Sub-Roman Britain (Cavalry etc)

[Matthew Amt]

Also I found a new lead in the four-sided spear mystery. Apparently it was a Roman spear called the spiculum (Still need to verify) and was used by Roman heavy infantry thoughout the Empire, I even found pictures, well drawings, of the distinct square holes made by this spear punching through armour and being removed. It could, acording to the article, punch through almost any armour, including leather llamelar and mail. Maybe even scale armour.

Ave!

Yes, the spiculum is a Late Roman weapon, but that's a little out of my area of expertise so I couldn't tell you if its exact form is well-documented (as for the pilum, for example). But I would be careful about claims of " could...punch through almost any armour", since no thrown or hand-held weapon of the time could be relied on to do that with any regularity. Square holes in surviving pieces of armor could be from something like that, or they could be from a ballista bolt, or even from a big nail! (Compare to Classical Greek armor trophies at places like Olympia, which had been nailed to walls or ceiling beams in the temple.) By the way, how much *is* there in the way of helmets or plate armor from that era that could have square holes?

Vale,

Matthew