For generations, much of what historians understood about Roman legionaries came from carved monuments, scattered metal fragments and later military equipment. Complete examples from the earliest decades of the Roman Empire have remained almost impossible to study. That picture has shifted after archaeologists carefully conserved a remarkably intact suit of Roman armour recovered from the Kalkriese battlefield in north-western Germany. The discovery does more than fill a gap in military history. It offers a closer look at how Augustus' soldiers were equipped, how armour was assembled and repaired, and perhaps even what became of one legionary during one of Rome's greatest military disasters. The find is now regarded as the oldest and most complete surviving example of Roman segmental armour.
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