Hallo friends!
This is my latest effort, a leather shield I made for my experimental archeology's group.
Evidences of this kind of shield may seem very scarce initially, but if one takes a deeper look at the shield's concept it's easy to find different clues: anthropologically, we have African and Indian's tribal shields; archaeologically, we have two leather shields from Ireland's Bronze-Iron Age and some miniaturistic ones found all around Europe.
So I thought I had enough info to assume a similar shape and the use of such a thick leather (the shield is more than one centimeter thick, made of bull's leather): this does not mean that my shield is the exact replica of a surviving one but it's just my interpretation of the type.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13062412_492664640923595_618872059...A shield made of rhino leather from North-West Indian tribes.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/13083235_492664684256924_696757752...Irish leather shield and its mould, dating back to the end of the Bronze Age.
My leather being pressed into the mould in order to obtain the shield's boss.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xft1/v/t1.0-9/13100849_492665437590...Here're the two leather layers glued together and pierced, ready for being sawn and cut to a rounded shape.
Working on the leather to make it look like a shield...
The shield undergoing the final sewing... it took me a total of two meters of leather strings to sew the whole shield.
Ready for a typical Picenian decoration...
The interior of the shield's boss is covered in fur in order to protect the hand.
https://scontent-mxp1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/13076779_492665754256...And this is it
Hope you enjoyed!
Mauro.