Mycenaean Armor & Experimental Archaeology

In 1960, archaeologists excavated an extraordinary set of Mycenaean armor from a tomb near the Greek village of Dendra. Boor tusks form the ancient warrior’s helmet, which always intrigued me. However, the full covering from neck to knee with bronze plates strikes the greatest awe in most people. The Dendra armor dates to the end of the fifteenth century BCE. It consists of fifteen pieces of bronze sheet, held together with leather thongs. I used this extraordinary find as inspiration for the Mycenaean armor in various battle scenes of my Trojan War novel, Hand of Fire.

Experimenting on Mycenaean Armor

The armor, which you can see in the photo at the top (photo by Schuppi, on Wiki) or near this paragraph, hangs out these days in the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion. To me, it looks remarkably invincible, although exhausting and awkward to move around in. Unbeknownst to me, researchers questioned whether it was “real” armor or just for ceremonial purposes. Maybe bereaved family members ordered up a weak substitute to put inside the guy’s tomb?

This quandary had never occurred to me. However, I find the solution to this question absolutely fascinating. Researchers made many reproductions of this Mycenaean armor. The reproductions contained the same blend of metals and matched the measurements and weight of the original. Then they put real modern soldiers inside and made them fight. Not to kill each other, of course. For eleven continuous hours they simulated battle conditions. They designed the simulation from descriptions in the Iliad. This is all too cool for words. I wish I could have watched a segment of this–not all eleven hours. It was a simulation, after all. Not Briseis looking out while people she cared about died or didn’t. The armor held up. The real deal proved by experimental archaeology.

And what about the warrior’s food?

And, as an added benefit, this experimental archaeology answered a related question I’d had about ancient Greek battles–a food question. In the Iliad, the warriors eat a big meal in the morning before they head out to fight. But they fight nonstop all day and into the dusk without any lunch or dinner breaks. No snacking while on the job. This always struck me as implausible. How could anyone keep swinging a sword and throwing spears, etc. without more food? I would not last. But, apparently, I am truly not a soldier. The modern soldiers, recruited from the Hellenic Armed Forces, carried on all eleven hours after an initial meal of bread, beef, goat cheese, green olives, onions and red wine. Yup, they ate as Homerically as they fought. I love this entire project.

Further Reading about Mycenaean Armor

For more details, you can read the article in LiveScience which also has a further link to the full research publication in the journal PLOS One.

A video conversation you might enjoy

For another dip into geeking out over history (and fantasy), you may enjoy this video conversation with Dan on his “Happy Moment” podcast which he titled, “History Plus Fantasy Equals Awesome.”