David Sim is an experimental archaeologist. He has investigated reports of the Roman battles with the Dacians (who lived in what is now Romania) and was not satisfied with the answers normally given. So he made a Dacian "Falx" and tested it on simulated human flesh.
He was able to show that it would cause severe injuries to the Roman legionaries in their normal armour. Hence before returning to fight the Dacians the Romans added leg protection (greaves) as well as arm armour. They also re-inforced their helmets, but Dr Sim and his colleague suggested that this was for protection against missiles (like rocks) when storming a Dacian fort rather than against the Falx.
After the lecture we got to play with his reconstructed Dacian Falx and a Roman Gladius or short sword - this was actually about 2 feet long. This is a picture of a Falx that I found at theancientweb.com. Their rights are reserved. Please contribute to support them!
See the article that this picture comes from at http://www.theancientweb.com/falx discussion
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