The ancient world's kevlar

Just come across this, though it's a bit old-
"A Kevlar-like armor might have helped Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.) conquer nearly the entirety of the known world in little more than two decades, according to new reconstructive archaeology research.
Presented at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America in Anaheim, Calif., the study suggests that Alexander and his soldiers protected themselves with linothorax, a type of body armor made by laminating together layers of linen."
Laminated Linen Protected Alexander the Great : Discovery News

 

Nice story!

 

Reminds one of the decisive role that FELT played for the Crusader Knights, making their vital areas impervious to arrow shafts.

 

Steady!

VB-
Felt would also have helped reduce the heat transfer between the armour and their clothing, not a bad idea in desert heat.

 

Linen 'armour' was still very common up to the 16th century, and possibly beyond.
Many 'arming doublets', for practice or actual combat were made from thick layers of linen, and I can say from personal experience it's exceptionally tough, and rather hard to push most blades through, though cutting strokes are still a problem. Hence the addition of small areas of chainmail in the most vulnerable areas.
Many more traditional Armours are laid over thick linen garments that I'd say would qualify as part of the armour itself.

Couple of chaps I know, both wearing Linen Arming Doublets:


Maybe also worth considering Jack of plate:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._or_Scottish,_c1590,_Royal_Armoury,_Leeds.JPG
Within that linen casing is hundreds of small metal plates.
The weight of them is surprising, as is the sense of security, but they could also fit the article's criteria for burning old armour, as they are a cheap form of protection, tend to suffer under their own construction, and to be honest look like they need burning after a fairly short period of use.

~A

 

Didn't many of these have wool stuffed down the "channels" formed between the stitching for extra protection, Adam?

 

Coming a little late to this thread....but having read the article, I'm a bit suprised...

I was taught this at uni 30 years ago!

 

At least they're getting the message now!

 

For the similar padding worn inside helms I believe horse hair was the favored "stuffing".

 

To get back (sort of) to the original post's premise, as late as 1914 the idea of tightly woven silk was still considered to be "bullet resistant" if not "proof".

Under his tunic Archduke Ferdinand wore such a "device", and his only fears after the first attempts on he and Sofia were for his pregnant wife who was NOT so protected. His faith was mis-placed of course, but the concept of tightly woven silk, in layers being a bullet barrier was still in "vogue".

It might have had some validity pre-smokeless powder and higher bullet velocities from handguns, but it was no "proof" against the small caliber Browning automatic wielded by Princip.

 

Well....Princip's .32 ACP was regarded as a "low power" round...but that wasn't the issue anyway, for Franz Ferdinand was shot in the jugular!

 

Too true, however that doesn't negate the fact that Ferdinand wore it and felt "protected". Now while the .32 ACP was a smallish handgun at the time, and could be considered "low power" it was (at close range) a deadly little round.

 

You've forgotten something - literally...

The steel...?

 

Strangely enough, we've come full circle to silk again...

!

 

Interesting about Franz Ferdinand. I saw a programme on the exhumation of the Romanov's remains a while back where they tested the claim that Princess Anastasia could have survived; they used replicas of the actual pistols to fire rounds at ballistic jelly which was covered in a layer of the same type of jewellery her clothes were habitually decorated with. They found the hardness of ther jewels would have stopped the round causing a fatal wound.
There's a kind of reference to the idea here-
"When the gunman returned, Dr Botkin was shot and the Tsarevich Alexei was slaughtered, one gunman repeatedly trying to shoot or stab the boy in the torso. The jewels sewn in his clothes protected him, and finally another gunman fired two shots into his head."
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

It's amazing how some of stuff created by the Greeks & Romans was way ahead of it's time, if the Goths & other tribes didn't totally destroy Rome we would be very far technogical wise.

 

Actually no - we use technology to find easier/faster/less-effort-involved ways of doing things...the Romans threw slaves at it. They never attempted mechanisation of tasks - even though we know now thwy did invent some pretty fancy technology - they just didn't apply it to industry. "Mass production" was by increasing the numbers of pairs of hands doing the same thing.

There were actually many times when the Italian economy stagnated for want of an influx of new "manpower"...especially in times of peace

 

Well, the authorities have found all the bodies of the Romanov family now, the final pair in mid-2007, and the DNA tests have proven they are the last of the family.

 

Forgot about this by a FoaF, might be of interest to some:
The Study of a Mid Sixteenth Century Brigandine. (Opens to a .pdf)