So, how come Makedon can't recruit Thorakitai?

[MeinPanzer]

(and possibly also due to a similar development in Arabia).

Could you expound upon this a little bit?

[abou]

Something called David's Weave and first appear in 400 BC and made of bronze in Southern Arabia, I think. The member who first read about it isn't active anymore as school has gotten the best of him. I hope that gives you enough to hopefully track down where it was published. Apparently it is only known in a few circles, but you've got pretty mad skills, MP, so I'm sure you could find it.

Then again, it might not even be published and I could look like an ass.

[Zarax]

This might help:

http://books.google.it/books?id=R4j_-Z_S_asC&pg=PA189&lpg=PA189&dq=%22david's+Weave%22&source=web&ots=UpMY26mQsH&sig=bRH5MJmn9wd9-EWzIv3giZAWcZA&hl=it&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result

[MeinPanzer]

Thanks for the info. If these references are to mentions of mail armour in poetry, then they are almost certainly from the last few centuries before the emergence of Islam. There very well could be unpublished traces of armour from that early, but I've not seen any mention of them in recent literature on southern Arabian archaeology.