warrior armour made of reindeer antlers found on the Arctic Circle

Jim McDougall · 17th March 2017, 06:16 PM

Gav, thank you for that title! It was driving me nuts trying to remember it!
Machinist thank you for sharing this fascinating news item. A very esoteric topic and in areas seldom discussed but extremely fascinating.

Looking into these lamellar armors it is interesting to see the early history and development of their forms. Apparently such armors were well known in these ancient times throughout Middle East, Asia and other regions. It seems to have existed in the Chinese Han dynasty, and fragments have been found in SW Mongolia (Etsingol).

Such armors diffused from Central Asia into Mongolia to tribal peoples in Siberia. According to Robinson the Chukchies and Koryaks made iron lamellar armors similar to Tibetan examples (Robinson , "Oriental Armor", 1967, p.10). In other references however it seems that the Koryaks inland regions were reindeer herders and used them as a primary resource, with little use of iron. While these were located mostly in northern Kamchatka Peninsula, it does seem that the use of reindeer bone in these other regions would be plausible, especially in early period as in the article's description.

Interesting also is the continued use of this style armor much later with the Ainu, and the well known forms of it with the Japanese Samurai, obviously using other materials.

17th March 2017, 06:16 PM	#4
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,295	Gav, thank you for that title! It was driving me nuts trying to remember it! Machinist thank you for sharing this fascinating news item. A very esoteric topic and in areas seldom discussed but extremely fascinating. Looking into these lamellar armors it is interesting to see the early history and development of their forms. Apparently such armors were well known in these ancient times throughout Middle East, Asia and other regions. It seems to have existed in the Chinese Han dynasty, and fragments have been found in SW Mongolia (Etsingol). Such armors diffused from Central Asia into Mongolia to tribal peoples in Siberia. According to Robinson the Chukchies and Koryaks made iron lamellar armors similar to Tibetan examples (Robinson , "Oriental Armor", 1967, p.10). In other references however it seems that the Koryaks inland regions were reindeer herders and used them as a primary resource, with little use of iron. While these were located mostly in northern Kamchatka Peninsula, it does seem that the use of reindeer bone in these other regions would be plausible, especially in early period as in the article's description. Interesting also is the continued use of this style armor much later with the Ainu, and the well known forms of it with the Japanese Samurai, obviously using other materials.