HORSE ARMOUR

An assemblage of white metal coated copper-alloy fragments of a Roman horse armour, probably part of a chamfron, dating to AD 100-300.

The larger fragment consists of a sheet of metal (SmF 1005, fig. 1) with a repoussé decoration depicting the incomplete standing figure of Hercules, leaning on his club. The figure is in heroic nudity and lacks of the head and his left side. The front face has moderate traces of the white metal coating and has a line of punched dots bordering the inner edges of the body parts. The right side of the fragment is slightly folded on itself and has a double line of punched pellets, which vary in size; the right edge has a repoussé beaded line, while the others have old breaks. The lower edge of the fragment has a pendant circular ring, which is hanging from a loop created by a riveted sub-rectangular strip of metal.

The second fragment (SmF 1009, fig. 2) depicts a portion of the left side of the standing figure of Hercules and the typical lion skin hanging from the left shoulder of the figure. The repoussé details of the body and the lion skin are enriched by further lines of punched dots and engravings, especially on the lion mane, leg and paw. The lower portion of the front face, below the lion skin, has a series of unclear incomplete panels defined by lines of punched dots and bands of oblique engraved short lines. Large part of the head of the lion is missing. The front face has abundant traces of white metal coating.

The third fragment (SmF 1010, fig. 3) is roughly rectangular in plan and depicts an incomplete profile bust of a bearded figure with short curly hair, probably Hercules. The head of the figure is largely missing and the surviving lower part, which folds slightly inwards, suggests that the head might have been rendered full rounded. The details of the head are finely manufactured and proportioned. Among the details of the repousse’ decoration there is a quiver, which protrudes behind the right shoulder; it contains a bunch of arrows and it is secured by a strap represented by a raised band running across the shoulder. Behind the head of the figure there are further decoration depicting a transverse V-shaped band, which points at the hero’s head and lays its two extremities on the beaded left edge of the fragment. The band is decorated with a series of transverse grooves and bordered by a double line of punched dots. Above the latter band there is an upwards curving double line of punched dots, which defines the lower edge of an unclear decorative element.

The rest of the assemblage consists of several fragments which go from few millimetres in size to 40x30 mm. A full list is given below and when possible a short description is provided.

SmF 1001 (2 frags): the bigger fragment has large part of the coating on the front face and traces of curls in the repoussé decoration.

SmF 1002 (4 frags): unclear.

SmF 1002bis (6 frags): white metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1003 (1 frag): white metal coated; unclear decoration along the border.

SmF 1003bis (1 frag): sub-rectangular in plan; longitudinal pair of grooves.

SmF 1004 (1 frag): white metal coated; beaded edge and punched dots line.

SmF 1004bis (4 frags): curls fragments.

SmF 1005bis (3 frags): found with SmF 1005 (see above); white metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1005.4 (2 frags): white metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1006 (1 frag): white metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1007 (12 frags): white metal coated; curls fragments.

SmF 1007.1 (4 frags): corrosion products from soil.

SmF 1008 (3frags): white metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1009bis (15 frags): found with SmF 1009 (see above). White metal coated; unclear.

SmF 1009.1 (1 frag): corrosion product from soil.

SmF 1010bis (8 frags): found with SmF 1010 (see above). White metal coated; among the unclear fragments some curls and a beaded band.

Copper-alloy finds found spread in the same field in 2018 while metal detecting:

NH.18 178, TM33286 53378, RLM 092

It is sub-rectangular in plan and has moderate traces of white metal coating on the front face. The repoussé decoration of the front depicts a flat panel bordered by a double line of punched dots and bearing an unclear raised decoration in the centre. One long edge has a series of parallel raised lines, which alternate a pseudo-beaded and a grooved decoration; the space between the lines have further lines of punched dots. One of the short edge has a pseudo-beaded line.

Length: 47.37mm. Width: 38.83mm. Thickness: 1.24mm. Weight: 3.37g.

NH.18 179, TM33284 53376, RLM 092

It consists of a sub-triangular fragment with a complete long edge, which slightly folds downwards. The front face has a repoussé decoration depicting a crescent-shaped panel bordered by a pair of punched dots line. The complete edge has an inner rim depicting a series of transverse short grooves (ladder pattern). A broken edge bears a line of raised squares. The front face has moderate traces of white metal coating.

Length: 61.06mm. Width: 28.62mm. Thickness: 0.55mm. Weight: 3.59g.

NH.18 181, TM33300 53392, RLM 092

It is sub-rectangular in plan and tapers towards one end. The short ends have old breaks. The front face bears traces of silvering. Unidentified, but probably Roman in date.

Length: 35.43mm. Width: 10.36mm. Thickness: 0.55mm. Weight: 1.16g.

NH.18 182, TM33302 53384, RLM 092

It is a sub-square unidentified object, probably Post medieval.

Length: 6.69mm. Width: 7.01mm. Thickness: 0.61mm. Weight: 0.17g.

NH.18 185, TM33279 53369, RLM 092

A Post medieval unidentified object consisting of a heavily bent strip of metal, which has a circular perforation at the flared end and a copper-alloy rivet still in a similar perforation on the opposite short end.

Length: 16.04mm. Width: 6.16mm. Thickness: 0.74mm. Weight: 1.04g.

Discussion: 

The two large fragments (Sm F 1005, 1009) join together almost completing the standing figure of Hercules. The mythological hero in fact has as his main attributes the club and the lion skin. The third fragment might depict a profile of Hercules as well because of the quiver visible on the back of the figure. According to the myth, the first of Hercules’ twelve labours was to slay the Nemean lion; the hero accomplished the mission strangling the animal with his bare hands after having seen that neither the arrows he shot at him and the blows of his club were ineffective against the impenetrable skin of the lion. Among the smaller fragments many pieces are recognizable as part of the main three fragments.

For the similarities with the decoration and manufacturing of other better preserved examples, the fragments might belong to the chamfron of a horse armour. The chamfrons were protections for the head of the horse. They could be made of leather or of copper-alloy and embellished with a very elaborate repoussé decoration. Some surviving chamfrons have only a central panel protecting the front of the head while others have side panels and/or grates to guard the eyes of the animal. Depending on these features the chamfrons have been classified in four types:

Type A: they are made of leather and can have eye guards (c. AD 1-300);

Type B: they are small three-piece chamfrons made of copper-alloy and have eye guards (c. 100 BC-AD 300);

Type C: large three-piece chamfrons, with side panels and eye guards (c. AD 100-300;

Type D: single-piece metal chamfrons without eye guards (c. AD 1-100);

It is disputed if these piece of equipment was reserved for parading or actually used on the battlefield; there are elements to believe that in certain cases they were used in both situations.

The closest example is the three-piece chamfron from Eining in Germany (Schuckelt catalogue, p. 94, no. 76), which depicts Hercules in a very similar pose in the central panel of the chamfron. Important parallels are found in the hoard deposit of Straubing in Germany, where three chamfrons (ibidem, nos. 55, 57, 59, Type C) have a main standing figure in the central panel and further decorations on the side ones. Further examples (from Austria, Romania, and Germany) show similar decoration patterns like punched dot lines, V-shaped bands and the beaded lines (ibidem nos. 40, 52, 65, 66, 85).

The hanging ring attached to the lower edge of the main fragment (SmF 1005) seems unusual in that position, in fact the other examples referenced above do not have a similar ring hanging from the lower edge of the central panel. A similar strap fitting is attached to the upper edge of the central panel of one chamfron from Straubing (ibidem no. 67). Also, it seems that the figure of the central panel of the three-piece chamfron of the Type C has often a further decoration below (an animal, a mythological figure or a floral motif, as ibidem nos. 40, 41, 76), instead, our example bears the strap fitting right below the hero’s feet. 

The hoard in Straubing had also a pair of greaves which bear Hercules in the same pose of our example.

As for the fragment depicting the bust in profile of Hercules, it is worth noting that the fragment of the neck and lower face, turns slightly as if the head was represented abundantly protruding from the plan of the panel. Several Type C chamfrons have profile busts on the lower section of their side panels and one example from Straubing shows a very high relief of the bust of Minerva (ibidem no. 55, fig. 9).

From the stylistic comparison the date suggested is the 1^st-3^rd century AD.

The fragments were kindly donate to the Suffolk County Council by the landowner and the finder.

For the account of the conservation process which was carried out by the UCL laboratory see link below

https://uclconservation.wordpress.com/2019/06/26/a-bronze-hercules-from-suffolk/

Reference:

M.C. Bishop, J.C.N. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment, 1993.
Sebastian Schuckelt, Evidence for horse armour in the Roman Army and the use of chamfrons by the Roman Cavalry, thesis, 2014.