Metal plate beneath Linothorakes or Spolades

[Lysimachos]

The scattered remains of cataphract armour from Old Nisa also included hinges, so contemporary armour for Parthian cataphracts may have similarly included shoulder yokes. The plates that make up the body of the cuirass (and at Ai Khanoum we don't even know if the two shoulder yokes belonged to the mass of scales) are still identical to those found in particular at Takht-i Sangin, and also to some plates from Old Nisa. My point is still that this type of armour was limited to the heavy cavalrymen as far as we are aware.

Agreed. My point was that if the riveted plates from Kampyr Tepe are actually armor, they are likely cataphract armor. Especially as evidence like the Louvre statuette point to a combination of Greek and Central Asian elements in cataphract armor of the Hellenisic period. I suppose I was arguing that the Kampyr Tepe find could be armor, but if it is, this should not be taken as evidence for widespread use of metal plates in T&Y armor in the wider Hellenistic world, but rather just as another example of metal armor used in cataphract equipment in the east. Of course, Nikonorov's original argument is that it is simply a broken and repaired muscled cuirass and not T&Y at all.

...Takht-i Sangin, the large temple complex from southern Tajikistan which was built in the late 4th or early 3rd c. BC. A massive amount of arms and armour from the 4th-2nd c. BC were found inside, including portions of plate and scale cuirasses almost certainly belonging to cataphracts.

Sorry to keep veering off topic, but can you point me to resources describing these armor finds?

Firstly, the statuette was found in Mesopotamia, and is of uncertain date, though it is likely late Hellenistic. If it was found in Mesopotamia and is late Hellenistic, then it is almost certainly Parthian.

The Louvre website actually shows the origin as the Levant.