ANST - Suffer the Slings and Arrows?

j'lynn yeates jyeates at realtime.net
Thu Jan 13 15:24:13 PST 2000


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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG
> [mailto:owner-ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG]On Behalf Of Michael F.
> Gunter  

> > Jarl Sutan finally called him on this and offered his own shield
> > for the expiriment. ... The arrow went through the 1/2 inch
> > plywood and  out the back for about 1/8 of an inch.  The archer
> > stood about 20 feet  away with, I think he said it was a 60 lb
> > bow. He was using target points.  

one of the things my professors drilled into me is the trap of
applying current norms & standards to the past ... this would be a
good example.  four things here would appear to make this more of a
modern test that a true recreation:

one: shield materials.  we use a highly engineered wood in ours
(plywood, bound with modern glues that make a strong, lite, difficult
to pierce material).  while i know that the romans used a similar
"engineered" construction in their shields, i am under impression
that in the later north, solid woods were more the norm ... if this
is the case, then they would be more prone to splitting, hence more
prone to be pierced by armour-piercing arrows (aka: bodkins).  

two: shield thickness.  being highly engineered, plywood is light and
strong.  the 1/2" we use as general standard offers far more
protection than a 1/2" solid wood shield (i could probably snap-kick
one in two).  to get a similar resistance to penetration that 1/2 ply
provides, you would literally have a solid slab of wood too heavy to
be of much real use.

three: bow weights.  while 60# is high for moderns, would not the
norm for a war-bow, wielded by a life-long trained bowman been much
higher??? 

four: if the bows were in fact heavier, the arrows would have been
spined heavier to match.  heavier arrow = greater impact energy =
better penetration.

> The more we argue, sometimes the more we learn.

more discussions than arguements i would think .... discussion being
based more on fact, logic, common sense, and reason ... arguement
more on emotion, belief, and ego.

'wolf



     

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