SUBSCRIBE VIA RSS
Taphovenatrix: Dinosaur Taphonomy PhD
  • News and Updates
  • About
  • Research
    • Publications & Outreach
    • Current Research
    • Past Research

The only time you'll see Medieval armour on a treadmill

11/1/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
People have known for quite a long time that Medieval steel plate armour is extremely heavy, and that there would be a trade-off between wearing almost impenetrable armour and mobility/fatigue. But now there is a paper that tests just how much locomotor performance is affected by this armour!

Askew et al. (2011) examined the net cost of locomotion and (unsurprisingly) found it to be much higher when wearing armour than without armour. Interestingly, this cost was greater for walking in armour (2.1 to 2.3 times higher) than running in armour (1.9 times higher). Unfortunately, the sample size for the experiment was very low (4 male subjects), but given that experience wearing Medieval armour was a requirement of the subjects, the small sample size is understandable.

The authors state practical application of their data in interpreting the outcomes of Medieval wars; frankly, I'm more interested in historical changes in fighting styles or movement to compensate for the increased load.

Thanks to The Critical Finch for sending this article to me!

References:
Askew, G. N., Formenti, F., Minetti, A. E., 2011. Limitations imposed by wearing armour on Medieval soldiers’ locomotor performance. Proc. R. Soc. B 2012, 279: 640-644. First published online 20 July 2011. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0816.

Image from Askew et al. (2011)

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the author

    Dr Caitlin Syme is a palaeontologist studying the taphonomy (preservation state) of fossil non-avian dinosaurs, crocodiles and fish from the Winton Formation, Queensland, Australia. Think forensic science or CSI for fossils, and you're on the right track!

    Posts on this blog focus mainly on vertebrate palaeontology and taphonomy, as well early career researcher (ERC) productivity tips and insights.


    TWEETS

    Tweets by @taphovenatrix

    Search website

    Loading

    Blog topics

    All
    Data Management
    Dinosaur Comics
    Documentary
    Fossil ReadMe
    Funny
    Interesting Research
    News Articles
    Obscure D.o.t.W
    Palaeo Pondering
    Personal
    Ph.D.
    Pseudoscience
    Technology
    T Rex Trying


    Blogroll

    Chinleana
    DinoGoss
    Dinosaurpalaeo
    Dinosaur Tracking
    Love in the Time ofChasmosaurs
    Not Exactly Rocket- Science
    Palaeoblog
    Pharyngula
    PhD Comics
    Phenomena: Laelaps
    Prerogative of Harlots
    Pseudoplocephalus
    SV-POW!
    Tetrapod Zoology
    The Integrative Paleontologists
    The Mammoth Prairie
    The Professor Is In
    UQ Palaeo Blog

    Follow me!

    Academia.edu
    Mendeley
    ResearchGate

    Who's been visiting?


    Archives

    February 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.