How the Roman Army Repaired Its Armor Far From Home

What would you do if, while serving on the Roman Empire’s northern frontier, you suddenly realized your chainmail needed repairing? An international team of scientists now thinks soldiers may have turned to local craftspeople for help.

Researchers in Czechia and Germany have suggested that a now-corroded pile of Roman chainmail discovered in Germany was intended for the repair of other military garments. If true, their findings, detailed in a December 10 study published in the journal Antiquity, shed light on the Roman military’s repair and recycling methods on the empire’s northern frontier, as well as its dependence on local craftspeople.

“As the Roman Empire expanded into new territories, often far from the regions where military equipment was originally produced, the Roman army faced a growing demand for self-sufficiency,” the researchers wrote in the study. “This need was especially significant along the German frontier” where it was “necessary for military units to become involved in the manufacture of their own equipment. In turn, the Roman army’s increased self-sufficiency in the production of military gear was closely intertwined with the supply of raw materials and recycling practices.”

The limited archaeological evidence of this recycling practice provides little insight into how soldiers might have interacted with nearby settlements in this context, the researchers note. In 2012, however, archaeologists unearthed a 30.86-pound (14-kilogram) hoard of chainmail in an ancient civilian settlement outside of a Roman legionary fortress in Bonn, Germany.

The thousands of interconnected rings in chainmail made the garment difficult to melt down, so it was instead reused for repairs, similar to textile patches. In fact, the results of the recent study suggest that the 2012 artifact—a solidified pile of two almost-complete chainmail garments as well as sections of two others—was essentially a scrap pile.

“This is the first clear evidence that mail armour was being repaired outside a Roman military installation,” Martijn A. Wijnhoven of the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, who participated in the study, said in an Antiquity statement emailed to Gizmodo.

The team—also including researchers from the LVR-Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege im Rheinland and the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn—examined the artifact both visually and using high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scans (an x-ray imaging technique).

“The mail seems likely to have been intended to be used for the repair and patching of other garments for the Roman army,” the researchers wrote in the study. They added that, because of chainmail’s unique design, “it is likely that the Bonn hoard represents a stockpile of mail intended for repairing other mail garments by craftworkers” in the settlement.

This evidence ultimately suggests that when the Roman army was far from military installations, they depended on local workers to maintain their equipment.

“The hoard highlights some key aspects of the Roman military economy, particularly aspects of repair and recycling,” the researchers wrote. “Moreover, it offers a compelling insight into the interactions between the Roman army and the local population dwelling along the frontier.”

Moral of the story? Do as the Romans do, even when you’re far from Rome.