Falklands in the Baltic

[Grumbler]

One of my all time favorite movies. My only technical problem was that the Western Romans never had the stirrup.They picked up the stirrup from fighting the Huns.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it came from the Avars, a later arrival from the steppes. Maybe some of the Sarmatian tribes a bit earlier.

One of histories mysteries. Looking back the stirrup was easy. One of those simple bit's of genius that changes the world. A LOT of controversy over where and when it first showed up. Most Archaeological evidence comes from graves and trash heaps. So there is a problem with the stirrup in that some cultures consider it part of the warrior's equipment and other consider it part of the horse's kit. So if a culture consider it as belonging to the warrior, they MIGHT bury it with the Warrior, IF that culture did burials and not cremations. Plus the metal "D" ring as a stirrup is recent, withing the last 600 years or so. The early stiruups were ither rope or leather, whih needs special circumstances to survive a long period of being buried.
If the culture considered it part of the Horse's equipment, when the horse went the stirrup was passed on to another horse by the horse's owner.
I like the out of India theory;

http://books.google.com/books?id=DM_S-Ek...cgXDC49T4A

Anyone seeing a stirrup that rides and had never seen one would go; "Why didn't I think of that?" It went from a simple toe loop to a full foot cover when people in colder climates then Indian saw it.
I was using 'Huns' in it's generic term. IE' Any horsebowman that originated in the Central steppes of Asia. Not as a specific tribe.