\"Celtic\" military technology and the Romans

[Urselius]

That is the passage that I alluded to earlier. Personally, I do not think that 'small pieces' can be anything other than scale or, possibly, lamellar.

However, there is the Dura graffito to consider: the lower torso is covered by rectangular plates that are neither scales nor lamellar. Plus Julian uses the metaphor 'web' for mail, would he have resisted the use of fish or snake metaphors if he were describing scale armour? The wording "small pieces" is strange when contemporaries must have had some familiarity with scale shirts. The Dura rectangles are small when compared with the parts of a muscle cuirass. Then there is the problem of unequal division of protection if what you say is true. Why go to the expense of giving the limbs intricate and expensive armour, when the more vital torso is given merely the same level of defence as most troops would wear - it just doesn't make sense.