scales of iron and of bone. The form of these scales varies considerably. One type of scale differs but little from those figured in Plate XXIV., but there is also a variety showing an irregular serrated edge, while another is composed of long metal strips arranged in perpendicular fashion.[1] We are told by Ammianus Marcellinus that the armour of the Parthians was fashioned of tongues of iron like feathers,[2] and the archers who wear it on the Trajan column were probably Orientals. As a matter of fact, at Carnuntum the shapes of the armour scales differ considerably. Colonel von Groller figures thirty-six different types.
In England the occurrence of scale armour has been noted on several occasions. About forty-seven scales were found at Ham Hill in Somerset.[3] These were of burnished bronze, every alternate one being tinned or silvered. They were fastened together by bronze rings, and resembled in form the Newstead specimens shown in Plate XXIV., except that they had mostly at the upper end two holes, instead of one, for the leather thong or other fastening to pass through. From Hod Hill in Dorset came two armour scales of a larger size,[4] while we have also specimens from Walltown Crag turret and Aesica on the wall of Hadrian. The last mentioned find, made in 1894, consisted of a considerable number of scales of very small size.[5] Each scale measures haff an inch by five-sixteenths of an inch, and is pierced with six holes in two rows of three. They were bound together with small ties of Wire, which passed through the outer holes, leaving the middle holes for securing them to the tunic.
Scale armour has continued in use down to the present day. The British Museum possesses a Polish cuirass dating from the seventeenth century, and among the objects brought back by the recent expedition to Thibet were specimens which closely resemble those worn in Roman times. The scales of the Thibetan examples are of iron, and are two and three-eighths inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide. In each scale were twelve holes, through which passed the leather thongs for lacing them together, while a larger hole was punched through the upper end
1 Collection Khanenko. Antiquités de la Region du Dniepre. Kieff, 1899. Liv. ii. plate vii.; also liv. iii. plate xxxix.
2 Hostem undique laminis ferreis in modum tenuis plumac contectum. Ammianus, xxiv.
3 Haverfield, Victoria County History, Somerset, vol. 1. p. 296.
4 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. xxi. p. 135.
5 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne, vol. vi. p. 245.
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