African cuirass?

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by fernando

Dear Jim, i followed your perspective and am now coming from the reading of a blog well detailed on the moves of these leopard men beasts; simply horrifying.
Concerning the (apparent) non existence of other wild animals 'vests', the blogger argues that:

In fact, in the underworld of African cults and sects, there were Cults devoted to Baboons and Crocodiles that acted like their totemic animals, imitating their behavior and killing as they acted in the wild. The leopard, however, was the largest and most feared of the Cults for being considered a strong animal and responsible for guiding the dead in the other world.

This could be an explanation. Yet we still see a 'missing link' between putting on an animal hide and building a metal chest cuirass covered with a portion of skin.

Thank you Fernando. In mentioning these groups, I wanted to spare any elaboration on their nefarious activities, but note that these warrior fraternities of many years earlier were apparently 'reactivated' in a more cult type character. We know the earlier members were warriors who did wear animal hides etc. as we have seen with the pangolin armor of Benin for example.
As has been previously noted, the guage of the steel used may not have been intended in the 'armor' sense as a physical defense, but as a medium to adequately support an older and less durable piece still important as totemic regalia.

Wayne, 'bonk'!!! I completely missed the steel helmets worn under hats, and I had never seen those Roman things......here I will note armor is a very unfamiliar field for me so I am way in the learning curve....so thank you!

Will and Richard, thank you for the input! every item of data and idea holds more material for the possible resolution of these kinds of dilemma. I know Im learning a lot from the research Im doing and the observations of everyone here. I like the teamwork here!!!