Great video man. I wish native american and non-metal armor was a more common subject of discussion in the experimental archeology community. You deserve way more views. Keep up the good work.
Cheers. I agree, it's frustrating how there's almost no one talking about this stuff. Main reason I'm making these videos is so that folks with the same interests aren't left to start from square one, like I had to do.
Actual academic doing research in a semi-related field here. Seconding this so much. I work on African (and to a lesser extent Native American) military history and nobody has done any experiments with any of the gear; they just look at, say, African hide armours and shields and assume that they're automatically inferior to European gear. Granted, it's hard to test the efficacy of a rhino hide shield without, say, poaching yourself a rhino, but no one has even asked. I've spent the last few weeks emailing back and forth with biologists while I try to get a feel for how some of the equipment would have worked.
@@KartarNighthawk you'd think people would be more interested in the unfamiliar aspects of history... Nothing wrong with European or Asian historical interest, but I think it's unfortunate that people display little curiosity towards the non-European history of Africa and America 😞
Running. I forgot to mention running. I shot the footage, then forgot to talk about it. Stupid. The weight of the armor is not a problem. The apron doesn't prevent you from running, but it does get in the way a little. Not a problem, but I would be a little faster without it.
This is an incredible reconstruction. It think it's very plausible that your suitcase-style method of transporting it is historically accurate. European sources say nothing about this but it seems like a massive benefit of this construction style. Either way, this video is a credit to the field of experimental archaeology. I'm sure warriors of old would have been proud to wear armour similar to this
I guess as I understand it all armies have the tradition of making soldier travel in armor for a multitude of reasons mostly that if you have transport like a pack animal you can bring more stuff like food and water if you train your soldiers to carry their armor and other effects but I suppose they could carry the armor like a suitcase it would be risky though as you’re leaving your army exposed in transit but maybe the mobility would make up for it
@@nothanks9503 AIUI the easiest way of transporting armor is often to wear it. It's made to fit your body well, vs. a big lump in your hands or on your back.
So maybe the suitcase method could have been an ideal manner of storage. This would have been great especially while in movement with the tribe in a non hostile situation.
I never knew armor existed like this in North America. It's always really interesting to see weaponry that developed outside of Eurasia. Different arms races and resource limitations end up leading to some surprising inventions. If I had been shown this armor out of context, I would have never been able to guess where it was from. It's completely different from what I'm familiar with. History is always full of things you never expected to see.
I would have thought it was costume from The Nutcracker. Or maybe someone playing a turnip in their school play. But by the end I thought it was so cool I kind of wanted some myself. Impressive ingenuity, I would love to see how it held up against the weapons of the time.
I have never paid much attention to pre-European North American warfare, but this video has gotten me very interested. I have a feeling that I will binge most of your videos this week.
@@terryt2728 Are those people the Tlingit or related to Tlingit? They had some great wooden helmets that made them look like a wandering totem pole. Just as the Chinook art style, this culture had incredible aesthetics.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 Probably Tlingit or Haida, both wore armor and the helmets. The Haida also used spears for war, which as this video mentions, wasn't common. Here's a good video on them: th-cam.com/video/M_PlDkvh_-g/w-d-xo.html
The speed with which the helmet, breastplate, and backplate can be put on would be a serious plus to this kind of armour. If your settlement is hit in a surprise raid you can have most of your armour on and be out the door in a minute or less. Only the shin guards really took you any time, and they're the piece that could most easily be left off in an emergency anyway.
@@MalcolmPL I realise it is some time since this video was posted but I'm evidence it continues to gather viewers. You comment about the difficulty in tying on the shin guards when you cannot see the knot. Why not lengthen the thongs used to tie them on? Just wrap them around the ankle and calf and tie them in front of the shin.
Awesome project. Really illuminating. The point about spears apparently being rare on Native American battlefields is interesting. The main advantage of spears over a lot of other weapons is that they give more reach. This was the main reason why they were the most common weapon for many European armies for thousands of years. A bow gives even better reach than a spear. Historically most societies have not had large professional armies, so when wars happened they've had to draw on the skills that already exist within the population when training and equipping troops. In Europe people got most of their meat from domestic animals, but In North America there were fewer of these, so more people were hunters and there would have been lots more skilled archers. It would make more sense for them to make bows their primary weapons in war, and carrying a club or a tomahawk as a back-up would have been a lot easier than trying to carry a spear as well. In Europe, archery was a fairly rare skill for much of recorded history and archers sometimes became highly sought-after and well-paid mercenaries. They loved to use bows when they could, but there were rarely enough people who could use them well. England famously had very feared longbowmen during the Hundred Years War that were able to defeat the French against the numerical odds on several occasions. But the kingdom was only able to field them by effectively forcing the entire male population to regularly practice archery. Pre-contact Native American armies would have had much less trouble finding warriors who could shoot, so it would make sense for their armies to have more bows than spears. They could easily carry clubs and tomahawks on their persons and switch to them if they ran low on arrows or if the fighting went to close quarters, so those would be the other weapons frequently used. Just some thoughts.
I know this obviously doesn't apply to all native North American peoples, with such diverse traditions, but perhaps 'honour war' practices like 'counting coup' may have an additional part to play, with spears removing the ability to engage in touch-range combat? It does seem, however, that the heavy use of war clubs is a very good reason for having armour like this.
@@MalcolmPL Precisely the one, with feathered covering suit and the macuahuitl. I'm an archaeologist down south and an illustrator, It's why I'd hoped you'd have other social, your amazing work needs to be shared and publisized!
@@MalcolmPL Will do! The Mesoamerican reenactment scene is beggining to grow down here in México and seems to be booming in the Andes. Was extremely exciting to see a pre-gun era Iroquois armour up north as well. You're a pioneer and hope you develop the piece further.
As a person who has participated in using and training in the best armor the world has made from Europe I am fascinated by this. This is just amazing and will tell you wood cannot be underestimated. Very good, thank you for sharing this.
7:30 My guess is that they might have used the same techniques for European and Asian archers. They typically had quivers on their belts, not on their backs as depicted in movies. It also wasn't uncommon to hold arrows in the same hand as the bow itself. It could vary based on preference and the available resources to to the particular archer.
I love how descriptive you are in your narration- I came to your channel as an illustrator looking for references on weapon making, but I’m staying for your quality videos. This is all so fascinating, and so well produced!! Also I really appreciate getting to see what it’s like putting on and taking off the armor- if I were to need to draw a character getting dressed in armor, stuff like that is an invaluable reference!! And your thoughts on where you could store the quiver or how well you can draw the string is such great insight for people to know what it’s really like down to every detail!! I love it!!
I belong to the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and this is something I think our group would like to explore. Thank you so much for doing this video!
Great video as always. It's great to have an armour recreation such as this to provide unique insights. I am fascinated by the back plate. Very similar to the wing plates used by Arctic, Siberian, and Pacific Northwest peoples. It could be that archery was a primary weapon of armoured and experienced warriors, used before closing in to close quarter's combat, to support younger warriors who'd might be the first into combat. Edit: Just watched your previous video. It's seems I was at least partly correct. Damn those muskets.
Hey, thanks for watching. With regards to the backplate, something I wanted to point out in my video, (which slipped my mind,) was the coverage of the backplate, from behind the only portion of the body that can be hit are the meaty portions of the legs, the portions with no surface bones to break. A club armed man who managed to sneak behind a battle line would be unable to do anything worse than bruise the legs. It's interesting to speculate about how armor like this would have affected battle tactics and such. I might have to make another video at some point.
@@MalcolmPL A club strike on the side of the knee could be devastating still. I remember seeing that kind of strike (done from the front in that case) in some Lua demonstration videos.
I have heard that some european archers would stick their arrows in the dirt/snow in front of them rather than using a quiver. This keeps them in easy reach if you're firing from a stationary position, especially in formation. If the armor prevents using a quiver and these archers were forming lines rather than running around, that might have been how they did it. Great video. It's so cool seeing your process!
You'd have use for a quiver for carrying the arrows between battles and then prep them on the ground in front of you when you set up for fighting. Some quivers could easily fit inside the armor roll here though for ease of carriage, or as a flat sort of bag rolled around the outside of the roll. You could also likely design a quiver that could work that way but also be worn across the back with arrows drawn from it directly when you are _not_ wearing the backplate or other armor pieces that would interfere, perhaps when you need to be better prepared to shoot and scoot and can forego immediate armor protection for mobility.
The back plate is interesting, like a flexible pavise. Should work great as a heat deflector as well, the whole kit should have some great utility as a sleeping roll when you make camp for the night. With minimal modifications you could also make it possible for a group of soldiers tie their armor together into a makeshift shelter, kind of like those tarps soldier had during ww2 that could be joined together into a larger tent.
This is a subject I've always wondered about. I have also seen images of armor from the Pacific Northwest, but nothing from the rest of North America. I always thought other peoples would have used bone armor having never considered that most weapons would have stone heads. Wood would be lighter and materials easier to source. Excellent video and thanks for sharing your discovery process.
I don’t have experience with them. On a cow the only suitable bones are the long bones of the leg, these need to be split and ground flat, which due to the curvature is a lot of work for relatively little material. A buffalo skeleton is obviously different from a cow, but without experience I can’t speculate.
@@MalcolmPL Bone can be a little on the brittle side as well, prone to shattering once it's dry enough. You also have to consider field repairs. Wood is easy to source and repair on the move. Bone is not. It's one of the reasons mail and lamellar armour were so popular for so long.
Your voice is so calming,I hope all of your videos are done in this manner. When you speak it reminds me of the old (1960s-1970s) educational and archaeology videos. Thanks for the tears.
Amazing work sir! In a way it reminds my of the hoop style bronze armor worn by champions in the early bronze age. Large pieces giving broad protection.
@@MalcolmPL Curator of some museum here :D My American Indian-themed exhibition is almost over, but I'd love to cooperate in the future. I have another exhibition that involves medieval medicine coming next month. PM me if you are interested.
That was 14 minutes and 19 seconds well spent of my life! Such great experimental archaeology. It's really interesting how well it performed versus even more advanced weapon types which demonstrate that ancients were just as capable and ingenious aka the brain was just the same as now, they didn't need newer technologies, but solved less with more. Absolutely riveting stuff indeed!
@@MalcolmPL it's nice to see you respond to comments, your programs are fantastic. Not related ,but what is your theory of the first natives in america? I have heard Indians have been here for( ever) , some say they just came out of a hole in the ground ,zs in the desert area, some say they battled giants when they got here , as in the California area Indians. So what's the truth 8n your opinion? I have never heard of any actual time . I find it hard to believe the forever part .
The evidence for the bering crossing is sound. Last time I checked there was good evidence for a date of thirty thousand years ago. I subscribe to a multiple migrations theory, people crossing over every now and again for thousands of years. Some through the bering land bridge, others by canoe through the Aleutians. Most People who say “forever” are just using poetic language. The ice sheets only receded from the Great Lakes about fifteen thousand years ago, so we couldn’t have lived here before that. But as recent archaeology at red hill Valley shows, people moved in almost as soon as possible and have been here almost as long as plants and animals.
@@MalcolmPL thank you for your response it makes more sense to me. I am ashamed I don't know more about my heritage, I am 25% Oneidan, nye was my family name, but there are two more names , maybe family, and clan? Names?hopefully you might know. It's sad getting older and forgetting thank you again for your time,love your channel
0:18 - helmet has wood held together by leather on the inside n out. Helmet is sown with sinew. 0:46 - shin guards made with oak splints sown together with jude. (1:15 - for ankle bone). (1:19 - shin guards can b tied with bow. 1:30 - breast plate - wood woven with cords. Historically cords made with milkweed or sinew. Need lots of cords. 2:15 - breast plate n apron (2:21) - both flexible. 2:42 - back plate made same wy as back plate (2:57) - back plates r separate plates attached with leathers. 7:05 - can run ok in armor except in really windy dys. 7:25 - not hard to shoot an arrow. 7:54 - kneeling n shootin arrow, skirt slighty gets in wy. 8:26 - stringing n unstringing a bow? Can b done. 8:37 - climbing? Only a littl hard. 8:51 - u can't use legs very well when climbin due 2 apron. 9:00 - full armor is a little over 17 lb. 12:59 - found armor very good against stone pts. Antler pts., breast n back plate close to 100% proof. Helmet n shin guards can b peneteprated if arrow strikes dead center. Against cuts almost 100% proof. Even against steel weapons like the modern felling ax. Blunt force, all armor protects well. Steel spear goes through if it's slender enough, durable enough n has enough mass 2 go through.
The design seems extremely well thought out. You can't sit straight up when knocked down but when you roll over all your vital areas are protected from blows as you rise.
This was a really great reconstruction, my jaw actually dropped seeing the versatility you discovered in both packing, ways the shoulder plate could be used, mobility, etcetera. This reconstruction was incredibly well made, kudos to the work you put in!
I was reading about how the Eastern tribes dropped the use of their wooden armor with the introduction of trade guns. Another thing that got referenced was that the way the tribes fought changed from open fields to more of the guerilla style that we are accustomed to reading about. I was wondering what that armor may have looked like so I really appreciate your presentation.
Something else I just remembered. There is a book called Zadayi Red by Caleb Fox, which is an old Cherokee story & it brings up some sort of wooden plates warriors used to wear that had different colors on each side. The reasoning was that it was reversible & whichever color was presented as the warriors returned advertised whether they had won the battle or lost.
I absolutely love these Iroquois videos as I grew up in their area. I watch current Siberian Nomads who live in chums. It’s an awesome view of how Native Americans likely lived. Thanks for the videos
I'm not really sure why I started watching this....or why I watched the entire thing .. but good work. I hope you win all your battles and continue teaching us
Great work and tremendous respect for the effort here. Love it and have watched all your videos! Big fan. I assume the yellow hue in your buckskins is a result of modern factory tanning processes. I used to wear yellow hides like that too- and I've seen you using braintan in other videos, which means you are more capable than I am- but I still wanted to share a tip. I found that you can soak the yellow hides in RIT brand dye remover (I think I mixed about 2 powder packets in the small pink boxes with about a gallon and a half to two gallons) and warm it for a while on the stovetop (horrible smell, vent the kitchen...), and the yellow begins to leech out. It takes a few baths in the dye remover, and you can keep the pot cleaner by wringing the hides out directly into the sink so the dye doesn't concentrate in the solution. Eventually, you'll hit that nice muted gray color that looks almost identical to braintan. Just a thought. Hope you are well and look forward to more videos in the future.
Thanks, I'll give that a try, the yellow is annoying, particularly how bright it looks through a camera, and all my previous attempts at muting the color have thus far been ineffectual.
@@MalcolmPL Might make things a little stinky though. That dye remover has a strong smell to it. In one instance a dark brown hide retained it's color. Maybe try on a small patch first, I wouldn't want to be the cause of ruining your outfit. It looks great and I love the channel.
Excellent! I live in an area the Susquehannock's lived. Growing up I heard stories about their wooden armor but thought the tales were just imagination. My family bought/traded directly with Penn who directly bought/traded for the land that my family homesteaded along the Susquehanna river in central Pennsylvania. I believe it is possible that the skirt had overlapping vertical strips that provided more flexibility for running, sitting, if I remember correctly what I heard way back in the 1970s.
TH-cam suddenly showed me these videos and I'm glad it did. Also, this armor is incredibly quiet, you ran through the snow so quietly that it could be the wind, so that's another crucial strength to the style that isn't immediately obvious.
Everything about this from the subject matter, to methodogy, to background music, to overall tone feels like the Iroquois compliment to a Townsends video, and I mean that as the highest possible praise. Thank you for sharing this!
Wow, this is something I didn't expect. Fantastic! You combine historical resources with a very fair analysis of practicality, with artifacts that you yourself made. AND, it's a great video! Well filmed, good music added appropriately, good narrative. Relaxing. Big 👍!
Absolutely amazing and very well made! I’m with you 100% on storage/movement with the armor and amazing how quickly you can take it on and off. The level of mobility you have in this was a lot more than I had previously imagined. Thank you for making this!
That was a fantastic video! My first impressions of the armour are that you'd benifit from having the top section of the apron tied behind your back. Possibly even made easier by adding the wings at the waist that you mentioned, which I agree with totally. Over all, I found it to be brilliant. Good job dude!
Great video and armour recreation, nice to see you exploring your heritage and keeping traditions alive. In terms of the spear dilemma, I hear it referred to as a lance quite often. I also think lances were common when warriors were on a horse more then on foot.
Horses and metal arrived with the Europeans. No doubt there was native copper and gold amongst the Iroquois but it was too scarce or valuable for spear points IMO. Steel or iron for points became available when traders brought it in or it was taken from the Europeans.
10:32 using the wings of the backplate to cover your side and just peek out over it reminds me so much of the famous Philly Shell defense in boxing! The Mayweathers are notorious for this style. In both Philly SHELL and Iroquois Back Shield (which reminds me of a turtle SHELL), you stand perpendicular to your opponent, tuck your lead eye behind your lead shoulder, and when you need to cover up more, you shrug your shoulder up to protect the face, instead allowing your shoulder/ backplate wing to tank the blow. Meanwhile your rear hand is cocked and ready to fire forward, which in this case would probably be holding a club. So cool to see these parallels.
So one thing I would like to bring up is that from the European perspective, a breastplate is a tailored piece of equipment. Thus I think it would be reasonable that the piece you've termed the apron would be tied in such a way to be closer to the body and not loose. With that being said, I'm going to go back to binging your videos, cheers!
Yeah, now that you mention it I don't think the Chickasaw tribe used spears much either. When the Chickasaw made first contact with the Europeans we were a very different tribe than we were later in the 1800s. Our tattoo style, hair, and dress had almost an ancient Polynesian feel to it. We spanked the Spaniards so bad in our first dust up that they gave us a wide birth for the next hundred years or so. By then it was the US Gov't that totally destroyed us. So we might have used spears in the 1500s, but I don't think we did. It's funny Hollywood westerns always show feathered spears stabbing in cabin doors and prairie schooners but I never really see them in any tribes history and I never even noticed. Great video. I'll have to learn more about my own tribes kit and how they fought.
Shiyo, Cousin. This is fantastic. It really reminds me of Bronze Age armor I have seen from Anatolia, the Northern Caucasus and the other Iranian speaking regions.
Great experimental archeology. One small tip you may already know, if you make the cords long enough you can tie the shinguards in front. As for adding a couple of staves to the back and lapguard, there might be a hard trade off with range of motion. I agree that on top of the protective value of the armor there is a psychological advantage, that comes from "I'm armored and ready" vs. "Shit, I'm exposed and unready!"
Fascinating, I've always thought that organic Armour was a thing despite not being able to find any sources for it. In Richard Adams novel Shardik, he describes helmets made from fire hardened wooden bowls, but I couldn't find any references to non metal armour (apart from boiled leather) until I saw the Mycenean boars tusk example. I think your spot on about stone tipped spears being too fragile for a battle weapon. Atlatl darts maybe, but they would be a one shot deal.
I have seen repro wood armour in museums, both Iroquois and Haida. It looked like it would be very effective against stone tipped arrows and melee weapons without a lot of extra weight.
Extremely clever armor design for the type of battle they presumably encountered. Excellent protection from light arrows, especially from behind and when unaware. Slightly obscures body position providing the enemy a more difficult assement. Good mitigation of club blows....also, it would seem to have benefit in a grapple as well. The boxy elements would seem to make getting a good grip on your body more difficult and grabbing the armor is a terrible idea as you can wiggle enough independent of the armor to be a real threat.or escape... Plus the light weight amd easy packing is not to be underrated.
I am working on prototyping a suit of this for my LARP tribe. I have Native blood in me as well, so I figured it’s use and creation would not only be a less expensive alternative to steel, but also a good way for me to connect to my ancestors. It will likely be a while before you see this, but for any others interested in doing something similar I would love to see a video or two dedicated to showing the methods you created it with!
1:48 Excellent video and much respect for all your work. I have some experience making natural cordage. Milkweed makes a decent cordage, but from my experience Dogbane is superior in strength and flexibility. I think this further backs up your experiment bc it would make the armor lighter and more flexible than the sisal you have available. Dogbane is still pretty common where I live in the Hudson Valley, but turning into cordage is very time consuming.
Absolutely incredible work! Thanks for sharing. About the breast plate: depending on how well one is versed in wood-bending you could even make individual slates longer and curve over your shoulders to protect that area from blows from above. (Like from clubs or axes)
10 year old me thinking about the "lost boys" in battle mode armor from the 90's movie "HOOK" 😏👍 This is a great video. All natural. Thanks for sharing
I just noticed something; the back plate would also hinder getting a good diagonal strike to the collar bone. As you know Malcolm, that would be a popular target because once you can break the collar bone, that arm is now useless, and you can't raise a weapon.
It sort of depends on the weapon. A weapon with a long point of contact like a staff would be effectively impeded by the back plate, while something like a ball head club might not be. You bring to mind an interesting thought of people using the wings to actively parry such a blow.
Actually, watching the process of getting the armour on WAS riveting for me. Imagining how it would have been to prepare for battle, quietly, maybe in the dark, as efficiently as possible. And, as long as I'm being fussy, the outdoor sounds of birds was best, even though that music was quite pleasant.
I think the slat armor may have been laced to a hide backing which would have improved its overall integrity (composite armor). Keep in mind that even in Europe, moose (aka 'elk') hide was still a widely sought-after form of protection as late as the 17th century (e.g. the English Civil War). Some historical accounts indicate that armor worn by peoples of NW Canada was painted with a coating that included sand to break up stone projectile points. The Natchez allowed the French to test some of their antique armor, and it was found to be "proof against the musket at 25 paces and proof against the crossbow at all ranges". Historically, Hawaiian armor, which appears to have been composed of a type of rattan, was able to stop a ball from a Brown Bess musket. BTW - the Byzantines used rod and slat armor for vambraces (forearm defenses) and greaves (shin defenses) well into the Medieval period.
Watching a second time a year later. When you mention the weight and making the back plate out of pine it made me think about the airplanes made from spruce because of the high strength and low weight.
Fascinating! It looks somewhat similar to the Inuit armor, but totally different from the South American warriors (as far as I know, they wore little to no protection).
I really appreciate your study on this type of armor. I first found out about native wooden armor in the north western tribes, but to find that it was more widespread is really cool. I feel there is a great lack of details on native Americans, and sources that do exist are often influence by the politics of the person recording there findings.
Just an idea re: including a quiver with this armor harness. As I understand it, the idea of using a quiver in battle is a bit of a cinematic anachronism - quivers are more for storage of arrows, to prevent damage to the fletching and such. I suspect that First Nations warriors, much like their contemporaries elsewhere in the world - Britain for example - simply carried their arrows with them in the same hand they carried their bow in. It may seem hard to imagine, but for folks for whom battlefield archery was a commonplace skill, dexterously and delicately managing objects like this was standard operating procedure. Generally speaking, warriors wouldn't have expected to shoot more than a few arrows before either withdrawing to a different tactical position, or engaging with melee weapons. :)
interesting, since it can flex due to the nature of it's construction, it doesn't need all those joints that metal armor has, giving it a mobility boost by default.
This is interesting, the form of construction of helmets in the central Andes region after the fall of Tiwanaku also revolved around long slats of wood arranged around a leather cap, but they used tinctured camelid wool as cushion and bonding. The shape of these later influenced the metal helmet design found around the 14th to 15th centuries.
Interesting to see reconstruction of Neolithic technology armour. Similar constructions may be used in Neolithic Europe but due to lifetime of material we don't have any good examples, or depiction of it.
Great video man. I wish native american and non-metal armor was a more common subject of discussion in the experimental archeology community. You deserve way more views. Keep up the good work.
Cheers. I agree, it's frustrating how there's almost no one talking about this stuff. Main reason I'm making these videos is so that folks with the same interests aren't left to start from square one, like I had to do.
Actual academic doing research in a semi-related field here. Seconding this so much. I work on African (and to a lesser extent Native American) military history and nobody has done any experiments with any of the gear; they just look at, say, African hide armours and shields and assume that they're automatically inferior to European gear. Granted, it's hard to test the efficacy of a rhino hide shield without, say, poaching yourself a rhino, but no one has even asked. I've spent the last few weeks emailing back and forth with biologists while I try to get a feel for how some of the equipment would have worked.
@@KartarNighthawk you'd think people would be more interested in the unfamiliar aspects of history... Nothing wrong with European or Asian historical interest, but I think it's unfortunate that people display little curiosity towards the non-European history of Africa and America 😞
Seriously though, I only read about wooden armor in the context of pre Bronze Age tech.
@@KartarNighthawk for the weapons it was meant to protect against it worked. even the neolithic europeans used wood or bone armor at one point in time
Running. I forgot to mention running. I shot the footage, then forgot to talk about it. Stupid.
The weight of the armor is not a problem. The apron doesn't prevent you from running, but it does get in the way a little. Not a problem, but I would be a little faster without it.
Stupid.
This is an incredible reconstruction. It think it's very plausible that your suitcase-style method of transporting it is historically accurate. European sources say nothing about this but it seems like a massive benefit of this construction style. Either way, this video is a credit to the field of experimental archaeology. I'm sure warriors of old would have been proud to wear armour similar to this
Cheers. I’m quite happy with it.
I guess as I understand it all armies have the tradition of making soldier travel in armor for a multitude of reasons mostly that if you have transport like a pack animal you can bring more stuff like food and water if you train your soldiers to carry their armor and other effects but I suppose they could carry the armor like a suitcase it would be risky though as you’re leaving your army exposed in transit but maybe the mobility would make up for it
@@nothanks9503 AIUI the easiest way of transporting armor is often to wear it. It's made to fit your body well, vs. a big lump in your hands or on your back.
So maybe the suitcase method could have been an ideal manner of storage. This would have been great especially while in movement with the tribe in a non hostile situation.
@@Dang3rMouSe having a storehouse where you could rapidly distribute armor to dozens of warriors would be an incredible boon
I never knew armor existed like this in North America. It's always really interesting to see weaponry that developed outside of Eurasia. Different arms races and resource limitations end up leading to some surprising inventions. If I had been shown this armor out of context, I would have never been able to guess where it was from. It's completely different from what I'm familiar with. History is always full of things you never expected to see.
I would have thought it was costume from The Nutcracker. Or maybe someone playing a turnip in their school play. But by the end I thought it was so cool I kind of wanted some myself. Impressive ingenuity, I would love to see how it held up against the weapons of the time.
@@dishonoredundead unfortunately much of that is by design
I have never paid much attention to pre-European North American warfare, but this video has gotten me very interested. I have a feeling that I will binge most of your videos this week.
In fairness, there isn’t much information on it in the general sphere. I’m trying my best to make the history more accessible.
The people of Vancouver Island had some cool armor. They were like First Nation Vikings using their boats to raid.
@@terryt2728 Are those people the Tlingit or related to Tlingit? They had some great wooden helmets that made them look like a wandering totem pole. Just as the Chinook art style, this culture had incredible aesthetics.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 I'm not sure sorry. I saw a documentary here on TH-cam about them. I'm awful about remembering names.
@@valentinmitterbauer4196 Probably Tlingit or Haida, both wore armor and the helmets. The Haida also used spears for war, which as this video mentions, wasn't common. Here's a good video on them: th-cam.com/video/M_PlDkvh_-g/w-d-xo.html
The speed with which the helmet, breastplate, and backplate can be put on would be a serious plus to this kind of armour. If your settlement is hit in a surprise raid you can have most of your armour on and be out the door in a minute or less. Only the shin guards really took you any time, and they're the piece that could most easily be left off in an emergency anyway.
Yeah, I agree.
@@MalcolmPL I realise it is some time since this video was posted but I'm evidence it continues to gather viewers. You comment about the difficulty in tying on the shin guards when you cannot see the knot. Why not lengthen the thongs used to tie them on? Just wrap them around the ankle and calf and tie them in front of the shin.
Also, people could help each other.
The backplate is fascinating, it seems to act like a hybrid between armor and shield... It's quieter than I imagined too!
Siberian armor is very similar- I guess they shot a lot with bows in combat, and would dodge by turning around.
It looks a lot like Micronesian armour.
The way it moves with the wearer's body to compliment fighting movements and stances is fascinating, especially given its size.
Awesome project. Really illuminating. The point about spears apparently being rare on Native American battlefields is interesting. The main advantage of spears over a lot of other weapons is that they give more reach. This was the main reason why they were the most common weapon for many European armies for thousands of years. A bow gives even better reach than a spear. Historically most societies have not had large professional armies, so when wars happened they've had to draw on the skills that already exist within the population when training and equipping troops. In Europe people got most of their meat from domestic animals, but In North America there were fewer of these, so more people were hunters and there would have been lots more skilled archers. It would make more sense for them to make bows their primary weapons in war, and carrying a club or a tomahawk as a back-up would have been a lot easier than trying to carry a spear as well.
In Europe, archery was a fairly rare skill for much of recorded history and archers sometimes became highly sought-after and well-paid mercenaries. They loved to use bows when they could, but there were rarely enough people who could use them well. England famously had very feared longbowmen during the Hundred Years War that were able to defeat the French against the numerical odds on several occasions. But the kingdom was only able to field them by effectively forcing the entire male population to regularly practice archery. Pre-contact Native American armies would have had much less trouble finding warriors who could shoot, so it would make sense for their armies to have more bows than spears. They could easily carry clubs and tomahawks on their persons and switch to them if they ran low on arrows or if the fighting went to close quarters, so those would be the other weapons frequently used. Just some thoughts.
I know this obviously doesn't apply to all native North American peoples, with such diverse traditions, but perhaps 'honour war' practices like 'counting coup' may have an additional part to play, with spears removing the ability to engage in touch-range combat? It does seem, however, that the heavy use of war clubs is a very good reason for having armour like this.
To all potential commenters. There are several parts to this video project. Some of the questions are answered there.
The tone with which you narrate this video, along with the way you frame and light it, lends it a slight "Wes Anderson" vibe. What a delight!
Dude amazing job! Greetings from Mexico, where I'm working on a reconstruction of an Aztec armour!
Is it that cotton sort with the salt water?
@@MalcolmPL Precisely the one, with feathered covering suit and the macuahuitl. I'm an archaeologist down south and an illustrator, It's why I'd hoped you'd have other social, your amazing work needs to be shared and publisized!
@@Rafael_Mena_Ill Cheers. Let me know when you get your recreation done. I'd love to see what those look like in the real world.
@@MalcolmPL Will do! The Mesoamerican reenactment scene is beggining to grow down here in México and seems to be booming in the Andes. Was extremely exciting to see a pre-gun era Iroquois armour up north as well. You're a pioneer and hope you develop the piece further.
Out of curiosity, how much would you sell a full set of armour for, btw?
Sophisticated, versatile, practical, natural, and iconic all at the same time.
As a person who has participated in using and training in the best armor the world has made from Europe I am fascinated by this. This is just amazing and will tell you wood cannot be underestimated. Very good, thank you for sharing this.
7:30 My guess is that they might have used the same techniques for European and Asian archers. They typically had quivers on their belts, not on their backs as depicted in movies. It also wasn't uncommon to hold arrows in the same hand as the bow itself. It could vary based on preference and the available resources to to the particular archer.
I love how descriptive you are in your narration-
I came to your channel as an illustrator looking for references on weapon making, but I’m staying for your quality videos. This is all so fascinating, and so well produced!!
Also I really appreciate getting to see what it’s like putting on and taking off the armor- if I were to need to draw a character getting dressed in armor, stuff like that is an invaluable reference!! And your thoughts on where you could store the quiver or how well you can draw the string is such great insight for people to know what it’s really like down to every detail!! I love it!!
The little details are why I make these videos. Things people might not think of without first hand experience. That’s what I find compelling.
I belong to the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and this is something I think our group would like to explore. Thank you so much for doing this video!
Great video as always. It's great to have an armour recreation such as this to provide unique insights.
I am fascinated by the back plate. Very similar to the wing plates used by Arctic, Siberian, and Pacific Northwest peoples.
It could be that archery was a primary weapon of armoured and experienced warriors, used before closing in to close quarter's combat, to support younger warriors who'd might be the first into combat.
Edit: Just watched your previous video. It's seems I was at least partly correct. Damn those muskets.
Hey, thanks for watching.
With regards to the backplate, something I wanted to point out in my video, (which slipped my mind,) was the coverage of the backplate, from behind the only portion of the body that can be hit are the meaty portions of the legs, the portions with no surface bones to break. A club armed man who managed to sneak behind a battle line would be unable to do anything worse than bruise the legs.
It's interesting to speculate about how armor like this would have affected battle tactics and such. I might have to make another video at some point.
@@MalcolmPL A club strike on the side of the knee could be devastating still. I remember seeing that kind of strike (done from the front in that case) in some Lua demonstration videos.
I have heard that some european archers would stick their arrows in the dirt/snow in front of them rather than using a quiver. This keeps them in easy reach if you're firing from a stationary position, especially in formation. If the armor prevents using a quiver and these archers were forming lines rather than running around, that might have been how they did it.
Great video. It's so cool seeing your process!
You'd have use for a quiver for carrying the arrows between battles and then prep them on the ground in front of you when you set up for fighting. Some quivers could easily fit inside the armor roll here though for ease of carriage, or as a flat sort of bag rolled around the outside of the roll. You could also likely design a quiver that could work that way but also be worn across the back with arrows drawn from it directly when you are _not_ wearing the backplate or other armor pieces that would interfere, perhaps when you need to be better prepared to shoot and scoot and can forego immediate armor protection for mobility.
Good stuff. It's reminiscent of the olden days of TH-cam videos. Makes me nostalgic kinda.
The back plate is interesting, like a flexible pavise. Should work great as a heat deflector as well, the whole kit should have some great utility as a sleeping roll when you make camp for the night. With minimal modifications you could also make it possible for a group of soldiers tie their armor together into a makeshift shelter, kind of like those tarps soldier had during ww2 that could be joined together into a larger tent.
I appreciate that you went over how long it took to put on; that's an important part of any suit of armor!
This is a subject I've always wondered about. I have also seen images of armor from the Pacific Northwest, but nothing from the rest of North America. I always thought other peoples would have used bone armor having never considered that most weapons would have stone heads. Wood would be lighter and materials easier to source. Excellent video and thanks for sharing your discovery process.
Yeah, I thought bone would be more common too, but after trying to make some, I found that most animals don't have suitable bones.
@@MalcolmPL what about Bison bones? Do you know if they would be suitable for armor?
I don’t have experience with them.
On a cow the only suitable bones are the long bones of the leg, these need to be split and ground flat, which due to the curvature is a lot of work for relatively little material.
A buffalo skeleton is obviously different from a cow, but without experience I can’t speculate.
@@MalcolmPL Bone can be a little on the brittle side as well, prone to shattering once it's dry enough. You also have to consider field repairs. Wood is easy to source and repair on the move. Bone is not. It's one of the reasons mail and lamellar armour were so popular for so long.
@@MalcolmPL Plus, it's less dangerous to fell a tree than a moose or equivalent animal
Your voice is so calming,I hope all of your videos are done in this manner. When you speak it reminds me of the old (1960s-1970s) educational and archaeology videos. Thanks for the tears.
Amazing work sir! In a way it reminds my of the hoop style bronze armor worn by champions in the early bronze age. Large pieces giving broad protection.
Yeah, Some commenters compare it to the dendra panoply. I don't know if I agree, but it's a reasonable comparison.
Awesome job dude, i hope some university or musseum see what You have done and decide to work with you.
One can dream.
@@MalcolmPL Curator of some museum here :D My American Indian-themed exhibition is almost over, but I'd love to cooperate in the future. I have another exhibition that involves medieval medicine coming next month. PM me if you are interested.
That was 14 minutes and 19 seconds well spent of my life! Such great experimental archaeology. It's really interesting how well it performed versus even more advanced weapon types which demonstrate that ancients were just as capable and ingenious aka the brain was just the same as now, they didn't need newer technologies, but solved less with more. Absolutely riveting stuff indeed!
This whole series on armor has been just great to watch. I've really enjoyed it. Thanks for all the hard work you put into it.
No problem.
@@MalcolmPL it's nice to see you respond to comments, your programs are fantastic. Not related ,but what is your theory of the first natives in america? I have heard Indians have been here for( ever) , some say they just came out of a hole in the ground ,zs in the desert area, some say they battled giants when they got here , as in the California area Indians. So what's the truth 8n your opinion? I have never heard of any actual time . I find it hard to believe the forever part .
The evidence for the bering crossing is sound. Last time I checked there was good evidence for a date of thirty thousand years ago.
I subscribe to a multiple migrations theory, people crossing over every now and again for thousands of years. Some through the bering land bridge, others by canoe through the Aleutians.
Most People who say “forever” are just using poetic language. The ice sheets only receded from the Great Lakes about fifteen thousand years ago, so we couldn’t have lived here before that. But as recent archaeology at red hill Valley shows, people moved in almost as soon as possible and have been here almost as long as plants and animals.
@@MalcolmPL thank you for your response it makes more sense to me. I am ashamed I don't know more about my heritage, I am 25% Oneidan, nye was my family name, but there are two more names , maybe family, and clan? Names?hopefully you might know. It's sad getting older and forgetting thank you again for your time,love your channel
@@gwenwheeler1248 Oneida clans are bear, wolf and turtle.
0:18 - helmet has wood held together by leather on the inside n out. Helmet is sown with sinew.
0:46 - shin guards made with oak splints sown together with jude. (1:15 - for ankle bone). (1:19 - shin guards can b tied with bow.
1:30 - breast plate - wood woven with cords. Historically cords made with milkweed or sinew. Need lots of cords.
2:15 - breast plate n apron (2:21) - both flexible.
2:42 - back plate made same wy as back plate (2:57) - back plates r separate plates attached with leathers.
7:05 - can run ok in armor except in really windy dys.
7:25 - not hard to shoot an arrow.
7:54 - kneeling n shootin arrow, skirt slighty gets in wy.
8:26 - stringing n unstringing a bow? Can b done.
8:37 - climbing? Only a littl hard.
8:51 - u can't use legs very well when climbin due 2 apron.
9:00 - full armor is a little over 17 lb.
12:59 - found armor very good against stone pts. Antler pts., breast n back plate close to 100% proof. Helmet n shin guards can b peneteprated if arrow strikes dead center. Against cuts almost 100% proof. Even against steel weapons like the modern felling ax. Blunt force, all armor protects well. Steel spear goes through if it's slender enough, durable enough n has enough mass 2 go through.
The design seems extremely well thought out. You can't sit straight up when knocked down but when you roll over all your vital areas are protected from blows as you rise.
This was a really great reconstruction, my jaw actually dropped seeing the versatility you discovered in both packing, ways the shoulder plate could be used, mobility, etcetera. This reconstruction was incredibly well made, kudos to the work you put in!
I was reading about how the Eastern tribes dropped the use of their wooden armor with the introduction of trade guns. Another thing that got referenced was that the way the tribes fought changed from open fields to more of the guerilla style that we are accustomed to reading about. I was wondering what that armor may have looked like so I really appreciate your presentation.
this goes so hard (no pun intended). the look of the armor is really aesthetically appealing, imo--i love the color scheme and textures
Kind Sir, this IS riveting. I'm imagining fellow warriors helping you and one another ready for battle.
now just imagine your version, but with thousands of years of human innovation, and thats what you are trying to recreate. awesome work
Something else I just remembered. There is a book called Zadayi Red by Caleb Fox, which is an old Cherokee story & it brings up some sort of wooden plates warriors used to wear that had different colors on each side. The reasoning was that it was reversible & whichever color was presented as the warriors returned advertised whether they had won the battle or lost.
That sounds like it's referring to armor. I'll have to look into that.
I absolutely love these Iroquois videos as I grew up in their area. I watch current Siberian Nomads who live in chums. It’s an awesome view of how Native Americans likely lived. Thanks for the videos
This is awesome, I remember learning about this in grade school and feeling some amount of pride at the resourcefulness. need to see this tested.
I'm not really sure why I started watching this....or why I watched the entire thing .. but good work. I hope you win all your battles and continue teaching us
Great work and tremendous respect for the effort here. Love it and have watched all your videos! Big fan. I assume the yellow hue in your buckskins is a result of modern factory tanning processes. I used to wear yellow hides like that too- and I've seen you using braintan in other videos, which means you are more capable than I am- but I still wanted to share a tip.
I found that you can soak the yellow hides in RIT brand dye remover (I think I mixed about 2 powder packets in the small pink boxes with about a gallon and a half to two gallons) and warm it for a while on the stovetop (horrible smell, vent the kitchen...), and the yellow begins to leech out. It takes a few baths in the dye remover, and you can keep the pot cleaner by wringing the hides out directly into the sink so the dye doesn't concentrate in the solution. Eventually, you'll hit that nice muted gray color that looks almost identical to braintan. Just a thought. Hope you are well and look forward to more videos in the future.
Thanks, I'll give that a try, the yellow is annoying, particularly how bright it looks through a camera, and all my previous attempts at muting the color have thus far been ineffectual.
@@MalcolmPL Might make things a little stinky though. That dye remover has a strong smell to it. In one instance a dark brown hide retained it's color. Maybe try on a small patch first, I wouldn't want to be the cause of ruining your outfit. It looks great and I love the channel.
But of course. Cheers.
Had no idea native Americans used armor in any significant way. This is awesome, we need more of this. 👍💯
Excellent! I live in an area the Susquehannock's lived. Growing up I heard stories about their wooden armor but thought the tales were just imagination. My family bought/traded directly with Penn who directly bought/traded for the land that my family homesteaded along the Susquehanna river in central Pennsylvania. I believe it is possible that the skirt had overlapping vertical strips that provided more flexibility for running, sitting, if I remember correctly what I heard way back in the 1970s.
Where has this channel been my whole life? This is fascinating. Subscribed and I think I know how I'm going to spend my Sunday
TH-cam suddenly showed me these videos and I'm glad it did. Also, this armor is incredibly quiet, you ran through the snow so quietly that it could be the wind, so that's another crucial strength to the style that isn't immediately obvious.
Everything about this from the subject matter, to methodogy, to background music, to overall tone feels like the Iroquois compliment to a Townsends video, and I mean that as the highest possible praise. Thank you for sharing this!
Really wonderful speaking voice and narration. On top of all the science, art and history presented of course. Archival quality.
Wow, this is something I didn't expect. Fantastic! You combine historical resources with a very fair analysis of practicality, with artifacts that you yourself made. AND, it's a great video! Well filmed, good music added appropriately, good narrative. Relaxing. Big 👍!
This is science!! Excellent content. I promise the only thing between you and making a full living on TH-cam is volume of content. Keep it up sir.
Actually something much more interesting: experimental archeology!
Thanks so much, nothing beats seeing something actually being worn and tested.
Absolutely amazing and very well made! I’m with you 100% on storage/movement with the armor and amazing how quickly you can take it on and off. The level of mobility you have in this was a lot more than I had previously imagined. Thank you for making this!
Someone had to do it, it might as well be me.
@@MalcolmPL glad you did and please keep it coming!
That was a fantastic video!
My first impressions of the armour are that you'd benifit from having the top section of the apron tied behind your back. Possibly even made easier by adding the wings at the waist that you mentioned, which I agree with totally.
Over all, I found it to be brilliant. Good job dude!
This is really interesting. Not at all how I pictured Iroquois warriors would look like. I had a Hollywood stereotype in my head
Great presentation! The back shield makes a more sense than I was guessing.
you did an amazing job on the armor. I can imagine rows of warriors decked out in it.
I remember the first time I seen Yupik Eskimo armor it sparked something in me to research all these lost things from our people
I think all that northern armor is fascinating.
Great video and armour recreation, nice to see you exploring your heritage and keeping traditions alive.
In terms of the spear dilemma, I hear it referred to as a lance quite often. I also think lances were common when warriors were on a horse more then on foot.
Horses and metal arrived with the Europeans. No doubt there was native copper and gold amongst the Iroquois but it was too scarce or valuable for spear points IMO. Steel or iron for points became available when traders brought it in or it was taken from the Europeans.
@@pixelpatter01 Gold and pure copper are too soft. AFAIK North American didn't have any bronze and further south didn't really use bronze for tools.
10:32 using the wings of the backplate to cover your side and just peek out over it reminds me so much of the famous Philly Shell defense in boxing! The Mayweathers are notorious for this style. In both Philly SHELL and Iroquois Back Shield (which reminds me of a turtle SHELL), you stand perpendicular to your opponent, tuck your lead eye behind your lead shoulder, and when you need to cover up more, you shrug your shoulder up to protect the face, instead allowing your shoulder/ backplate wing to tank the blow. Meanwhile your rear hand is cocked and ready to fire forward, which in this case would probably be holding a club. So cool to see these parallels.
So one thing I would like to bring up is that from the European perspective, a breastplate is a tailored piece of equipment. Thus I think it would be reasonable that the piece you've termed the apron would be tied in such a way to be closer to the body and not loose. With that being said, I'm going to go back to binging your videos, cheers!
So interesting.. I can't figure out a good question I'd love to have seen this back in the day.
Very similar to early siberian armors. Fantastic job youve done bud.
Dude this is siiick. Great presentation and info. It's funny, you never know what kind of stuff will interest you until you run into it.
Yeah, now that you mention it I don't think the Chickasaw tribe used spears much either. When the Chickasaw made first contact with the Europeans we were a very different tribe than we were later in the 1800s. Our tattoo style, hair, and dress had almost an ancient Polynesian feel to it. We spanked the Spaniards so bad in our first dust up that they gave us a wide birth for the next hundred years or so. By then it was the US Gov't that totally destroyed us. So we might have used spears in the 1500s, but I don't think we did. It's funny Hollywood westerns always show feathered spears stabbing in cabin doors and prairie schooners but I never really see them in any tribes history and I never even noticed. Great video. I'll have to learn more about my own tribes kit and how they fought.
Shiyo, Cousin. This is fantastic. It really reminds me of Bronze Age armor I have seen from Anatolia, the Northern Caucasus and the other Iranian speaking regions.
Never seen anything about this topic before, very cool man.
Great experimental archeology. One small tip you may already know, if you make the cords long enough you can tie the shinguards in front. As for adding a couple of staves to the back and lapguard, there might be a hard trade off with range of motion. I agree that on top of the protective value of the armor there is a psychological advantage, that comes from "I'm armored and ready" vs. "Shit, I'm exposed and unready!"
Yeah, like a pair of hockey skates.
@@MalcolmPL Exactly.
Fascinating, I've always thought that organic Armour was a thing despite not being able to find any sources for it. In Richard Adams novel Shardik, he describes helmets made from fire hardened wooden bowls, but I couldn't find any references to non metal armour (apart from boiled leather) until I saw the Mycenean boars tusk example. I think your spot on about stone tipped spears being too fragile for a battle weapon. Atlatl darts maybe, but they would be a one shot deal.
This is fascinating! I had no idea it would repel bone and stone so well. And it just looks so cool!
I have seen repro wood armour in museums, both Iroquois and Haida. It looked like it would be very effective against stone tipped arrows and melee weapons without a lot of extra weight.
Pure ASMR. Awesome videos and a voice like butter
Sure.
Oh hell yes! A good quality Native American arms and armour channel LETS GOOO
Extremely clever armor design for the type of battle they presumably encountered. Excellent protection from light arrows, especially from behind and when unaware. Slightly obscures body position providing the enemy a more difficult assement. Good mitigation of club blows....also, it would seem to have benefit in a grapple as well. The boxy elements would seem to make getting a good grip on your body more difficult and grabbing the armor is a terrible idea as you can wiggle enough independent of the armor to be a real threat.or escape... Plus the light weight amd easy packing is not to be underrated.
I am working on prototyping a suit of this for my LARP tribe. I have Native blood in me as well, so I figured it’s use and creation would not only be a less expensive alternative to steel, but also a good way for me to connect to my ancestors. It will likely be a while before you see this, but for any others interested in doing something similar I would love to see a video or two dedicated to showing the methods you created it with!
I found the part where you were donning the armor interesting. Don't put yourself down. The video is great.
im so mind blown about their armor. really shows they worked with what they had around them.
1:48 Excellent video and much respect for all your work. I have some experience making natural cordage. Milkweed makes a decent cordage, but from my experience Dogbane is superior in strength and flexibility. I think this further backs up your experiment bc it would make the armor lighter and more flexible than the sisal you have available. Dogbane is still pretty common where I live in the Hudson Valley, but turning into cordage is very time consuming.
Well I'm subscribing. Thank you for putting in this effort, it's really fascinating.
That was cool man! Never knew indigenous people even had armor!
I learned a lot from this. Great quality video!
Absolutely incredible work! Thanks for sharing.
About the breast plate: depending on how well one is versed in wood-bending you could even make individual slates longer and curve over your shoulders to protect that area from blows from above. (Like from clubs or axes)
10 year old me thinking about the "lost boys" in battle mode armor from the 90's movie "HOOK" 😏👍
This is a great video. All natural. Thanks for sharing
Very cool. Not many have the initiative to do what you did. Great job. Excellent presentation.
I just noticed something; the back plate would also hinder getting a good diagonal strike to the collar bone. As you know Malcolm, that would be a popular target because once you can break the collar bone, that arm is now useless, and you can't raise a weapon.
It sort of depends on the weapon. A weapon with a long point of contact like a staff would be effectively impeded by the back plate, while something like a ball head club might not be.
You bring to mind an interesting thought of people using the wings to actively parry such a blow.
Awesome Video! Thank you for doing these test. ♥
Actually, watching the process of getting the armour on WAS riveting for me. Imagining how it would have been to prepare for battle, quietly, maybe in the dark, as efficiently as possible.
And, as long as I'm being fussy, the outdoor sounds of birds was best, even though that music was quite pleasant.
I know that i'm late to the party. but this was an amazing illustration, great video!
I think the slat armor may have been laced to a hide backing which would have improved its overall integrity (composite armor). Keep in mind that even in Europe, moose (aka 'elk') hide was still a widely sought-after form of protection as late as the 17th century (e.g. the English Civil War). Some historical accounts indicate that armor worn by peoples of NW Canada was painted with a coating that included sand to break up stone projectile points. The Natchez allowed the French to test some of their antique armor, and it was found to be "proof against the musket at 25 paces and proof against the crossbow at all ranges". Historically, Hawaiian armor, which appears to have been composed of a type of rattan, was able to stop a ball from a Brown Bess musket. BTW - the Byzantines used rod and slat armor for vambraces (forearm defenses) and greaves (shin defenses) well into the Medieval period.
Absolutely fantastic.
Thank you so much for documenting this
I live in Syracuse, smack-dab in the middle of Iroquois territory - I would love an opportunity to learn more about this sort of thing Hands-On!
Such a beautiful recreation!
Watching a second time a year later. When you mention the weight and making the back plate out of pine it made me think about the airplanes made from spruce because of the high strength and low weight.
Fascinating! It looks somewhat similar to the Inuit armor, but totally different from the South American warriors (as far as I know, they wore little to no protection).
Fascinating -- well done....
I really appreciate your study on this type of armor. I first found out about native wooden armor in the north western tribes, but to find that it was more widespread is really cool. I feel there is a great lack of details on native Americans, and sources that do exist are often influence by the politics of the person recording there findings.
That was a very interesting video. Thank you.
Very cool I had wanted to know about things like this for a long time
splendid work!
Just an idea re: including a quiver with this armor harness. As I understand it, the idea of using a quiver in battle is a bit of a cinematic anachronism - quivers are more for storage of arrows, to prevent damage to the fletching and such. I suspect that First Nations warriors, much like their contemporaries elsewhere in the world - Britain for example - simply carried their arrows with them in the same hand they carried their bow in. It may seem hard to imagine, but for folks for whom battlefield archery was a commonplace skill, dexterously and delicately managing objects like this was standard operating procedure. Generally speaking, warriors wouldn't have expected to shoot more than a few arrows before either withdrawing to a different tactical position, or engaging with melee weapons. :)
interesting, since it can flex due to the nature of it's construction, it doesn't need all those joints that metal armor has, giving it a mobility boost by default.
This is interesting, the form of construction of helmets in the central Andes region after the fall of Tiwanaku also revolved around long slats of wood arranged around a leather cap, but they used tinctured camelid wool as cushion and bonding. The shape of these later influenced the metal helmet design found around the 14th to 15th centuries.
Interesting to see reconstruction of Neolithic technology armour.
Similar constructions may be used in Neolithic Europe but due to lifetime of material we don't have any good examples, or depiction of it.