02-23-2009, 01:45 AM
Sorry to double post, Dan, but I just read the rest of yours--I'd skipped to Cole's.
Athens had the largest tanning industry in the Med, or so theorize the current run of economic historians. Athens exported tawed leather, and it was so cheap in Athens that they made sandals from it--white sandals!
Further, I'm pretty sure I'm on solid ground in saying that the underpinnings of every scale shirt--every single one--found anywhere in the med in our period (600-300BC?) are all leather. If textile armours were common, wouldn't you have expected at least one scale shirt to be textile based?
And hey--I'm not convinced either way. I rather like the idea of quilted armor--I've actually started building one with wool filler. But I think an open mind is required, and I think there's a lot of articles out there that would interest you. Do you have access to JSTOR?
Athens had the largest tanning industry in the Med, or so theorize the current run of economic historians. Athens exported tawed leather, and it was so cheap in Athens that they made sandals from it--white sandals!
Further, I'm pretty sure I'm on solid ground in saying that the underpinnings of every scale shirt--every single one--found anywhere in the med in our period (600-300BC?) are all leather. If textile armours were common, wouldn't you have expected at least one scale shirt to be textile based?
And hey--I'm not convinced either way. I rather like the idea of quilted armor--I've actually started building one with wool filler. But I think an open mind is required, and I think there's a lot of articles out there that would interest you. Do you have access to JSTOR?
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
