- Lamellar armour
Lamellar
armour is a kind of personal armour consisting of small plates ("lames") which are laced together in parallel rows. Lamellar armour evolved fromscale armour Fact|date=May 2007, from which it differs by not needing a backing for the scales. It is made from pieces oflacquer edleather ,iron ,steel or horn held together withsilk ,leather thongs , orcotton thread. When the lames are made of leather they would often be hardened by a process such as "cuir bouilli" or lacquering.Lamellar was often worn as augmentation to existing armour, such as over a mail
hauberk . The lamellar cuirass was especially popular with the Rus, as well asMongols , Turks,Avars , and other steppe peoples as it was simple to create and maintain.Lamellar is pictured in many historical sources on Byzantine warriors, especially
heavy cavalry . It is thoughtFact|date=July 2008 that it was worn to create a more deflective surface to the rider's armour, thus allowing blades to skim over, rather than strike and pierce.Sumer ian andAncient Egypt ian bas-reliefs depicting soldiers have been argued as portraying the earliest examples of lamellar armour, particularly on chariot drivers, but it is not until the time of the Assyrians circa 900–600 BC that possible examples of lamellar begin to appear in the archaeological record. Among finds of Assyrian armour (often individual or unconnected scales) there are examples that can clearly be classified asscale armour Fact|date=May 2007 as well as others that appear to be lamellar, and there exist a large number of finds whose function has proven difficult to determine. The extent to which either type was used is a debated topic. The earliest definite instance of true lamellar was found in China when twelve suits of lacquered lamellar were uncovered in a tomb at Sui-hsien, Hupei (dated to c. 433 BC). Lamellar was used by various cultures from this time up through the16th century . It is generally associated with theJapan eseSamurai , although the armour came to Japan from contact withTang Dynasty China . It is also associated with the steppe people ofsouthern Russia andMongolia such as theScythians andSarmatians , and theSpartan Army Facts|date=July 2008.See also
*
Chinese armour
*Korean armour
*Japanese armour
*Mongolian armour
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