Los hallazgos de armas en los campamentos romanos alrededor de Numancia

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the finds of arms and armour from the Roman camps around Numantia, i.e. the circumvallation surrounding the oppidum of Renieblas. Virtually all of the material presented was recovered during the 1906-1912 excavations led by Adolf Schulten. Since the conclusion of these research campaigns, there have only been isolated surface finds. The entire corpus of finds was drawn and - in part - photographed. The material was furher analysed and published as a monograph (Luik 2002). A particularly interesting result of this analysis is that there are relatively few defensive items such as body-armour or shield bosses. Offensive weaponry, and ranged weapons in particular, on the other hand, are frequent and include spearheads, socketed as well as tanged pila and various types of arrow and bolt heads. Interestingly, there are few swords or daggers, and little associated equipment parts. All in all, the presented fi nds provide a unique insight into the equipment and arms of the Roman Army during the Late Republic. At the same time, the corpus of material discussed and presented provides new information regarding the internal structure of the Roman Army at the time.