05-13-2014, 04:08 PM
I have scrolled through this thread to see if I could find anything on the comparative sizes of plumbatae but, if it was there, I missed it. This latest example seems too big. The only one I have been able to study at close range, in the museum in Newport, South Wales (presumably from Caerwent), seems in my recollection to have been much smaller. I think that we may have here simply a matter of construction technique. Similar-looking weapons could be produced in the same way in a variety of sizes and for a variety of purposes: spears, light javelins, plumbatae, even arrow heads, perhaps. Without a scale or measurements, it would be difficult to tell from illustrations alone. I may be a purist and in danger of throwing out the baby with the bathwater but I would be inclined to say, "No lead weight, no plumbata" and rule out the 'doubtfuls'.
Michael King Macdona
And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)
And do as adversaries do in law, -
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
(The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1, Scene 2)