Quote:Mmm, would be interested to see the article when it comes out Vortigern. I don't have my files to hand, but I can recall a few more barbed heads that I felt might have come from plumbatae, but if you don't have the all important lead weight, then you can't be sure.

Quote:I can tell you though that one of the the Burgh Castle plumbatae was found in an Anglo-Saxon funerary urn.

Quote:

gaiusseptimiuslucianus:2xqzep8q Wrote:Timothy,

I think you mistake the value of the plumbata. To my mind, its value isn't for piercing shields but rather by being thrown in such a way that it falls down onto the troops from above like a mortar shell. They had weight behind them and a nice sharp tip, good and lethal, I'd say, esp. on unarmored and lightly armored troops.

Are you of an age to remember the "lawn darts" called Jarts? Basically they were plumbata. They were taken off the market because too many people were injured by them. As a child, my wife got one sunk into her shoulder by her little brother hock: . Those "toys" would definitely pierce unarmored skin so I have no doubt about the value of the "real thing" :wink: .

Lucianus

Ah yes the jart. I remember a set or three of the deadly things amongst the garage toys.

Also remember as kids playing a really dumb game where we would throw them straight up in the air as high as we could just to see where they came down amongst us.

Quote:hock: I see what you mean...

Quote:Vortigern remember to close the clay around the shaft leaving a small area with a little funnel to pour down and if the clay is damp beware spitting