Archaeometallurgy of arrowheads???
Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2002 12:25 pm
Anybody know whether anybody's ever tested arrohweads and crossbowheads to see if they were made of hardened iron, or just regular iron?
I was re-reading Swiatoslawski, and it was mentioned that period sources indicate that the Mongols consciously hardened their arrowheads, and secondary evidence suggests that they hardened them a LOT, because they held extremely fine edges. I am unfamiliar with whether this was done further west... and what a difference it would have made for armour penetration, since the chronicle of (Matthew?) of Split insists that Tatar bows could defeat any armour of its day, at the same point in history when shortbows were essentially useless in Western European warfare.
Such a thing might also explain why the Conquest-Era Magyars I study inflicted so many casualties upon the Bavarians, wiping out most of the Bavarian nobility, whereas similar archers' missiles did not penetrate mail so well.
I have access to a historian in Hungary who may know a source or two... but if anybody knows for Western european sources... it would be an interesting angle to follow up.
I was re-reading Swiatoslawski, and it was mentioned that period sources indicate that the Mongols consciously hardened their arrowheads, and secondary evidence suggests that they hardened them a LOT, because they held extremely fine edges. I am unfamiliar with whether this was done further west... and what a difference it would have made for armour penetration, since the chronicle of (Matthew?) of Split insists that Tatar bows could defeat any armour of its day, at the same point in history when shortbows were essentially useless in Western European warfare.
Such a thing might also explain why the Conquest-Era Magyars I study inflicted so many casualties upon the Bavarians, wiping out most of the Bavarian nobility, whereas similar archers' missiles did not penetrate mail so well.
I have access to a historian in Hungary who may know a source or two... but if anybody knows for Western european sources... it would be an interesting angle to follow up.