On the dates of 5th and 6th april ,a few members of the reenactment groups called Terra Dacica Aeterna and Hasta Sarmatorum held a short display for two schools here in Transilvania. We were present as Sarmatian infantry (no horses) the girls were sarmatian archers,a dacian princess,a single roman legionary,a Centurion,a Legatus,a Palmirian archer,and a Baleric slinger. After a short review of each unit,with some basic info told we had a small battle ,where i slung 2 tennis balls towards the sarmatians,i've missed them by ~2 feet,after that i took my shield from my back in my hand and drew the short hispanic sword and charged.I engaged one of the sarmatian heavy infantry and we were bashing our shields and  another sarmatian engaged me,so i was "cut" down    
It was fun,the students loved it,learned something about ancient warfare ,and afterwards they were shown every piece of equipment,they tried it,they shot arrows,and under my supervision around 20 of them tried slinging too. We were also present at another school where small kids were given a similar show,also i "teached" them  slinging. In each school i found 2 natural slingers who slung just right from the first shot. So 4 student from about 40 were naturals. One of them in higher class was a crack shot .He was zipping the tennis balls like he was born with one.  
Good times

A side view:

On a afternote,my sword should have a leather strap which i don't have yet,as i just finished my gear somewhat.Also the shoes were given by the group,but i'll have my own sandals.And i pulled on some wollen socks it was cold

Alas, the Balearic slinger is an anachronism by over a century (since they are not attested as auxilia since the time of Caesar), IIRC. In your part of the world, if Trajan's Column is trustworthy (and also the column of Antoninus Pius), you'd expect a Germanic local levy.

You guys look great!  I noticed that all the female reenactors are carrying bows.  Were female archers common in your part of the world, way back when?

Sarmatian archer girl has a bow just like one of mine!
 
As to the female archer thing, I know that there were quite a few central asian burials of females with weapons - especially bows and arrows.  The information on that is pretty generally available if you look around.  Outside of that specific place and time (bronze age central asia), the evidence is alas much more fragmentary, and I would guess that in most places on Earth the trend is in the negative for girls with bows.  Oh well, we still rock at it.

Thanks for the compliments,and yes sarmatian girls who were not married were enroled in the army just as men.And the bow was one of their main weapon.That's what the sarmatians in the group told me..also sarmatians lived a bit more to north-est from romania but as far as i know from there was quite a migratory direction towards us for a loong time in history,sort of like air currents moving in one direction.What's known is that sarmatians offered themselves as mercenaries to romans as well as for the dacians.I know only small details,so...my two bani's

Quote from jlasud on Apr 8^th, 2012, 3:15am:

 
I am totally blown away. So very, very cool and your outfit is outstanding. Excellent, excellent work!!