Plumbata

[Renatus]

Robert,

Did I imagine it or did I see a year or two ago that you had written an article on plumbatae  for some publication?  If you did, I would be most interested to have the reference.

[Robert Vermaat]

Robert,

Did I imagine it or did I see a year or two ago that you had written an article on plumbatae  for some publication?  If you did, I would be most interested to have the reference.

Ehmm.. my latest is but an encyclopaedia entry and dates back to 2015?

My general publications need an update (working on that):
Vermaat (2005): La Plumbata: nouvelle arme de l'Antiquité tardive, in: L'Archéologue 80, pp. 42-4.
https://www.academia.edu/30525857/Vermaa...0_pp._42-4
Vermaat, Robert M. (2008) : Plumbata. De dartpijl van het Late Romeinse Rijk, in: Momentum 2.2 (mei 2008), pp. 31-34.
https://www.academia.edu/30510554/Vermaa...8_pp._31-4
Vermaat , Robert M. (2015): 'plumbatae' in Y. Le Bohec et al. (edd.), The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army (Chichester/Malden), pp. 754-756. https://www.academia.edu/30510676/plumba...n_MA_2015_

[Renatus]

Thank you, Robert. It was the last one that I was thinking of. I recognise it now. Thanks for the link.

[Renatus]

Finally, as promised above, a list of all publications of plumbatae tests known to me:

Drake, A. (1994): a preliminary report on the range and accuracy of the dart commonly called the plumbata or martio barbulla, unpublished.
Eagle, J. (1989): Testing plumbatae, in: van Driel-Murray 1989a, Roman Military Equipment: the Sources of Evidence. Proceedings of the Fifth Roman Military Equipment Conference, BAR Int. Ser., vol. 476 (Oxford), pp. 247-253.
Emery, J. (2010): Experimenting with Plumbatae and observations on their Behavior, thesis, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/ha...sequence=1
Griffiths, W.B. (1995): Experiments with plumbatae, in: Arbeia Journal, vol. 4, pp. 1-11. 
Payne-Gallwey, Ralph (1903): Arrow-Throwing, in: The Book of the Crossbow, (New York), pp. 243-6. https://archive.org/details/TheCrossbowM.../page/n277
Pruett (2019): Testing Plumbatae.
Pruett (2021): Re-Testing Plumbatae - Setting the Record Straight...
https://www.academia.edu/44834773/_UPDAT...d_Straight
Sim, David (1995a): Experiments to examine the manufacturing techniques used to make plumbatae, in: Arbeia Journal, vol. 4, pp. 13-19.
http://minervamagazine.co.uk/archive_pdf..._23_03.pdf
Tod’s workshop (2020a): Plumbata - Roman war darts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfgMfSZiQSU
Tod’s workshop (2020b): Plumbata 2 - Bigger, Better and thrown every way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNlgb79A4mM
Vermaat, R.M. (2007): testing Late Roman plumbatae 1 – Veerse Dam. https://www.academia.edu/30544051/Vermaa...e_Dam_2007
Vermaat, R.M. (2011): testing Late Roman plumbatae 2 - Breezand. https://www.academia.edu/30545939/Vermaa...ezand_2011

Here is another for your collection:

J. Musty & P. Barker: Three plumbatae from Wroxeter, Shropshire, in: Antiquaries Journal 54 (1974), pp. 275-277 & pl. LVb.
A type-written draft of this can be found online by putting 'Wroxeter plumbata' into Google.

The Minerva reference that you gave only leads to the Minerva website.  It seems to refer to David Sims' article 'Death on leaden wings' in Minerva , vol. 23, no. 3 (May/June 2012).  Sims expanded his research into an e-book 'Plumbatae' but this is only available as a Kindle edition from Amazon.

I see that A. Drake's 1994 report is unpublished but is it nevertheless available anywhere?

[Robert Vermaat]

Here is another for your collection:

J. Musty & P. Barker: Three plumbatae from Wroxeter, Shropshire, in: Antiquaries Journal 54 (1974), pp. 275-277 & pl. LVb.
A type-written draft of this can be found online by putting 'Wroxeter plumbata' into Google.

The Minerva reference that you gave only leads to the Minerva website.  It seems to refer to David Sims' article 'Death on leaden wings' in Minerva , vol. 23, no. 3 (May/June 2012).  Sims expanded his research into an e-book 'Plumbatae' but this is only available as a Kindle edition from Amazon.

I see that A. Drake's 1994 report is unpublished but is it nevertheless available anywhere?

Thanks for the tips, this was just the part of my bibliography that deals with manufacture and testing

Yes, I have sine noticed that Minerva has pulled the direct link to that article online.  I have a copy of course.

Drake's article is not publicly available. But you can ask him for it no doubt.

[Renatus]

Drake's article is not publicly available. But you can ask him for it no doubt.

Would he be our Brennius?

[Robert Vermaat]

Would he be our Brennius?

He would indeed.

[Renatus]

Robert,

Forgive me if this is already on your database but I have just spotted it online:

https://theantiquescentreyork.co.uk/prod...y-plumbata

[Renatus]

And another on ebay:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-RARE-Ancie...3645798240

---

And yet another.  This looks very odd:

https://www.ebay.ph/itm/Extremely-Rare-R...4336070225

[Robert Vermaat]

This looks very odd:

That last one was new to me. Indeed very odd. So odd, it leaves no room for a wooden shaft?

[Renatus]

So odd, it leaves no room for a wooden shaft?

There seems to be some blueish material that extends through the weight.  Could the head have been set into a bronze(?) sleeve that originally extended below the weight to form a socket to attach it to the shaft?  A repair job, perhaps.

[Robert Vermaat]

There seems to be some blueish material that extends through the weight.  Could the head have been set into a bronze(?) sleeve that originally extended below the weight to form a socket to attach it to the shaft?  A repair job, perhaps.

Very unlikely as no matter how you would contruct this, a weight needs to show holes at the front as well as the back.. Plus it's the most un-aerodynamic weight I have ever seen!

[Renatus]

a weight needs to show holes at the front as well as the back.. Plus it's the most un-aerodynamic weight I have ever seen!

I'm not sure that I understand the point of a hole being needed at the front.  It's certainly un-aerodynamic, so what do you make of it?

[Robert Vermaat]

The weight sits on the missile so I would expect a hole on either end of it.

I am not sure what to make of it. The partly torqued shaft is also odd. It's unlike anything I have ever seen, which makes me doubt it.

[Renatus]

I am not sure what to make of it. The partly torqued shaft is also odd. It's unlike anything I have ever seen, which makes me doubt it.

It's so odd that you might think that it has to be genuine.  If it is indeed ancient, I doubt that it could have been made like that originally, which makes me think that it might be a field repair.

Incidentally, I see from your latest list that we have our first example from Turkey.  Do we have a context and/or a picture of it?