«Тахиййат»: Сборник статей в честь Н. Н. Дьякова

m 116 n David Nicolle decoration 1 . Structurally related fragments were found in Tower 4 of the Cita- del of Damascus (figures 28–29) and a small number of comparable pieces of layered leather “hooped” armour were also found amongst the much later Mamlūk military equipment found in a sealed light-well in an upstairs room of a building inside the Citadel of Damascus. The latter have, fortunately, been studied and published 2 , and may perhaps have come from horse-armour rather than a cuirass to be worn by a man (figures 31–34). Here it might also be worth noting the apparent survival of “feathered” surface decoration on other pieces of medieval Islamic arms and armour, most notably two 12 th century swords from a cave in Gibraltar 3 . Upon first seeing the second hoard, namely the material from Tower 4 of the Citadel of Damascus, I realized that I was confronted with what may prove to be one of the most significant discoveries in the study of arms, armour and medieval Islamic technology made during recent decades. The hoard consists almost solely of organic material — leather, wood, textiles, cane or bamboo, cotton or silk thread — plus plaster or gesso. There are only the smallest frag- ments of metal which were presumably not considered worth removing for reuse or to be melted down before the bulk of the collection was cast aside, perhaps as a source of “spare parts” or fragments of leather for reuse else- where. Such piles of redundant military material seem to have been a feature of armourers’ or harness makers’ wokshops in a number of medieval Islamic fortifications. One such was, of course, found by a team of French and Syrian archaeologists headed by Sophie Berthier of the Institut Français d'Etudes Ori- entales in Damascus, working elsewhere in Citadel of Damascus. It was from the closing years of the Mamlūk Sultanate and perhaps the first decade or so of Ottoman rule. Hence the military equipment in this third hoard dated from the later 15 th and very early 16 th centuries 4 . 1 Nicolle D. A Medieval Islamic Arms Cache from Syria, Journal of the Arms & Armour Society , 19. 2008. P. 152–163. 2 Nicolle D. N. Late Mamlūk Military Equipment. Collection Travaux et Études de la Mis- sion Archéologique Syro-Française, Citadelle de Damas (1999–2006): Vol. III. Damascus, 2011. P. 107–134. 3 I have already suggested, in a study of these Gibraltar swords, that the pre-Islamic totem- ic use of simurgh feathers as a form of talismanic protection survived well into the Islamic era where military equipment was concerned; Nicolle D. C. Two Swords from the Founda- tion of Gibraltar, Gladius , 22. 2002. P. 147–200. 4 Unlike the two earlier hoards, this third hoard has not only been fully studied, but it already in the process of publication. The first volume to actually appear was not volume 1 in the overall plan, but was that dedicated to the specifically military material which also included a relatively small amount of leatherwork: Nicolle D. Late Mamlūk Military Equip- ment. Collection Travaux et Études de la Mission Archéologique Syro-Française, Citadelle de Damas (1999–2006): Volume III. Damascus, 2011.