08-07-2007, 05:01 PM
Quote: Right, well the idea is clearly that it's a very practical practice in long-occupied areas such as the Italian peninsula. Certainly it requires long-term worked land as well or at least an area that'll be tended for a decade or more. So weapons hafting comint OUT of Italia might have been coppiced for reasons of practicality more than suitability, but those made where a give legion was stationed or campaigning hardly seem likely to have been more than just from felled trees- goodness knows an army would need enough of those for building, firewood, charcoal, etc. That's always been my issue with the idea of coppiced hafts- there just seems to have been no need since the forests were FULL of trees and coppicing's main reason for being is land management, not production of proper spear hafts :wink:
Perhaps we are getting things confused. I agree with Sean that both systems were used. It takes hazel and ash about 7 years to produce a proper pilum shaft. For a hasta or socketed pilum, 5 years will do the job. Ash does not have heartwood as does oak and I am basing the years on observations from the stand of coppiced trees I manage near my home and from which I cut my staves. Coppicing was and is done to harvest poles for use in ovens and homefires and a range of domestic uses (case in point the way they build their walls), rather then as a landmanagement technique. Small stands are still present around many farms here, dating back to as recently as the 1900's. These are called "convenience groves", situated close to the farms. There are four types of coppicing recognized, each based on the type of tree coppiced and belonging to different growth environments. Oak can also be coppiced.
I agree Europe was not densely populated, but densely enough to feed the Roman army for years. Any small settlement would have their stands of wood. Of course, the hills were heavily wooded, these were the source for prime timber, as the agriculture was on the flat plains near water and valleys. Ceasar would have no problem finding a great supply of wood for building around any settlement or town. These woods, by the way, were used for grazing the pigs on acorns and beechnuts, so provided far more then just building materials but fodder as well. Then as well, they would have frequently encountered stands of coppiced trees to stock up from.
