'Absolutely amazing': 1,800-year-old shattered Roman arm guard is reconstructed from 100 pieces

A spectacular brass guard that would have protected the sword arm of a high-ranking Roman soldier some 1,800 years ago has been reconstructed from more than 100 fragments found at Trimontium, the Roman fort complex in Scotland.

The extraordinary jigsaw puzzle has been pieced together by National Museums Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh, and the arm-guard will now be lent to the British Museum’s forthcoming exhibition on life in the Roman army.

Made in the second century – with brass strips overlapping like an armadillo’s scales – it is one of only three known from the whole Roman Empire, and the most intact.

While most arm-guards were made of iron, which was more functional, brass would have looked golden on the wearer’s arm, marking out a soldier’s rank on the battlefield.

Dr Fraser Hunter, the NMS’s principal curator of prehistory and Roman archaeology, told the Observer: “It’s absolutely amazing. You get the sense of the protection this person had – and also the prestige. It would have gleamed gold and would have looked absolutely spectacular when he was wearing it.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/21/absolutely-amazing-1800-year-old-shattered-roman-arm-guard-is-reconstructed-from-100-pieces