Searching for articles on wagon-construction in roman times, a much referred hit is Dr. Judith A. Weller et al. on the “Roman Traction System“. It is an article on www.humanist.de, but so far the only article here related to roman wagons and land-transportation. A lot of pages concerning the roman empire has a link to this article. Now I’ve made this link, too.
The article is most concerned on the traction systems, but it has a chapter on wagon-construction, which, besides a few errors, is interesting reading. Including good pictures.
October 30, 2006 at 22:27
Wow, there really IS something for everyone on the internet. You’re easily my #1 source for information on wains.
November 11, 2006 at 12:04
I’ve just discovered this blog and would like to offer my congratulations. As one of Dr. Weller’s collaborators on the online Roman Traction Systems article, I was particularly interested in your comment about the few errors concerning wagon construction. Would you care to elaborate?
cheers,
David
November 14, 2006 at 21:22
In my opinion it is possible to see traces of the suspension system in the roman iconography, especially in carvings. I am therefore working on a post, on carvings showing this particular detail.
I also disagree in the next statement about the roman masons little interest in technical details. It is more difficult to prove anything here, although we do have some very detailed carvings from the roman provinces.
November 19, 2006 at 18:24
[...] David Reads comment on my quick-post about the Internet-article: “Roman Traction Systems” made me realize, that this web-log need some more pictures (and posts), especially (perhaps) of carvings, to show what my thesis is all about, and therefore the discussion of the suspension system might be a good place to start. [...]