CHAPTER X
Weapons
Shields
IN the sculptures of the Trajan column the Roman soldier marching out to the conquest of Dacia is represented carrying his shield on his left arm and his sword tucked under his right, while from his spear, which is borne over his shoulder, hang his camp kettle and other items of his equipment.
The weapons no less than the armour are illustrated by the Newstead finds. The remains of shields are very slight. The shields in use were probably of light wood, covered with hide or leather and bound with bronze or iron. They bad a central projecting boss and some more or less rigid metal framework. Wood and leather alike have disappeared, leaving nothing save a few fragments of the metal mountings. On the Trajan column the shields of the legionaries are rectangular with a curve inwards to protect the body. The same shape appears on the sculptures from the Praetorium at Mainz. Some of the monuments, again, display a shield of hexagonal form. The most common type, however, is oval. This may be noted on the Trajan column among the spoils of the Dacians, as well as in the hands of Romans. It also figures among the Gaulish trophies on the Arch of Orange. We may infer that it was the shield generally borne by the auxiliaries.
FIG. 18. REVERSE OF BRONZE DISC
FROM PIT XCII
It is probable that such fragments of shields as have been recovered at Newstead belonged to the oval type. The most typical was a much damaged boss of iron which had certainly been an umbo or shield-centre. It came from the pit in the Principia (Plate XXXIV., Fig. 3), and had had a total
181