Mail armour is made of many metal rings that protect the body against trauma. For more than two thousand years it could be found on the battlefield. Despite this long time span, there have been few attempts to understand this armour in depth. The studies that do, focus mainly on well-preserved historical specimens that belong to the 14th century AD and later. There is not a lot known for the prior period. This study therefore looks at early mail armour, here defined as that from the 3rd century BC until the end of the Western Roman Empire, with some ‘excursions’ to the period up to the 10th century. Given that there is not much known about early mail, the main research question has been formulated generically, being: what can a systematic analysis of archaeological-, iconographical-, and classical written sources reveal about early mail armour? In order to answer this question his study makes use two analytical methods. The first concerns that of chaîne opératoire or literally the chain of operations. It allows for a reconstruction of technology as a ‘total social fact’ by tracing back the series of steps involved in transforming raw materials into artefacts. The operational sequences that turn a raw material into a finished product are specific to each society. Consequently, the work process of any craftsperson will be organized according to the internal logic of their particular society. The second concerns a multi-dimensional approach to material culture. The advantage of this method is that it allows the material to be studied from various perspectives and scales. It can be understood as taking a series photographs of the same object, each from a different angle and distance. Every picture reveals particular details, and the sum of the photographs give a more complete and clearer image of the actual object.