Roman military pontoons sustained on inflated animal skins

Abstract

Rafts sustained on inflated animal skins from ancient times are poorly documented. A Latin text, an archaeological discovery from Strasbourg and a scene from Trajan’s Column have allowed us to reconstruct how a military pontoon from the Roman period was built. The rectangular pontoon was composed of 48 beams, supported by 28 inflated hides covering a surface of more than 200m².