Iberian \"Sinew\" Helmets and Lliria Vase Armour

[oudysseos]

I'm part of the Europa Barbarorum mod team that is working on a historically accurate modification of Medieval 2 Total War, trying to show as accurate as possible a picture of Europe and the Middle east in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

My current problem is trying to decipher the archaeology of the Iberian peninsula so as to give us a good idea of how the various peoples fought and what their kit looked like. I have struck a couple of thorny places.

The first is the long-standing interpretation of the Osuna stelae, together with Strabo's descriptions (νευρίνοις - which in LSJ is 1. made of sinews, or 2. made of or consisting of fibres), that helmets were made out of animal tendons.




In Osprey books and the work of Peter Connolly et al, this often ends up looking like this:



No disrespect is intended to these artists, but I have to wonder how a helmet woven out of threads made from tendons would really work? Does anyone have any ideas about how else these images might be interpreted? Are there any reconstructions that could shed some light on what a "sinew" helmet might really have been like?


The other thorny problem is how to interpret the Lliria Warrior vase. We all know it well, I am sure:



This is almost universally taken to mean a composite cuirass of metal scales and chain mail. The problem is that, as Quesada-Sanz points out, no scales or chain links have been found. Are there any plausible alternatives to interpret these paintings? Could these be organic armours of some kind? I have often thought that the cross-hatching could easily be woven esparto grass. Is that totally crazy?

I would really appreciate any input from the experts on this forum (flattery will get you anywhere, eh?).

[H.Balck]

Hi oudysseos

Here you can see my old Iberian Caetrati with bull standard, Caetra, Falcatta, Soliferrum and iron helmet with horse hair tail.


Or you take this one from DAZ:
http://beta.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/-/caet...=5867&_m=d


H.Balck

[oudysseos]

The quality is superb, as ever, but I'm really more interested in the real-world sources, Herr Balck. I have used sinew threads before, and I find it hard to imagine making a whole helmet of of them. That's why I'm hoping for some expert opinion here.

[H.Balck]

Attention - you speak with an Archaeologist for pre and early history - please some more respect here - BTW your Total War - EB-mod does not raise the requirement to be historical !

My helmet is an old research of this painting:


H.Balck

[Matthew Amt]

Yes, Mr. Connolly can take refuge in vagueness, while those of us who actually want to MAKE the thing are stumped! (No insult intended, I generally love his work!) I agree, it doesn't seem possible to come up with caps like that from sinew. Maybe from hide/rawhide/leather, though? Maybe the caps shown are not supposed to be the sinew caps!

I hate to cop out and say, "Great question! Find out and let us know, eh?", but...

Vale,

Matthew

[H.Balck]

2 another paintings of your cap typ with crest:


H.Balck

[Robert Vermaat]

No disrespect is intended to these artists, but I have to wonder how a helmet woven out of threads made from tendons would really work? Does anyone have any ideas about how else these images might be interpreted? Are there any reconstructions that could shed some light on what a "sinew" helmet might really have been like?

It may sound odd, but how about padded material? After all, there are scale and mail helmets, why not try padded fabric as in a subarmalis or gambeson? The 'strands' could represent padded areas, perhaps.

Just a wild guess.

[oudysseos]

Attention - you speak with an Archaeologist for pre and early history

How exciting! A Real Archaeologist! But the point is that the archaeological record is silent on the construction of the helmets and the scale armour.

[oudysseos]

Maybe the caps shown are not supposed to be the sinew caps!

This is an excellent point. Thanks! You are right - there is nothing to connect Strabo's description and the Osuna images besides assumption. That's a lot of help, actually.

I am inclined to think that the Osuna helmet is a leather or hide basinet style, also commonly associated with Iberian troops, with some kind of headband or even long hair flowing down the sides. It really could be that simple.

[Ultilatie]

Hi you all guys!

It's a complicated question, really. In fact, nobody has a definitive answer to that because there are no archaeological evidence at all.
I'll tell you my opinion as a Iberian reenactor, archaeologist and Iberian weaponry investigator.
About the sinew helmet of the Osuna (Sevilla) warrior, I think it would be probably a leather helmet with leather strips or sinew hanging from an above piece of hardened leather, in the same way that Vth cent bC Cerrillo Blanco (Porcuna, Jaén) warriors wear. A similar root evolutioned in time. The strips or the sinew could protect the warrior's nape of the neck following the same principle of Roman Cingulum. Maybe, theese are the kind of helmet used by Lusitanians mentioned by classics.

About the Sant Miquel de Lliria pottery, there are no academic consensus. In my opinion, it depicts a battle between Iberian warriors and Roman (probably) or Carthaginian troops during the Second Punic War. There are different reasons for me to believe it:

1.- Is drawn on an Iberian kind of pottery vase named Lebes. This kind of vases were probably used by Iberian warriors in the same way the greeks did with the Kratera. It's a big piece, maybe designed to mix wine and water (as greeks and Roman did) to be used in outstanding ceremonies. In other words (and in my opinion), the Iberian warriors meet to celebrate important feats drinking wine from the Lebes, in this case, depicting a victory over the Roman or carthaginian troops. Why do I think they're Romans?

2.- Iberian warriors were not homogenous (as Carthaginians). I think, the position and the weapons of the army of the right side of the scene shows high uniformity (the same position, the same weapons, the same amours, the same helmets, the same oval shields...) and overall, shows an army defeated (look their feet positions, normally the fighting warrior's feet are in opossite position) trying to retreat from the Iberians which are attacking with different kind of weapons (as Iberians did). Pay attention that "Romans" fight with spears as triari did. Everybody knows that if the fight arrived to the triari legionaries, the battle was maybe lost.

3.- Following this hypothesis and archaeologicall evidences, I automatically reject the possibility that Iberian warriors wear chain mail or that kind of helmets shown by Connolly, cause in fact it depicts Roman troops and not Iberians. In my opinion, this army wears Montefortino type helmets combined with chain mails. But they are not Iberians.

There are no iron Iberian helmets in cronologies around the Second Punic war to the south of the Ebro river (except an iron helmet from El Cigarralejo, Murcia). So, the helmet Mr. Balk shows doesn't exists, by the moment, in reality. In my opinion, the helmet of the Iberian warrior shown by him it's a Montefortino type. The Sant Miquel de Lliria poterry is dated around the second Punic War, moment in which this kind of helmet arrives massively to the Iberian Peninsula.

The other kind of helmet, it would be made probably from leather, adorned with a horse crest as Porcuna warriors and a lot of little bronze figurines shows.

Best regards!

[oudysseos]

That's a great reply, thanks a lot and it has given me a lot to think about.

[Dan Howard]

The same problems come up with bronze age reconstructions. It is impossible to solely rely on iconographical evidence because it can be interpreted multiple ways. If there is no physical or textual evidence to corroborate a reconstruction, we are left with baseless speculation. Being an archaeologist doesn't help in the slightest unless he/she also has practical experience with real armour.

If one thinks sensibly then Strabo's text is not helpful at all since
1. there is no way to link his text with any illustration and
2. the word in question can be interpreted multiple ways. Sinew/tendon is only one possibility and the least likely IMO.
The only real use for Strabo is the implication that the helmet is not made of metal.

The only option is to find another culture that made helmets from sinew and to try and find one that resembles the relevant illustration. Only then will the sinew/tendon theory have any basis at all.

[john roberts]

Another question might be, how precisely is the word "sinew" being used? Anatomical vagueness prevailed prior to the 20th century. In English, in the 18th/early 19th centuries, the words "sinew," "muscle" "thew" and "nerve" were often used interchangeably. "Nervous" could mean "muscular." I suspect that here "sinew" is used to mean "rawhide."

[oudysseos]

The Greek is actually pretty specific.

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Sinew when in the process of drying can be thin and wide,before cut in narrow stripes and spinned into thread. What happens if you take the dry sinew and after chewing and wetting you put the soft pieces on a mold and hammer them all together? Is it possible to form a papyrus-like parchment that won't be woven from sinew threads but layers of sinew.
Any ideas and experiences?
Khairete
Giannis