HELMET

An extremely fine, near complete copper-alloy two-piece Roman cavalry sports helmet dating from the late 1st-mid-3rd century AD. The helmet consists of a face mask, a head piece with a griffin figurine crest attachment. It was found in 33 fragments, with 34 smaller fragments found in association. Many of the fragments were found to join and the restored helmet is now c. 90% complete.

The finely wrought face mask corresponds to Robinson's Cavalry Sports Helmet Type C (Robinson 1975, 114-7) and Kohlert's Type V (Kohlhert 1978, 23-4). It depicts an idealised youthful male face, with luxuriant curly hair in three rows, the first of which extends to the mid-point of the full cheeks. The fine eyebrows are indicated by short diagonal engraved strokes, the eyelids are shown and both eyes are depicted with a pierced ring in the centre of the eye-holes to represent the iris. Traces of the reserved white metal coating are visible on the face, but it is likely that the hair and helmet would have appeared in bright natural bronze. The nostrils are pierced and the full lips slightly parted.

Originally the mask would have hinged at the centre of the brow within the curly hair (Jackson and Craddock 1995, 80). At the neck it was fastened by a leather strap which would have been secured by its eyeleted ends to an iron strap on the jawline on each side of the mask, with slight remains of iron corrosion surviving. The survival of the headpiece, in its Phrygian form is exceptional with a crest attachment in the form of a winged griffin with its right paw raised and resting on an amphora. At the back of the head is a single row of curls can be seen below a raised ridge.

Although no Roman garrisons are documented in the immediate vicinity, the findspot lies in an area with a substantial Roman military presence on a key route leading to the northern frontier. The nearest is at Brough and there are others further to the north-west in the Eden valley (e.g. Kirkby Thore, Brougham, Old Penrith). Stanwix, the garrison of the only thousand strong cavalry unit known from Roman Britain, is c. 50km to the NW. To the east of the Pennines over Stainmore are further garrisons.

Findspots of other sports helmets are varied. In many cases they have been found within or in the immediate environs of garrisons, often of auxiliary cavalry units (alae; cohortes equitatae) (Garbsch 1978) as at Ribchester, Lancashire and Newstead, Borders. In several cases however there is no closely associated fort or fortress, for instance, at Guisborough (N. Yorks) and Worthing (Norfolk) among the UK examples. The recent discussion by Nicolay (2007) of the 'lifecycle' of Roman military equipment provides various possible models by which the helmet may have come to be deposited in a context away from a garrison, by hoarding, votive deposition or burial with the dead. In this case of this helmet, the visor was found placed face downwards and the helmet had been folded prior to deposition. On this very limited evidence votive offering or hoarding of loot might better explain its deposition at this findspot, but in the absence of excavation this must remain speculative.