Roman Body Armour

Roman Body Armour assesses current views of the history of the Roman army, relative to the development of its equipment, and melds these with the archaeological evidence available. It differs from preceding literature in that it has drawn together the streams of published information of sculptural imagery and archaeological `hard' evidence, while also looking at the component parts and how they are physically put together. Reconstructions of armour were subjected to low-level, simulated wear, over several years, to view how the component parts inter- reacted, which parts were more susceptible to wear damage through regular attrition, and to see what features may be anticipated archaeologically on artefacts as evidence of wear damage and field repairs. The armour was also subjected to simulated combat testing using a range of weaponry, including archery equipment.