough projects I want to try, tools I want to buy, and Skills I want to aquire.

Thanks to you guys on this board I'll be 103 before I finish

Lodhur · Post by **Lodhur** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 6:18 pm

I keep coming back to re-read this. Like I'll find something new. Buran, can you post the link to this article?

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 6:56 pm

Yeah, go for it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4175964,00.html

Personally I'd rather see a huscarl dug out of a peat bog, but what the hey.

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Josh W · Post by **Josh W** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 10:24 pm

My primary interest is southern Europe in the latter fifteenth century, but this has even me excited! Indeed, do keep us posted.

Trevor · Post by **Trevor** » Thu Apr 26, 2001 10:31 pm

Too bad Kydex doesn't show up on X-rays. Then maybe we'd finally put THAT issue to rest.

white mountain armoury · Fri Apr 27, 2001 7:32 am

thanks for the info,my area of intrest is roman britton, i cant wait to see what they have come up with, the mention of leg armour realy has me excited, my friends will just think im a geek getting so excited about this.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » Fri Apr 27, 2001 12:29 pm

Woo-hoo!

Thanks for the heads-up, Buran. What a great end to the week!

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Fri Apr 27, 2001 4:58 pm

In the Times:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-120182,00.html

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Fri Apr 27, 2001 5:02 pm

The large assemblage of military artefacts was excavated by Carlisle Archaeology Ltd, University of Bradford, from the Roman fort in Carlisle. Preservation was excellent due to waterlogged conditions. It's very early days yet, but 4 of the large sections of armour, which had been lifted as blocks were brought to The Armouries for X-radiography (the largest block measured 0.8m x 0.8m). We're very excited about the armour, not only because the individual scales and lames are still articulated, but because they're
examples of parts of armour we have virtually no other evidence for, ie defences for limbs and a probable neckguard. The X-radiographs are spectacular, hopefully some of the press will reproduce these.

As I say it's early days, but after conservation and thorough study, the whole assemblage from Carlisle is going to prove very important.

David Starley PhD
Science Officer

Royal Armouries
Conservation Dept.

Owen · Post by **Owen** » Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:08 am

Can't wait to see what they find; new toys!

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Owen
"Death is but a doorway-
Here, let me hold that for you"

Dwarlock · Post by **Dwarlock** » Sat Apr 28, 2001 8:55 am

oh sure, just when we had everything figured out they go and change all the roman armour standards retroactivly..... this is worse than taxes....

seriously, very cool I look forward to haring more.

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Mon Apr 30, 2001 11:45 am

More links from Explorator:

There was a fair bit of coverage this week devoted to the discovery of a
Roman-era armoury/armour in Roman Carlisle:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1297000/1297752.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,478537,00.html
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-120182,00.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/04/0427_romanarmor.html

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Bjorn Olfuss · Post by **Bjorn Olfuss** » Mon Apr 30, 2001 11:08 pm

wow this is really an amazing find id love to here more on this subject

pics would be wonderful imagine what some of the finds are like

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Lets use the old ways....on three we get them

Malcolm MacLachlan · Post by **Malcolm MacLachlan** » Tue May 01, 2001 7:39 am

A frind of mine has been in contact with Dan Shandrake about this find and Dan sent us one of the mud clump x-rays showing the Lamallar shoulder armour. It's pretty cool looking. He's writing him back to make sure its ok to post the pic here.

JGraham · Post by **JGraham** » Wed May 02, 2001 9:11 am

Just got posted to the Regia list - We've got pictures!

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.martin/forum/CarlisleArmour.htm

Jim

white mountain armoury · Wed May 02, 2001 10:30 am

thanks for that great post, keep em comming

Ned Chaney · Post by **Ned Chaney** » Mon May 07, 2001 5:50 pm

I'm hopin' they do a rendering of how this stuff all looked on somebody eventually!!

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They call me Ned. It's medievally short for Edward (and it's my real name)

Buran · Post by **Buran** » Mon May 07, 2001 6:12 pm

er.. I was hoping someone on the Archive would do that. ;> That's why I posted it here...

Brodir · Post by **Brodir** » Tue May 08, 2001 2:53 am

See Norman, no 13th hole

Ned Chaney · Post by **Ned Chaney** » Tue May 08, 2001 9:15 am

I'm a fair artist and would take a shot at it but so far I've only seen the neck/shoulder defenses. InsaneIrish is the best guy to take a shot at this. His artwork is outstanding.

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They call me Ned. It's medievally short for Edward (and it's my real name)