Weight and grip of sarissa and shield in macedonian phalanx

[Paullus Scipio]

Note too that the shield is at an angle to the body (not square) and this is how synapsismos/locked shields was able to be formed with the sarissae protruding.

So you agree that there is no literal overlap of shields then? More or less...
(Why haven't you sent me this paper yet?) :wink:
It is a magazine article rather than a paper....I'll scan it and send it to you......

I've always been troubled with the large head for such a large spear, logic says it should be reduced. What do you think the larger spear head was for? A doru? Perhaps something esle like a hunting spear.
Some have postulated hunting spear, others a rank badge/symbol or decorative type ( c.f. elaborate large Celtic ones, which became rank badges/symbols in the Roman army)
I am a bit troubled by how limited the range of motion is for that front arm if the shoulder-strap is taut enough to support the weight of the sarissa. Anyone here recreated this and tried it?
Have a closer look at the 'blow-up'...Mathew is wielding the 'sarissa' unsupported ( the 'telamon'/strap is slack).The 'telamon'/strap would be useful to help support the weight e.g. in an advance etc, but Connolly's reconstruction is light enough/balanced enough, as he reported ( and I mentioned), to allow free-fighting/wielding in actual combat.
By the way, I'm working on an idea that unifies the aspis and the "pelta" of the sarissaphoroi as basically the same shield. There may be no jump in technology between the two.