Lombard shields from the cemeteries of Testona and Civezzano.[1] In both these cases the rib is flattened out at the end and perforated to receive a rivet. No purely Roman example of such shield-ribs appears to be known, but the sculptured monuments occasionally reproduce it. Thus, on the sarcophagus of the Vigne Ammendola there are several representations of the oval Gaulish shield without a boss but strengthened by a rib, or band of metal, running along its longest axis, and by a second crossing it transversely. In this case there is the same bifurcation of the rib as has been observed in two of the Newstead specimens, and the ends are curved backwards, combining a more secure fastening with a more ornamental terminal. A Gaulish shield on a relief found at Avignon shows the oval form with a central boss fastened by large-headed rivets and a straight central rib.[2] While on the Arch of Orange, where some of the shields are not furnished with a central boss, there are ribs which display a variety of decorative treatment.
Swords
The Newstead pits provided some interesting examples of the sword. A specimen (Plate XXXIV., Fig. 11) of the gladius, or short heavy sword, so familiar on the monuments of legionary soldiers, came from the Pit at the Baths (No. LVII). This has no mountings of any kind. The blade measures 19½ inches in length and the tang for the hilt 65⁄8 inches. The width immediately below the tang is 2 inches, and this is maintained with hardly any taper until within 3 inches of the point. There is a slight midrib. A fragment of a similar sword was found along with it. It consists of a small portion of the upper part of the blade, 2½ inches long and 23⁄8 inches wide, and a tang 5¼ inches long (Plate XXXIV., Fig. 14). With these may be compared a typical short Roman sword found, with its sheath, in the Thames near Putney, and now in the British Museum. It has a length of 209⁄10 inches, and the width of the blade near the hilt is 2¾ inches.
A second type of sword is illustrated by finds from Pits XIV and XVI, associated in both cases with first-century pottery. One of these specimens, that from Pit XIV (Plate XXXIV., Fig. 6), is in excellent preservation. The blade measures 24½ inches and the tang 6 inches. The former has a width of 13⁄8 inches at the hilt, and gradually tapers to 13⁄16 inches at 3 inches from the point. The example from Pit XVI (Plate XXXIV., Fig. 7), which is unfortunately broken in two pieces, has a slightly longer
1 J. de Baye, Industrie Longobarde, plate i.
2 Espérandieu, Recueil général des Bas Reliefs de la Gaule romaine, vol. i. p. 171, No. 236.
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