The link to Housesteads was due to a gravestone (dated between 125 and 140 AD). It's now in the Hancock museum in Newcastle and shows equipment associated with the Hamian archers including a bow of a recurved composite type. Horn reinforces for composite reflex bows have been found at Bar Hill (whe...

Now that has short circuited a lot of difficult reading, I have been, admittedly, on and off, ploughing through known units that served in Britannia, I could discount the sythians, as they are quite easy to trace, and was on the trail of a substantial unit from what is the Balkan region today, but t...

Thats really nice, superb job

The trickier part are the British Isles. Personally, i don't believe that composite bows were ever MADE here, the generally damp climate certainly wouldn't help with curing of the animal based glues. So the answer to the question is Yes they were in the West, if they ended up in this part of the wo...

We have two of these and are very happy with them, good solid construction, even if it looks a bit rude when you are oiling them up

The 'russ' type trousers are based on very limited pictoral evidence from Eastern Europe (hence the 'Russ' bit), they are in no way 'typical' for Scandinavian or North-Western European dress. We have no idea how they may have been constructed as they are based on a stone-carving. HTH N. Yep there i...

Nice. Rus kit is lovely tho, and girl rus Kit is fab for a roving Roman eye As with any era in re enacting, the blingy bits get the most interest.

Magyar I suppose is a bit of Rus style cross over, I beleive Nomadic Hungarian sums it up best, but use of recurve bows and similar armour to Mongols etc, tis quite a nice look I have to admit :) Back to recurve bows, now I'm no expert, but not to long ago I had a good discussion with our amourer, h...

Hinnie Annie is on the case :D Optio I would appreciate your opinion to help illuminate this dark age mystery 8-) With a serious view to the thread, I would personally (if I were to be attracted to Viking archery) stick to the accepted norm for Britain, so, afaik a longbow type thing, or if you fan...

Medicus Matt wrote:Of course! Good job there's a roman here to teach us these things.

Yup, Illuminating those Dark Age mysteries.

Medicus Matt wrote:
If the Vikings didn't have elephants, where did Anglo- Saxon ladies get those nice ivory rings that they used for purse mounts eh?

Quite simple if you put some thought to it. They got those bits from the left over Roman Elephants.

the Saxons in Sachsen Saxony (Sachsen) in east Germany has no relation, geographically or genetically, with the Saxons of 'Anglo-Saxon' fame, who came from 'Old Saxony' in North Western Germany. You get a lot of 'slavic' reheads in modern Saxony...blond skintypes, no freckles etc as opposed to the ...

Very nice work Graham, very impressive, and great attention to detail. Any chance you could PM me a price for a pair of Bronze (ok brass these days LOL) greaves 1C, not fancy, just low with knee? Much obliged

Yes Chris, a period of history where learning was forgotten,where pens were used as ear scoops, where the use of candles was minimal and, in Britains case, a time when people rode cows instead of horses and walked around in clothing akin to sacks, they also started eating mud at this stage, and had ...

Matt's Dark Age stuff is really nice. Matt, how long have you been making Dark Age scabbards for, seems the Dark Ages are a real draw to you. Since Yesteryear...or possibly Yore. I forget now. Now b**ger off, the pair of you. The Dark Lord then drew a veil over the thread, truly sending it to a dee...

I agree with RAT, very good resourse however populated by those who have a forum persona to upkeep, but as suggested PM's tend to allow them to be very reasonable and helpful. This place is mainly pointy stick and a small smattering of early mid bangstick with some busybodies who dont even re enact,...

Jolynn wrote:Celt. But I could have probably gotten away with something Saxon/Viking just to get the look. Would sort of screw it up if I was holding a hand-and-a-half

Thanks

Oh dear, you said the 'C' word

French types allegedly, if you look hard enough you may be able to find one thats only been dropped once. Rare on the de act scene for sure, only seen one, and it was overpriced for what it was, and that was at least 2 years ago.

The "currency bars" of iron may or may not be currency - the identification stems from a passage in Caesar (I think) which mentions iron bars being used as money but they may equally well be a type of ingot whose shape and weight roughly correspond to a sword blade but which, presumably, ...

Made from metal, here's a piccy from the ESG website showing size etc, drop them an email direct, they are very helpful.

The post says multiperiod but the attractions all seem to say Medieval, or am I missing something? Do you have anything that lists what periods are covered please? and if you are looking for periods/performers as well as traders?

Many Thanks

Optio

Try Soldier of Fortune:

http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/reenactors/index.asp

Use WW1 as a search item and you'l find what your looking for, not that cheap, but less demand means a higher price, it look OK tho.

Optio.

John Lord is wonderful, his skill is immense, making knapping look so easy. Karl Lee is also out there and pretty much spot on too, hell of a skill to have in my opinion, I believe John and Karl both do courses, when I last looked John was pretty much booked up for a long time in advance (but always...

Oooh thank you Karen, some very useful stufff there

I'll be sure to let everyone else who uses modern tools to produce their wares that they should never consider themselves anything but time-wasters. Only if they claim to be fully authentic. There are those who can. There are those who can't. There are those who have no need to make inaccurate clai...

Yawn, I have been accused, among others, of being John Conyard and Roly/Dreadnought, maybe next someone will decide I'm Lord Lucan or Shergar, everyone seems to have a theory who I am, and unsurprisingly you're as wrong as the others. We haven't met athough we do know some people in common, Roly is ...

Attilla the Bun wrote:some stuff

Yawn. Here we go again, the other 'questioner' you mentioned was dealt with at source. Do you think I just stumbled across this site? Grow up. If you want the last word carry on, just remind us not to look you up at an event.

i don't know if this can also be used for the romans but a rather famous man once said "the french army has always been at its strongest during times of peace" Sure the time when noone dared fight the romans was when they was at their prime? Actually yes, I think you have a very valid poi...

I've been following this thread with interest. I'm happy that there is the potential of another Roman group - the more people the merrier. On behalf me and other members of the Vicus, best of luck mate :-) Thank you :) All equiries for the group can now please go direct to optio_romans at yahoo dot...

Oooh, many thanks, both questions now answered pdq, and what a lovely image, plenty of room for movement in those pants Thanks again.