Which structural vulnerability most challenged Roman artillery during siege warfare against dry-stone fortifications?

💡 Explanation

When mortar joints lack cohesion, structural instability occurs because projectiles exploit existing flaws, initiating crack propagation and creating pathways for collapse. Therefore mortar weakness poses the biggest threat, rather than height, slope, or gate strength alone, which can be overcome with more shots or other siege methods.

• Which structural failure most likely occurred at the Tacoma Narrows Bridge due to resonant oscillation?
• Which navigation error grows excessively when a ship's chronometer experiences irregular escapement behavior?
• Which process historically weakened early Mesopotamian bronze agricultural tools when over-heated during manufacture?
• Which outcome occurred when 19th-century transatlantic cables experienced excessive signal attenuation?
• Which instrumental enhancement allowed medieval Islamic astronomers improved accuracy of star position measurements compared to Ptolemy?
• Which effect allowed Roman fortifications, like Hadrian's Wall, to maintain structural integrity despite lacking modern mortar?