Barrel dating

[Paddy T.]

Originally Posted by Spiridonov

handgonne from Otepaa have pan covers

Yes, that´s absolutely correct. Unfortunatelly Mäesalu published only a reconstruction, but I know the look of the real fragments and the real (restored) hangun, too. There definitely is a pan cover.

As I pointed out in the other thread, the terminus ante quem for the Otepää gun isn´t usable any longer, but there is archaeological evidence (which I would prefer instead of other criteria) for dating the destruction of the castle within the 1st half of the 15th century. So the hypothesis of "no pan covers before ca. 1500" seems to be wrong. If you compare the weapon to other finds, there are also some matches, so the Otepää gun can´t be repudiated as a "non central european weapon".

Furthermore, a "trough-like" pan with upturned edges (but without pan cover) is present at the Mörkö-gun, which is dated to the 1st half of the 15th century.