Hallaton Helmet

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Hallaton Helmet
Hallaton helmet front right.jpg
The Hallaton Helmet
Material Iron
Size407 millimetres (16.0 in) high
Created Roman, 1st century AD
DiscoveredBy amateur archaeologists in 2000
Place Hallaton, Leicestershire
Present location Harborough Museum

The Hallaton Helmet is a decorated iron Roman cavalry parade helmet originally covered in a sheet of silver and decorated in places with gold leaf. It was discovered in 2000 near Hallaton, Leicestershire after Ken Wallace, a member of the Hallaton Fieldwork Group, found coins in the area. Further investigation by professional archaeologists from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services discovered that the site appeared to have been used as a large-scale Iron Age shrine. Nine years of conservation and restoration have been undertaken by experts from the British Museum, supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £650,000. The helmet is now on permanent display at the Harborough Museum in Market Harborough alongside other artefacts from the Hallaton Treasure hoard.

Contents

Although it was found shattered into thousands of pieces and is now heavily corroded, the helmet still bears evidence of its original finely decorated design. It was plated with silver-gilt and decorated with images of goddesses and equestrian scenes. It would have been used by a Roman auxiliary cavalryman for displays and possibly in battle. The identity of the owner is not known but the helmet was discovered on a native British ceremonial site, buried alongside thousands of Iron Age British and Roman coins. It is possible that the helmet was owned by a Briton who fought alongside the Romans during the Roman conquest of Britain.

Description and interpretation

The helmet is an example of a three-piece Roman ceremonial cavalry helmet, made of sheet iron covered with silver sheet and partly decorated with gold leaf. [1] Such helmets were worn by Roman auxiliary cavalrymen in displays known as hippika gymnasia and may also have been worn in battle, despite their relative thinness and lavish decoration. [2] Horses and riders wore lavishly decorated clothes, armour and plumes while performing feats of horsemanship and re-enacting historical and legendary battles, such as the wars of the Greeks and Trojans. [3]

It is the only Roman helmet ever found in Britain that still has most of its silver-gilt plating attached. [4] The helmet would originally have had two cheekpieces attached via holes in front of its ear guards. It has a prominent browguard, the shape of which is similar to that of the 3rd-century Guisborough Helmet, discovered in 1864 near Guisborough in Redcar and Cleveland. The rear of the helmet bowl descended to form a neckguard. [5]

The "Emperor" cheekpiece (no. 1), depicting a Roman emperor being crowned by Victory while trampling a barbarian under his horse's hooves Hallaton helmet cheekpiece 1.jpg
The "Emperor" cheekpiece (no. 1), depicting a Roman emperor being crowned by Victory while trampling a barbarian under his horse's hooves

As is the case with other Roman cavalry helmets, the Hallaton Helmet was very ornately decorated. The closest parallel to the Hallaton Helmet in terms of overall appearance is a helmet found in Xanten-Wardt in Germany which, like the Hallaton example, is made of silver-gilded iron with a wreath on the crown, a central figure on the browguard and a garland of flowers on the neckguard. [6] A number of similar features have survived on the Hallaton Helmet. Its bowl is decorated with laurel wreaths while the scalloped browguard is edged with elaborate cabling. In the centre of the browguard is the (now heavily damaged) bust of a woman flanked by repoussé lions. [7] Her identity is unclear, but she may have been an empress or goddess. The iconography is reminiscent of depictions of Cybele, the Magna Mater or "Great Mother" whose image was used to promote the values of the Augustan period a few decades after the helmet was deposited. However, the depiction has a number of features that are more in common with funerary art. [6]

The ear guards are in the shape of silver ears, and the neckguard is decorated with a scrolling leaf pattern. Six detached cheekpieces were found within the helmet bowl along with the disintegrated remains of a seventh, although only two would have been needed. Hinges were also found, as was the pin of one cheekpiece, which had been bent. It may have been forcibly removed or possibly sustained damage at a later date, perhaps from a plough. [5] It is unclear why there were so many cheekpieces accompanying the helmet; it is possible that they may all have been used on the same helmet to customise its appearance on different occasions, or alternatively they may have been intended as spares in the event of damage. The surviving cheekpieces are very elaborate. Five of the cheekpieces show equestrian scenes; one depicts the triumph of a Roman emperor on horseback, holding his arm in the air as he is crowned with a laurel wreath by the goddess Victoria (Victory). A cowering barbarian is depicted below being trampled by the hooves of the emperor's horse. Another less well-preserved cheekpiece depicts a possibly Middle Eastern figure holding a large cornucopia, and a Roman helmet and shield below. [7]

The helmet was found along with some 5,296 Iron Age and Roman coins mostly dating to AD 20/30–50, the largest assemblage of Iron Age coins ever found in Britain. [1] They had been buried at what appears to have been a pre-Roman shrine where large-scale animal slaughtering had taken place; nearly 7,000 bone fragments were also found at the site, 97 per cent of which were from pigs. Many appear to have been buried without the meat being eaten, suggesting that they had been used as offerings. The site is located on a hilltop which appears to have been encircled by a boundary ditch and palisade, with a possible processional way leading up to it. In Roman times it would have been located in the territory of the Corieltauvi, who inhabited an area of the East Midlands stretching from Northamptonshire to Lincolnshire. [8]

It is very unusual to find a helmet of this type on a native ceremonial site. [9] It was probably made between 25 and 50 AD, close to the date of the conquest of Britain in 43 AD; [1] this makes it one of the earliest Roman helmets ever found in Britain. [4] Other British examples of later date were found in isolation away from settlements, as in the cases of the Guisborough Helmet and Crosby Garrett Helmet, or on Roman sites, as with the Newstead Helmet. Various suggestions have been put forward as to why the helmet ended up at Hallaton; it may have been owned by a Briton who served in the Roman cavalry, it may have been a diplomatic gift from the Romans or it may have been captured in war. [1] According to Dr Jeremy Hill of the British Museum, the first explanation is the most likely: "Here you probably have a situation where local Britons are fighting on the Roman side." [10] The Roman cavalry at this time was mostly recruited from native allies, not Italians, suggesting that Britons fought alongside the Romans as they carried out their conquest of Britain. [1]

Discovery and restoration

The Hallaton Helmet and cheekpieces on display at the Harborough Museum, Market Harborough Hallaton helmet exhibition.jpg
The Hallaton Helmet and cheekpieces on display at the Harborough Museum, Market Harborough

The helmet was discovered by 71-year-old Ken Wallace, a retired teacher and amateur archaeologist. He and other members of the Hallaton Fieldwork Group had found fragments of Roman pottery on a hill near Hallaton in 2000. [11] He visited the site with a second-hand metal detector late one afternoon and found about 200 coins, which had been buried in a series of small pits dug into the clay. [12] He also found another artifact, which he left in the ground overnight. The following day he returned to examine his discovery and found it that it was a silver ear. He reported the find to Leicestershire's county archaeologist, who called in the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) to excavate the site. [13] The dig took place in the spring of 2003. [12]

The helmet was too fragile to be excavated in situ so it was removed within a block of earth held together with plaster of Paris. It was taken to the British Museum in London for conservation, which took nine years of work by conservator Marilyn Hockey and her colleagues Fleur Shearman and Duygu Çamurcuoğlu. [1] Corrosion and the effects of time had shattered the helmet into thousands of pieces, [11] most of which were smaller than the nail on a person's little finger. [14] The reconstructed and conserved helmet was unveiled in January 2012. [1]

Leicester County Council was able to raise £1 million to buy the entire hoard and pay for the conservation of the helmet, with the assistance of donations from the Heritage Lottery Fund (which gave a £650,000 grant [13] ), the Art Fund and other trusts and charities. [11] The helmet was valued at £300,000; [11] under the terms of the Treasure Act, Ken Wallace and the landowner were each awarded £150,000. [13]

The helmet was put on permanent public display at the end of January 2012 at the Harborough Museum in Market Harborough, nine miles from the site where the hoard was found, alongside other objects found at Hallaton. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corieltauvi</span>

The Corieltauvi were a Celtic tribe living in Britain prior to the Roman conquest, and thereafter a civitas of Roman Britain. Their territory was in what is now the English East Midlands. They were bordered by the Brigantes to the north, the Cornovii to the west, the Dobunni and Catuvellauni to the south, and the Iceni to the east. Their capital was called Ratae Corieltauvorum, known today as Leicester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Iron Age</span> Period of British prehistory predating the Roman occupation

The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, which had an independent Iron Age culture of its own. The parallel phase of Irish archaeology is termed the Irish Iron Age. The Iron Age is not an archaeological horizon of common artefacts but is rather a locally-diverse cultural phase.

The year 2000 in archaeology included many events, some of which are listed below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hallaton</span> Human settlement in England

Hallaton is a village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 523, which had increased to 594 at the 2011 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hoxne Hoard</span> Roman hoard found in England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harborough Museum</span>

Harborough Museum was opened in 1983 in the former R & W H Symington corset factory that also houses the Harborough District Council offices in the historic market town of Market Harborough. It is run by a partnership between Leicestershire County Council, Harborough District Council and Market Harborough Historical Society. Since 2014, its affairs have been overseen by a new charitable organisation, the Harborough Museum Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Staffordshire Hoard</span> Anglo-Saxon hoard discovered in 2009

The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found. It consists of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments, amounting to a total of 5.1 kg (11 lb) of gold, 1.4 kg (3 lb) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewellery. It is described by the historian Cat Jarman as "possibly the finest collection of early medieval artefacts ever discovered".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hallaton Treasure</span> Hoard of British Iron Age coins

The Hallaton Treasure, the largest hoard of British Iron Age coins, was discovered in 2000 near Hallaton in southeast Leicestershire, England, by volunteers from the Hallaton Fieldwork Group. The initial find was made by Ken Wallace on 19 November 2000, when he found about 130 coins with a metal detector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosby Garrett Helmet</span> Copper alloy Roman cavalry helmet

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterloo Helmet</span> Celtic ceremonial helmet

The Waterloo Helmet is a pre-Roman Celtic bronze ceremonial horned helmet with repoussé decoration in the La Tène style, dating to circa 150–50 BC, that was found in 1868 in the River Thames by Waterloo Bridge in London, England. It is now on display at the British Museum in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meyrick Helmet</span> Iron Age archaeological discovery

The Meyrick Helmet is an Iron Age bronze peaked helmet, with La Tène style decoration, that is held at the British Museum in London. It is one of only four Iron Age helmets to have been discovered in Britain, the other three being the more famous Waterloo Helmet, the Canterbury Helmet and the North Bersted Warrior helmet. Unlike the Waterloo Helmet, which bears two cone-shaped horns, the Meyrick Helmet is hornless and appears to be based on a Roman model. Vincent Megaw, emeritus professor of archaeology at the University of Leicester, has conjectured that the helmet may have belonged to a British auxiliary fighting in the Roman army during the campaigns against the Brigantes in AD 71–74.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guisborough Helmet</span> Roman cavalry bronze helmet found in 1864

The Guisborough Helmet is a Roman cavalry bronze helmet found in 1864 near Guisborough in the North Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was originally fitted with a pair of protective cheek-pieces, which have not survived; the holes by which they were attached can be seen in front of the helmet's ear guards. It is lavishly decorated with incised, punched and embossed figures, indicating that it was probably used for displays or cavalry tournaments, though it may well have been intended to be worn in battle as well. The helmet was found in what appears to have been a carefully arranged deposition in a bed of gravel, distant from any known Roman sites. After it was recovered during road works it was donated to the British Museum in London, where it was restored and is currently on display.

<i>Hippika gymnasia</i>

The hippika gymnasia were ritual tournaments performed by the cavalry of the Roman Empire to both practice their skills and display their expertise. They took place on a parade ground situated outside a fort and involved the cavalry practicing manoeuvring and the handling of weapons such as javelins and spears. The riders and their mounts wore highly elaborate armour and helmets specially made for display purposes, decorated with images from classical mythology. Such tournaments served several purposes, improving the riders' skills, helping to build unit morale and impressing dignitaries and conquered peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Late Roman ridge helmet</span>

The Late Roman ridge helmet was a type of combat helmet of Late Antiquity used by soldiers of the Late Roman army. It was characterized by the possession of a bowl made up of two or four parts, united by a longitudinal ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nijmegen Helmet</span> Facial iron mask of a Roman horseman

The Nijmegen Helmet is a Roman cavalry sports helmet from the first or second century AD. It was found around 1915 in a gravel bed on the left bank of the Waal river, near the Dutch city of Nijmegen. The helmet would have been worn by the élite Roman cavalry. The head portion of the helmet is made of iron, while the mask and diadem are of bronze or brass. The helmet provides neck protection via a projecting rim overlaid with a thin bronze covering plated with silver. The diadem features two male and three female figures.

The year 2012 in archaeology involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witcham Gravel helmet</span> Roman cavalry helmet from the first century CE

The Witcham Gravel helmet is a Roman auxiliary cavalry helmet from the first century AD. Only the decorative copper alloy casing remains; an iron core originally fit under the casing, but has now corroded away. The cap, neck guard, and cheek guards were originally tinned, giving the appearance of a silver helmet encircled by a gold band. The helmet's distinctive feature is the presence of three hollow bosses, out of an original six, that decorate the exterior. No other Roman helmet is known to have such a feature. They may be a decorative embellishment influenced by Etruscan helmets from the sixth century BC, which had similar, lead-filled bosses, that would have deflected blades.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Hill, Jeremy (10 January 2012). "Finishing a 3D, 2,000 year-old Roman jigsaw puzzle: the Hallaton helmet unveiled". British Museum. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  2. ↑ Dixon, Karen R.; Southern, Pat (1996). The Late Roman Army. Routledge. pp. 91–92. ISBN   978-0-7134-7047-5.
  3. ↑ Worrell, Sally; Jackson, Ralph; Mackay, Andrew; Bland, Roger; Pitts, Mike (Jan–Feb 2011). "The Crosby Garrett Roman Helmet". British Archaeology (116). Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Magnificent 2,000-year-old Roman helmet unveiled". Art Fund. 9 January 2012. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Hallaton Helmet Update December 2010" (PDF). Leicester County Council. December 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  6. 1 2 Sharp, Helen; James, Simon (March 2012). "Reconstructing the Hallaton Helmet". Current Archaeology (264): 38–41. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  7. 1 2 Sharp, Helen (Spring 2011). "New Hallaton Helmet Discoveries". Branchline. Leicester County Council.
  8. ↑ "The Hallaton Treasure: evidence of a new kind of shrine?". Current Archaeology. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "The Hallaton Helmet" (PDF). Leicestershire County Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  10. ↑ "Hallaton helmet unveiled after nine-year restoration". BBC News. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Kennedy, Maev (10 January 2012). "Unique Roman cavalry helmet pieced together 10 years after discovery". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  12. 1 2 "Iron Age coin hoard uncovered". BBC News. 7 April 2003. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 Singh, Anita (11 January 2012). "Roman helmet turns history on its head". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 December 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  14. ↑ Malvern, Jack (11 January 2012). "'Jigsaw' helmet sheds new light on Britain's relations with Roman Empire". The Times. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2012.

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