ABSTRACT
Finds of military equipment and horse gear from the period between Caesar’s conquests (c. 50 BC) and the fall of the empire’s northern frontier (early 5th century AD) lie at the heart of the research presented here. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce a functional and chronological classification into both categories of finds so that the material can be analysed further. Firstly, the finds are divided into functional categories (appendix 2). 1 Within each category, they are then arranged typochronologically and – where possible – attributed to legionarii or auxiliarii. 2 Finally, within each category I identify the finds that are known from non-military contexts in the eastern Rhine delta. In general, the find data consists of stray, often fragmentarily preserved components of weaponry or horse gear. In order to give some idea of the equipment to which these fragments originally belonged, this chapter describes the different types of weaponry and horse gear in considerable detail. The catalogue numbers in the text comprise the site number (which refers to appendix 1) and one or more serial numbers for each site.
