Ancient Bone Armor

Just found this nifty little article

  

 

3,900-year-old bone armor suit discovered in Siberia


Archaeologists in Siberia made a surprising discovery in Omsk: a complete set of bone armor from the Bronze Age.


The armor was found in "perfect condition," reports The Siberian Times, and experts speculate that it belonged to an "elite warrior." The armor is still being analyzed to determine its exact age, but the Siberian archaeologists estimate it is roughly 3,500 to 3,900 years old. The experts are not certain what animal's bones were used to make the armor.


The bone armor is particularly of note because it was buried separately from its owner, and no other bone armor suits have been found in Omsk. Boris Konikov, the curator of the excavation, told the Times that this is the first case of armor being found in a settlement.


Experts suggest the armor may be from the Samus-Seyminskaya culture in the Altai Mountains and may have been a war prize. The site of the discovery is home to monuments from various epochs, from the Early Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. The armor is currently being cleaned and restored. --Meghan DeMaria

 
m.theweek.com...


 

a reply to: punkinworks10


Interesting.

Is there more to the article or did your thread include the entire article? I'm asking only because I didn't see a link.

Thank U. very cool.

a reply to: boogeywoogey
Yah that's the whole shabang, I'll add link.

I've seen representations of rawhide armor, I think from Ancient Japan. This is fascinating. Bone is very hard and durable. It has a breaking point like everything else though.

My My, more interesting stuff! if ATS.com ever folds, the withdrawal symptoms will be unbearable!
Anyway, nice find, thank you for posting.

Another common form of armor was teeth especially boars teeth.

One is shown below:

a reply to: Hanslune
Yes,
The good old Minoan boars tooth helmets, I found a really good site on the history of war headgear from the Aegean and Anatolia.

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
I've seen representations of rawhide armor, I think from Ancient Japan. This is fascinating. Bone is very hard and durable. It has a breaking point like everything else though.

I have made rawhide armor and shield it is tough stuff, I also made a replica of 16th century suit of japanese armor, in my Jr year of highschool metal shop. Won best of show in industrial arts at the local fair.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Hey I made a plate helm, breastplate and full set of chain mail in college - that was fun to wear!

a reply to: punkinworks10

Ever see the real metal armor in person? Full suits, the beauty is amazing.

And I admit, just seeing the empty suits with the layered helmets and their stern presence, I was frightened

You're a blacksmith?

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: punkinworks10

Ever see the real metal armor in person? Full suits, the beauty is amazing.

And I admit, just seeing the empty suits with the layered helmets and their stern presence, I was frightened

You're a blacksmith?

I've seen this one in a shop:

www.walhalla.no...

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a whole platoon of those guys go through your village on horseback. If you were lucky, they are just passing through, if you were unlucky, they would be whacking everyone with maces and axes.

a reply to: punkinworks10

That's way cool, thanks for posting it. I've made a few plates from cow horn and tested them with wooden clubs and they offered a lot of protection, especially over fur or leather. I'm absolutely going to make a scale vest out of cow horn one of these days.

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: punkinworks10

Ever see the real metal armor in person? Full suits, the beauty is amazing.

And I admit, just seeing the empty suits with the layered helmets and their stern presence, I was frightened

You're a blacksmith?

No I'm a CNC programmer/mech engineer/fabricator/mechanic, so yes I guess I am a modern blacksmith. Actually in my younger days I was enamored of all things anachronistic as a youth it was decidedly Paleolithic, I learnef many things a indigenous person might use. Then as a pre teen it was all things medieval, then as a teen it was Japanese.
I have seen some excellent full plate suits in museums, and I was a member of SCA, before it became the lame d&d ren fair deal it is today, they thought I took the fighting I little to serious, as a a 16 year old I was beating most of the adults.
There are also a couple of world class armorers in the local area that make full suits for horse and man, for full contact jousting.

I would say that the renaissance European armorers were at the pinnacle of the trade.

Seems like people have been warring for a long time. seems kind of depressing to me. How would you like to be walking through the woods and meet a chainmail clad soldier swinging a sword steal your fish. These kind of people ruled over regular people. Some think the cops today are bad, there was no laws protecting you from these people back then. Even your own soldiers might decide to kill and rape a woman cause they could get away with it. I sure wouldn't have wanted any money back then, you were better off being completely broke with nothing these people wanted.

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: punkinworks10

Ever see the real metal armor in person? Full suits, the beauty is amazing.

And I admit, just seeing the empty suits with the layered helmets and their stern presence, I was frightened

You're a blacksmith?

I saw many varied full suits of armor on display at the tower of London a while ago on vacation, it was amazing. The swords they had displayed were works of art too, took a damn strong man to wear that plate and wield those swords.

originally posted by: kdyam

I saw many varied full suits of armor on display at the tower of London a while ago on vacation, it was amazing. The swords they had displayed were works of art too, took a damn strong man to wear that plate and wield those swords.

I use to fight with 45 lbs of armor on - a mixture of steel plate and modern plastics (had to keep weigh off your arms so it wouldn't go into the hits you made with the rattan weapons). I noted someone above mentioned the SCA, I too was in it in the good old days where we mainly fought then it kinda went down the tubes. However, I could fight about 2 hours in that armor before I was fully exhausted and dehydrated....depended on the pace of course. While I was in excellent shape then (college runner and marathoner) I was certainly not particularly strong, the weight of the armor being well distributed.

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: kdyam

I saw many varied full suits of armor on display at the tower of London a while ago on vacation, it was amazing. The swords they had displayed were works of art too, took a damn strong man to wear that plate and wield those swords.

I use to fight with 45 lbs of armor on - a mixture of steel plate and modern plastics (had to keep weigh off your arms so it wouldn't go into the hits you made with the rattan weapons). I noted someone above mentioned the SCA, I too was in it in the good old days where we mainly fought then it kinda went down the tubes. However, I could fight about 2 hours in that armor before I was fully exhausted and dehydrated....depended on the pace of course. While I was in excellent shape then (college runner and marathoner) I was certainly not particularly strong, the weight of the armor being well distributed.

Weight distribution would have been key. Congrats on the fun you must have had at the time. I went to a few Medieval festivals in high school and had fun watching the fights. I saw a few nice suits of armor for sale there also, some scale mail, banded, but no plate. They wanted $800 for the cheapest suit of chain and that was over 20 years ago. I was under the impression that full suits of battle plate weighed over 80 lbs.

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: kdyam

I saw many varied full suits of armor on display at the tower of London a while ago on vacation, it was amazing. The swords they had displayed were works of art too, took a damn strong man to wear that plate and wield those swords.

I use to fight with 45 lbs of armor on - a mixture of steel plate and modern plastics (had to keep weigh off your arms so it wouldn't go into the hits you made with the rattan weapons). I noted someone above mentioned the SCA, I too was in it in the good old days where we mainly fought then it kinda went down the tubes. However, I could fight about 2 hours in that armor before I was fully exhausted and dehydrated....depended on the pace of course. While I was in excellent shape then (college runner and marathoner) I was certainly not particularly strong, the weight of the armor being well distributed.

Nice Hans,
I did the SCA thing in high school, early 80's. 140lbs of moto x racing, half marathon running Go Rin No Sho following , sword swinging knucklehead.
I used my replica Japanese suit with medieval European helm, a Japanese helmet with mask was beyond my skills at the time. The under padding was double layer quilted corduroy. 30lb or so.
I later went to mail, although a proper belt helped distribute weight, it was just like wearing the lead vest from the dentist.

originally posted by: punkinworks10

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: kdyam

I saw many varied full suits of armor on display at the tower of London a while ago on vacation, it was amazing. The swords they had displayed were works of art too, took a damn strong man to wear that plate and wield those swords.

I use to fight with 45 lbs of armor on - a mixture of steel plate and modern plastics (had to keep weigh off your arms so it wouldn't go into the hits you made with the rattan weapons). I noted someone above mentioned the SCA, I too was in it in the good old days where we mainly fought then it kinda went down the tubes. However, I could fight about 2 hours in that armor before I was fully exhausted and dehydrated....depended on the pace of course. While I was in excellent shape then (college runner and marathoner) I was certainly not particularly strong, the weight of the armor being well distributed.

Nice Hans,
I did the SCA thing in high school, early 80's. 140lbs of moto x racing, half marathon running Go Rin No Sho following , sword swinging knucklehead.
I used my replica Japanese suit with medieval European helm, a Japanese helmet with mask was beyond my skills at the time. The under padding was double layer quilted corduroy. 30lb or so.
I later went to mail, although a proper belt helped distribute weight, it was just like wearing the lead vest from the dentist.

Yeah chain mail was impossibly heavy, I wore it only for show. I fought from 74-82 and was once the Baron of the Western Sea or some such, being in Hawaii we were very much into Japanese weapons and often match up with the Nito Ryu school of fighters - they were a fine group. That was a good time, despite breaking my fingers a number of times, I liked great sword and glaive but specialized in the Florentine style of fighting with two swords.

I found later that that experience greatly helped my archaeology work as I had a good idea of what to look for in armor and injury!