Military Equipment

Weapons are typically divided into defensive and offensive weapons. All the passive pieces of military armament are characterized as defensive weapons. All the pieces that can be used as projectile or close-range weapons, such as the javelin (pilum) or the sword (gladius), are offensive weapons.

Two hooks from a chain mail fastener			Lance socket

Sword sheath border, finished in opus interrasile	Massive throwing spear

Roman short sword					Chain mail

Sword sheath clamps					Buckle from a military belt

Iron ferrule						Leather strips and small plates
								from an apron

								Shield buckle

								Sandals

Roman legionary (first half of the first century AD)

Remains of three military sandals. The specimen on the left is viewed from above, the other two caligae are viewed from above and from the inside, respectively.

Defensive Weapons

The presence of the helmet (cassis) in Kalkriese is attested by iron and bronze plume holders, bronze crest knobs, and a bronze helmet handle (below, left).

To the helmets of the so-called Weisenau type—named after the site at Mainz-Weisenau [where they were first found]—belong forked plume holders such as the upper part found on several specimens in Kalkriese (below, left); they served to hold and secure the plume made of horse hair. Characteristic of this type of helmet—which was in use in the Roman army in the middle of the first century BC and is ascribed to the infantrymen in the auxiliary troops—is the browguard and the protruding, horizontal neckguard. Above, a bronze spout is found on which the plume holder was secured. Helmets of this type are attested in, among other places, the early Augustan camps in Dangstetten and Oberaden as well as in the late Augustan camp in Haltern.

Iron plume holder (left) and bronze helmet handle (right). – Height of the plume holder: 7.5 or 8.1 cm.

Iron infantry helmet of the so-called Weisenau type from Oberaden. – Length: 32.0 cm; height: 16.5 cm. – Westphalian Museum for Archaeology, Muenster.

Iron plume holder of the Weisenau type with a bayonet fastener. – Length: 8.9 cm.

Several solidly poured, conical helmet knobs found in Kalkriese can be classified as belonging to helmets of the so-called Hagenau type—named after the site where they were first found and dated in the first century AD. Helmets of this type were made of bronze and consisted of a half-conical cap. Many specimens of this type have a similarly-shaped, solid knob soldered above in its center that corresponds to the pieces found in Kalkriese—a browguard, a neckguard, and cheek flaps. In contrast to the smooth, completely closed knobs (below left), other knobs belonging to this type of helmet have holes and slits for the securing of a plume of horsehair (below right). It may be assumed that helmets of closed knobs may be classified as belonging to simple legionaries and helmets with slotted knobs belonged to high-ranking officers in the Roman infantry. 

Plume holder of a helmet of the Hagenau type. Solidly poured, conical, tapered below. Bronze. – Length: 3.1 cm.

Helmet of the Hagenau type from Haltern. Bronze. – Taken from G. Waurick, in: Antike Helme. Sammlung Lipperheide und andere Bestände des Antikenmuseums Berlin. Röm.-Germ. Zentralmus., Monogr. 14 (Mainz 1988), 328, fig. 1.2.

Plume holder of a helmet of the Hagenau type. Solidly poured, conical, tapered below. Bronze. – Remaining length: 2.6 cm.

The armor (lorica) that protected the soldier’s upper body is attested in Kalkriese by chain mail (lorica hamata) and strip armor (lorica segmentata).

Reconstruction of a specimen of strip armor of the Corbridge A type (drawing by P. Conolly).

Breast plate of strip armor (lorica segmentata) with buckle, hinge, and border as well as leather remnants of the connecting trim. Iron/bronze. – Length: 18.8 cm.; width: max. 13.5 cm.; thickness: 0.1-0.3 cm.

Chain mail consisted of circa 30,000 rings, which in part were closed (circuli), in part riveted (hami), and were linked to one another. Chain mail had shoulder straps that, after being pulled to the front, were held together by fasteners made of S-shaped hooks. Several fasteners of this kind have been found in Kalkriese. The reading and interpretation of the punched inscription on one fastener might mean that the legionary M. Aius (the owner of the fastener) was in the First Cohort (prima cohort_) and served the centuries of Fabricius. This would prove that at least part of the core troops (= the First Cohort) of a legion was present in Kalkriese and probably was involved in the fighting. This also makes it clear that chain mail was worn not only by foot soldiers in the auxiliary troops and by cavalrymen, but also by legionaries.

Bronze fasteners, each of which consists of two hooks, for holding together the shoulder pieces of chain mail at the chest. Length of the hook (below, left): 5.4 cm.

Two bronze, S-shaped hooks of a fastener from chain mail. Reverse bears a punched and scratched inscription. – Scale: 1:1

Strip armor had two main components: belt strips and shoulder strips. Belt strips were the seven to eight iron bands that were laid one on top of the other to form a row on the front and back sides; they were held together by small hinges and buckles that were riveted to leather trim and in the front by horizontally placed __ hooks (Schnürhaken)and could be opened.

Bronze hinges and buckles from strip armor; buckles with hinges (upper left) are silver-plated, the rest are in part tin-plated. – Length of the small buckles, including hinge: 4.2 cm.

The leather belt (cingulum) consisted first of two, later of one, leather straps and were fitted with simple, though mostly with silver-plated or embellished mountings. It was closed by means of one or two poured, decorative bronze buckles with rolled, bowed ends.

Two bronze buckles from a cingulum. The buckle on the right bears traces of silver-plating. – Length of the buckle: 2.4 cm.

An apron that consisted of between three and eight leather strips for the protection of the abdomen hung before the mid-body from a belt. The leather straps were studded with small bronze plates of various forms as well as with terminal mountings. Sixteen bronze plates and a terminal mounting of a strap as well as individual bronze plates in various forms have been found in Kalkriese.

Apron trim made of silver-plated bronze. – Length of the terminal end of the strap: 0.29 cm.

Various leather mountings, probably from soldierly equipment. Silver-plated bronze. – Length of the plate on the lower left: 4.5 cm.

Offensive Weapons

The main components of close-range fighting weaponry were the sword (gladius) and the dagger (pugio). 

The gladius was a 50-60 cm long, double-edged short sword that was worn on the right side of a belt. Its edges were straight and ran parallel to one another; on the base sat a ribbed handle with a spherical pommel made of bone or wood. Two clamps mounted on the sheath each had a bulge on the left and the right, to each of which a small bronze ring was attached. The straps from which the sword was suspended were tied to the rings. During the preliminary inspections and the excavations in Kalkriese, several sword sheath clamps of this kind were found. Only the metal parts of the sheath have been preserved; the organic parts made of leather and wood have decayed.

During the preliminary inspection and the subsequent excavations, the following pieces were found: three clamps, sword scabbard tip binding (Ortband) with the pommel, diverse mounting bands. In addition to these sword sheath mountings, several parts of the belt were found. All metal parts are made of solid silver; the sheath clamps are inlayed with semi-precious stones—an agate and a garnet gem, the third stone is missing. The individual parts can be reconstructed as depicted below, whereby recent analyses have shown that in the triangle formed by the sword scabbard tip binding, thin strips formed a fine grid pattern. Unfortunately, the sheet metal at the sheath mouth is missing which covered the upper opening and usually is the most lavishly decorated part of the sword sheath.

Fragments of a Roman sword sheath from Kalkriese in a ideal-typical reconstruction. Upper left: garnet gem.

Sword sheath clamps of bronze. – Length of the larger clamp (below): 9.3 cm.

Clamp of a sword sheath. Sliver (clamp)/agate (semi-precious stone for the setting). – Length: 9.3 cm.

The front portion of the solid throwing javelin (pilum) consisted of a circa 1 m-long thin shaft made of soft iron, which terminated in a solid, pyramid-shaped tip. The metal shaft fed into a tongue that was secured with rivets in a square, trapezoidal widening in the wooden shaft, to which its rear part is connected. This widening was covered in part by a correspondingly formed iron ferrule. Several of these ferrules have been found in Kalkriese.

Pilum tip. Iron. – Length of the fragment: 16.9 cm.

Pilum ferrules. Iron. – Height: 4.8 cm.

In addition, lance sockets, lance tips, missile bolts, and the fragmented blade of a dagger have been found.

Thus far it has not been possible to determine with certainty the function of the various sizes of the lance tips which have been found in the Roman forts. In general, the lance was a weapon used by the auxiliary troops. It is assumed that small lance tips were carried by cavalrymen in a quiver and shot by means of a leather sling. Lance tips of medium size may have been part of the light armed soldier’s equipment, whereas the long tips must be ascribed to the lances of the cavalry. In order to prevent the splintering of the ends of the wooden shafts of lances and pila, they were fitted with conical iron shoes, the so-called lance sockets.

Two missile bolts, a lance socket, three lance tips, and the fragmented blade of a dagger (left to right). Iron. – Length of the longest lance tip: 20.5 cm.

Along with the box and arrow (arcus and sagitta), the slingshot (funda) was part of the auxiliary troop’s equipment and thus that of special federations with their own national identity.

The funda was a simple slingshot made of leather straps with a widened middle section for the bullets, which were made of clay, lead, or stone.

Since no ancient slingshots have been preserved, its construction is taken from ancient sources and pictorial representations, such as from a relief on Trajan’s Column in Rome.

Lead slingshot bullets (glandes plumbeae). – Length of specimen, lower left: 3.7 cm.

Marching legionaries. Detail from a relief on Trajan’s Column in Rome. Trajan’s Column is a monument that depicts the Daccian campaigns in AD 101-102 and 105-106 on a relief that spirals up the column and measures over 200 m in length. 

Three slingshot throwers (funditores) on a relief (detail) on Trajan’s Column in Rome.