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petermorwood:
aura218:
archaeologicalnews:
The discovery is the oldest evidence of armour found in the north of western Siberia, and was located at the rich Ust-Polui site, dating to between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.
Earlier discoveries at the site indicate a bear cult among these ancient people.
Archaeologist Andrey Gusev, from the Scientific Research Centre of the Arctic in Salekhard, said the plates of armour found at the site are all made from reindeer antlers.
‘There are about 30 plates in the collection of Ust-Polui,’ he said. ‘They differ regarding the degree of preservation, as well as the size, location of mounting holes, and the presence or absence of ornamentation.’ Read more.
Oo! It’s the smart kind, too! Better to be made of small parts that move than one big part that’s restricts movement. The Celts made movable armor, too. That’s better when your army is small. The Romans had big plates on their chests and shin guards, but they had huge numbers and stiff lines. They got smashed by the guerrilla warfare against the Germanic tribes.
In cultures where armour was rare (or not worn at all) a warrior in a thick shirt was a tank - a really thick shirt like a medieval gambeson made of twenty layers of linen could keep out arrows, and that was before mail, plate, leather or anything else went on top.
Here’s an artist’s impression of 3,900 year old Siberian armour made of bone…
…and here’s similar body armour, almost 4000 years later, from the Chuckchi people of the Bering Sea. In this case the body armour is bone, while it’s the helmet which is built from strips of reindeer antler…
…in similar style to the sliced-boar-tusk helmets of Mycenaean Greece.
This bone armour is from (I think) the Inupiaq people of Alaska…
…while the Glenbow Museum in Calgary is also a bit vague.
Compared to these, the Lord of Bones (”Rattleshirt”) from “Game of Thrones” just wasn’t trying…
Here’s a reconstructed eastern European or Byzantine lamellar body armour made with cow-horn scales…
A similar reconstructed Viking-era armour using leather…
Here’s Ancient Chinese armour made of limestone scales linked with wire.
These were built as ceremonial grave-goods, since stone armour is about as functional as a Jade Suit, but they’re an excellent representation of what real leather- or metal-scale armour of the period was like (including the helmets)…
Here’s Aleutian armour made from wooden rods…
…and another variant of wooden armour from the Tlingit or Haida of the Pacific Northwest…
Here’s armour from Sulawesi in Eastern Indonesia made from woven coconut fibre or rattan, plated with seabean husks (scales of water-buffalo horn or bone were also used)…
…and another variant on coconut fibre armour from Kiribati / Gilbert Islands, with a helmet made from dried puffer-fish leather…
…while this one’s helmet is fibre.
Both photos show the weapons used against this armour: wooden staves edged with shark teeth in the way an Aztec
macuahuitl
used flakes of obsidian.
It’s fascinating stuff, and a long way from knights in shining plate - but for a fantasy writer, that sort of imaginative stretch is no bad thing.
(Your picture was not posted)
petermorwood:
aura218:
archaeologicalnews:
The discovery is the oldest evidence of armour found in the north of western Siberia, and was located at the rich Ust-Polui site, dating to between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD.
Earlier discoveries at the site indicate a bear cult among these ancient people.
Archaeologist Andrey Gusev, from the Scientific Research Centre of the Arctic in Salekhard, said the plates of armour found at the site are all made from reindeer antlers.
‘There are about 30 plates in the collection of Ust-Polui,’ he said. ‘They differ regarding the degree of preservation, as well as the size, location of mounting holes, and the presence or absence of ornamentation.’ Read more.
Oo! It’s the smart kind, too! Better to be made of small parts that move than one big part that’s restricts movement. The Celts made movable armor, too. That’s better when your army is small. The Romans had big plates on their chests and shin guards, but they had huge numbers and stiff lines. They got smashed by the guerrilla warfare against the Germanic tribes.
In cultures where armour was rare (or not worn at all) a warrior in a thick shirt was a tank - a really thick shirt like a medieval gambeson made of twenty layers of linen could keep out arrows, and that was before mail, plate, leather or anything else went on top.
Here’s an artist’s impression of 3,900 year old Siberian armour made of bone…
…and here’s similar body armour, almost 4000 years later, from the Chuckchi people of the Bering Sea. In this case the body armour is bone, while it’s the helmet which is built from strips of reindeer antler…
…in similar style to the sliced-boar-tusk helmets of Mycenaean Greece.
This bone armour is from (I think) the Inupiaq people of Alaska…
…while the Glenbow Museum in Calgary is also a bit vague.
Compared to these, the Lord of Bones (”Rattleshirt”) from “Game of Thrones” just wasn’t trying…
Here’s a reconstructed eastern European or Byzantine lamellar body armour made with cow-horn scales…
A similar reconstructed Viking-era armour using leather…
Here’s Ancient Chinese armour made of limestone scales linked with wire.
These were built as ceremonial grave-goods, since stone armour is about as functional as a Jade Suit, but they’re an excellent representation of what real leather- or metal-scale armour of the period was like (including the helmets)…
Here’s Aleutian armour made from wooden rods…
…and another variant of wooden armour from the Tlingit or Haida of the Pacific Northwest…
Here’s armour from Sulawesi in Eastern Indonesia made from woven coconut fibre or rattan, plated with seabean husks (scales of water-buffalo horn or bone were also used)…
…and another variant on coconut fibre armour from Kiribati / Gilbert Islands, with a helmet made from dried puffer-fish leather…
…while this one’s helmet is fibre.
Both photos show the weapons used against this armour: wooden staves edged with shark teeth in the way an Aztec
macuahuitl
used flakes of obsidian.
It’s fascinating stuff, and a long way from knights in shining plate - but for a fantasy writer, that sort of imaginative stretch is no bad thing.
(Your picture was not posted)
