Roman Army Units in the Western Provinces (1) by Raffaele D'Amato

Author:Raffaele D'Amato
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472815378
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

BRITANNIA

The Hod Hill excavations yielded important finds from the Claudian invasion army: pila of the type found in Germania Inferior, squamae, and helmets. Archaeologists were aided by the recovery of spearheads from the Roman hasta in a precise chronological context. Lincoln also offers examples of the same leaf-shaped spearheads, with narrow elongated specimens having a slightly pronounced rib; all belong to the earlier phases of the invasion, and are similar to spears found in Germania Superior. In Corbridge on the northern frontier leaf-shaped spearheads of rhomboidal section have been found. Spear and javelin heads from Newstead, Scotland, dated to the late 1st and early 2nd century, are mainly leaf-shaped, and vary from 25cm to 35cm (9.8–13.7in) long. Shaft fragments surviving in sockets from Newstead are of hazel wood.

The gravestone of a Hamian (Syrian) archer at Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall, from c. AD 125–150, confirms the use by these auxiliaries of a conical pointed helmet, perhaps similar to the framed Spangenhelm worn by Eastern simmachiarii represented on Trajan’s Column, or to a globular pointed helmet in Zagreb Archaeological Museum. This stele also shows the characteristic appearance of the Levantine bowmen, with the Roman cingulum military belt, and feminalia breeches worn beneath the tunic. Fragments of a bow from the mid-2nd-century Antonine fort at Bar Hill show composite construction.

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