Helmet

The helmet was made by raising the bronze, which was then polished on its outer surface. The hollow crest knob, which was cast as a single piece with the bowl, is decorated with two lines of chased high semi-circles, while the edge of the helmet has an ornament of oblique chased lines. Two bronze sheet metals were rolled over to form a tube; these were attached by two copper rivets on each side of the helmet. An iron spindle survives in one of the tubes. Tubes with iron spindles formed a hinge that was used to attach cheek-pieces (not preserved) to the helmet. An engraved letter A is visible on the underside of the neck-guard, and XI on the internal surface of the helmet’s bowl. This indicates that the internal lining was not permanently attached to the helmet. The helmet’s yellow metal sheen, which is almost identical to the helmet’s original appearance, was obtained by polishing its surface during the final stage of the conservation procedure in 1985.
The helmet is of Etruscan-Italic type, mostly worn by Roman soldiers of the Republican period to around the first third of the 1st century BC. It was also popular with contemporaries, especially the Celts, for whom such helmets were indicators of the owner’s elevated social status.