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Originally Posted by colin henshaw
Most likely just due to drying out over a long period of time as the skin could not shrink naturally due to being riveted to a metal plate.
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Animal hides, skins, naturally dry out over time if not lubricated by some sort of oil or conditioner. Cracks will occur in 'dry' periods if conditioning or oiling is not done .
In the situation I described in an earlier post where I was involved with an old Spanish leather 'cuera', which turned out to be late 17th c.....the cuirass had been stored for decades, and had literally collapsed upon itself. It took nearly a year of conservation to replenish oils and establish the strength in the leather to hold its shape.
This may have been the reason for the placement of this iron liner on this crocodile armor, to add structure to a somewhat deteriorated old item. If the conditioning of the hide is not attended to, naturally it will shrink and probably pull away from the rivets as the material drys and cracks.
That is just my view of what may occur but my view is far from any authority in these kinds of forensics.