Archaeologica.org

By the end of the Western Empire the classic "legionary" had lost his usefulness on a battlefield dominated by cavalry. Even the Romans had gone to a (principally) heavy cavalry defensive force not terribly different from the knights of the middle ages. The legions were reduced to manning ...

While we've been debating picking up an odd rock, the State of Utah is thinking about screwing up the past in a major way. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=156838 Rep. Brad Johnson, (R) Aurora: "The costs have been too high and there is certain archaeological resources we do need to preserve...

the Romans Uh, the Roman Pilum http://www.caerleon.net/history/army/legionary4c.jpg was a javelin designed to be thrown as the battle lines closed. The legionary then drew his short sword and habitually kicked the living tar out of those enemies who were armed with spears. Oddly, in almost every Ho...

stan gilliam wrote:

Quote:
extremely rarely actually kill their vanquished opponents



It happens a lot in the South!

Yeah, I know...south Arizona.

Oh, hell.....here they shoot each other for being too slow to make a right on red.

extremely rarely actually kill their vanquished opponents

It happens a lot in the South!

Let me see, according to this . . . . . . things were pretty good, so we got something not as good to make it better, eventually the not so good did get better, so that the first thing that was originally better was now the not good at all, BUT the thing that became the best really turned out to be...

Well, Stan....after a lot of looking I finally found this in TheFreeDictionary.com Medieval archery In medieval Europe, the value of archery on the battlefield steadily increased. The Mongols were extremely adept at archery on horseback, and used it to dominate the Asian steppes, and eastern Europe....

I always thought the "Land of the Golden Fleece" was Washington, DC?

Well, usually there is something there to begin with, a statue or temple or something. Not merely

in a field littered with old bricks, stones, and so on.

Every place that people elect to dump their garbage does not become an archaeologicial site.

This is an empty field, R/S, filled with debris...not a site on the World Heritage list.

Gentlemen....look at the description given:

They found it in field outside a town on the coast near Rome, in a field littered with old bricks, stones, and so on.

This is hardly someone picking up statues in the Valley of the Kings or the Roman Forum.

When you read about some of the excesses of early "archaeologists" such as Howard Vyse using dynamite inside the Great Pyramid, the actions of a couple of tourists picking up a rock don't seem so bad.

I guess that rules out a "self-inflicted wound."

Stan, Actually finding an article on the web on this subject has proven somewhat elusive. I used to belong to a military gaming club which put out magazines and I read an extensive article about the question of archery v gunpowder but that was a long time ago and obviously never got to the web. I ha...

R/S is quite correct about the expense of making a bow, arrows, and training a bowman but we are not talking about English longbowmen here in a military formation. Most American Indians used the bow for hunting and it was a primitive weapon compared to the aforementioned longbow...but still effectiv...