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

m 88 n David Nicolle Carbon dating tests on wood and sinew in the first hoard which came from eastern Syria (figures 1–11) indicate optimum dates of 1195 AD for one of the composite bows, 1220 AD for one piece of leather armour, 1215 AD for one of the crossbow staves, 1245 AD for the wood of a saddle fragment and 1285 AD for the leather of a wood-lined hard-hat or helmet 1 . Despite having been found several decades ago, this extremely important collec- tion of medieval Islamic armour and weaponry has yet to be fully studied. Nevertheless it was the appearance of these leather fragments which revived my own interest in al-Tar ṣ ū ṣ ī's instructions for the manufacture of hardened leather armour and for my joining the specialized Archaeological Leather Group of scholars with similar interests in the use of leather from ancient to early modern times 2 . A second and potentially even more important hoard of medieval hardened leather or rawhide lamellar armour was found in 2001 by a team of Syrian archaeologists led by Dr. A ḥ mad Taraqjī (figures 12–30). It was discovered in a sealed stairwell of a southern tower (Tower 4) of the Citadel of Damas- cus where is had almost certainly been dumped by French occupation forces followimng the First World War. Having presumably been initially found in a different part of this tower, it may have been redeposited when the Citadel was converted into a prison for political and other detainees. The presence of a incongruous objects in this second hoard, reputedly including empty Gaulois cigarette packets and a discarded eau-de-cologne bottle, led to doubt being cast upon the hoard's origins. Some observers reportedly suggested that it was a collection of theatrical stage costumes and props dating from the late 19 th or early 20 th century. Fortunately, however, sufficient uncertainty remained for these objects to be placed in store in the Syrian National Museum in Damascus rather than being thrown away. the same as, the crossbow staves which, together with the rest of the above mentioned hoard, I briefly studied while they were in the possession of another antiques dealer. It was on this last occasion that I was able to take a closer look at the arms, armour, horse-harness and other items in the collection. I also heard further unsubstantiated stories concerning their origin. These suggested that they did indeed all come from the same location. Furthermore, they had not been excavated from beneath the ground but had been found in a collapsed but previously walled-up or otherwise sealed medieval building such as a castle. At present my own belief is that the hoard now in Qatar probably came from the collapsed southern tower of Qal'at al-Rahba which overlooks the Euphrates valley in eastern Syria. 1 These tests were carried out by a highly respected radiocarbon dating laboratory in America. They claimed a 95% probability within a two hundred years time span and a 68% probability within a seventy years time span. The “optimum” dates are described as being the “intercept of the radiocarbon age with the calibration curve.” 2 The Archaeological Leather Group is proposing to organize an international conference on the use of leather for military purposes, probably to be held in the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds (UK) in the autumn of 2014.