" The Birdoswald falces may indicate a unique regimental badge or the carrying o f falces, instead o f spathae, by the Dacian auxiliarii. A jealously guarded regimental tradition such as is suggested would have a close modern parallel in the Gurkha soldiers with their kukris. A tentative comparison might be made with the ethnic dress o f the Chester ‘Sarmatian’;23 and, according to Hyginus,24 irregular Dacian units were used in the later second century. The use o ffalces therefore bears consideration. It is certainly unusual for an auxiliary cohors to depict a regimental weapon or badge in sculpture."
Coulston's entire article may be accessed through the following link. I have also posted it here entire as jpegs.
The question I'm asking myself is this: if Banna is the fort of Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur, could the Sword in the Stone story at least partly derive not from a sword in a stone, but a sword on a stone? This idea may seem simplistic and silly. But folklore, oral tradition and romance literature are strange beasts They can combine to form all sorts of marvelously imaginative inventions whose origins are quite humble and even prosaic. Could a sword on a stone have been construed at some point, perhaps through a garbling of language or a faulty translation, as a sword in a stone? We would say, in fact, that it was a sword carved in stone.
In two examples from Birdoswald, the falx is accompanied by a palm branch, a well-known symbol of victory in the Roman world (see https://www.jstor.org/stable/261788?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents).
One thing I can say after doing extensive research on the Dacian falx: it was a truly powerful weapon - especially the larger, two-handed variety. If the followers of Uther and Arthur continued to use such an effective "chopping/lopping" sword, we can well understand how they might have been feared by their enemies for this very reason.
I have elsewhere wondered about a connection between the falx and Arthur's sword Caledfwlch (https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/arthurs-sword-caledfwlch-and-dacian-falx.html).
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