Bronze Helmet Research Articles

Microstructure and phase composition of bronze Montefortino helmets discovered Mediterranean seabed to explain an unusual corrosion

Two Monterfortino helmets, recovered in the Mediterranean seabed, show unusual features with respect to the more common helmets of the same period and found in underwater environments. Hence, they were investigated by a multi-analytical approach, which allowed us to identify the compounds constituting the helmets and to make some considerations about their metallurgy, although all the metal was converted to degradation products. The helmets, originally made in bronze, have maintained their original shape because of copper sulphides formation. The observed differences in composition between the two helmets were attributed to the position modification, of one of them, into the seabed along centuries. For the first time, a microstructural investigation permits to reconstruct the history of the aging processes involved in the total oxidation of roman bronze helmet metal.

Два ритуальных клада эпохи Митридатовых войн из Нижнего Подонья

The article is about two ritual deposits of the 2nd—1st centuries BC from the Lower Don region. The first votive hoard was found in 2018 in the inter-mound space of Turbuta III burial ground and transferred to the NovocherkasskMuseum of the History of Don Cossacks. The complex consisted of a crumpled bronze situla and helmet, a set of silver phalerae and a frontlet, as well as six sets of bits and cheekpieces. In 2016, information about another ritual deposit from illegal excavations in the Rostov region got on the Internet. Both complexes are very similar in composition, the nature of ritual damage, and the way things are placed. Phalerae and the frontlet from Turbuta III find close analogies in the well-known Starobelsk hoard. Obviously, in the Lower Don region, the same pattern can be traced as in the Northern Black Sea region — the connection of sets of phalerae with votive hoards. The helmets from both hoards are later versions of the Celtic helmets with a reinforced crown. It is difficult to determine unambiguously whether these helmets were made by Celtic armourer, or in a workshop of one of the Hellenistic kingdoms according to Celtic patterns. Situlae are believed to have been part of Roman military equipment. Probably, objects from both ritual deposits reflect participation of the Sarmatians in the Mithridatic wars, recorded in written sources.

A Helmet of the Archaic Period in the Krasnodar Museum – Problems of Attribution

In 2020, an illicitly excavated bronze helmet confiscated by the FSB was brought to the Krasnodar Felitsyn State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve. The helmet was assembled from two parts and embellished with engraved geometric and zoomorphic designs. The upper section is marked with a finial crafted from a wax model in shape of the head of a bird of prey. Two other helmets of this type are currently known, both from archaeological complexes: one from the village of Kholodny Rodnik near Tuapse (discovered in 2012), the other from the megalithic burial “Krinitsa-I” (2018 excavations). An analysis of the items found with these helmets allows us to date all three helmets to the 6th century BCE. The Krasnodar helmet is the more elaborately decorated of the three, with geometric ornaments analogous to those on Colchian-Koban bronzes of this period and zoomorphic designs imitating the Scythian Animal Style. All this gives reason to suggest this series of helmets to have been produced on commission for the warrior elite of the Northwestern Caucasus in the workshops of the Central Caucasus, which traditionally produced bronze table wares. The Krasnodar helmet is probably the earliest in this group. A rudimentary rim encircles the entire calotte – a feature going back to cast helmets of the Kuban type. The Krasnodar helmet can be dated to the end of the 7th – first half of the 6th centuries BCE.

Micro‐XRF analysis of silver decorations on Archaic helmets from Olympia

Quantitative micro‐X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses were performed on 19 silver decorations of six Archaic bronze helmets from the archaeological site of Olympia, Greece. The principal aim of the study was to investigate technological aspects of the smelting process that influence the composition of Ag, reveal possible elemental correlations and shed light on its source, assigning a likely provenance. The XRF results revealed that all decorations contain high amounts of Ag > 95%. The quantitative determination of several fingerprint minor elements, such as Au, Pb and Bi, provided interesting insights related to the efficiency of the cupellation process, the ore type used for the silver extraction and the geological origin of the ores.

Dress and Clothing in the Hebrew Bible: "For All Her Household Are Clothed in Crimson" ed. by Antonios Finitsis

Reviewed by: Dress and Clothing in the Hebrew Bible: "For All Her Household Are Clothed in Crimson" ed. by Antonios Finitsis Richard Anthony Purcell antonios finitsis (ed.), Dress and Clothing in the Hebrew Bible: "For All Her Household Are Clothed in Crimson" (LHBOTS 679; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2019). Pp. xv + 191. $114. This collection of essays addresses a lacuna in Hebrew Bible studies, as the topic of dress and clothing is an understudied aspect of the ancient Syro-Palestinian symbolic world. The topic bridges the gap between material and textual studies, for dress "figures prominently in both ancient narratives and art" (p. 2). The essays demonstrate interdisciplinary approaches that draw on linguistic, textual, and art-historical data to interpret dress and clothing in the Hebrew Bible. The scholars adopt the term "dress" (p. 1) as a theoretical lens from Joanne B. Eicher and Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins, who define dress as the "assemblage of body modifications and/or supplements displayed by a person in communicating with other human beings" (see Eicher and Roach-Higgins, "Definition and Classification of Dress: Implications for Analysis of Gender Roles," in Dress and Gender: Making Meaning in Cultural Contexts [ed. Ruth Barnes and Joanne B. Eicher; Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women 2 [Oxford: Berg, 1993] 15). The definition provides a starting place for studying the functions of dress in communication and identity formation. The essays explore dress from different angles, from the referential to the metaphorical to the constitutive (p. 11). Why, though, the study of dress? Alicia J. Batten makes a case in the foreword that dress serves as an aspect of identity construction and projection just as food and language do (p. x). This basic sentiment undergirds the symposium of voices held together in the volume, as different essays explore how dress indicates status, symbolizes communal change, enables liberation or protest, or functions apotropaically and mnemonically in various biblical texts. Antonios Finitsis ("For All Her Household Are Clothed in Crimson") opens the volume with an introductory essay, laying out the primary goal of exploring the rhetoric and power of dress in the ancient world with both literary and visual data. Finitsis himself examines the expressions of gender and power in Proverbs 31, focusing on the valorous woman's clothing of her household in crimson garments, symbols of her economic acumen and power. Sara M. Koenig ("Tamar and Tamar: Clothing as Deception and Defiance") also attends to the intersection of clothing, gender, and power. She explores how the change or alteration of dress becomes an avenue of agential empowerment and expression in the Hebrew Bible's two Tamar narratives (Genesis 38 and 2 Samuel 13). The women's garments create opportunities for them to affect their situations, offering opportunities of liberation (Genesis 38) and of protest (2 Samuel 13). Sean E. Cook ("Is Saul among the Philistines? A Portrayal of Israel's First and Flawed King") examines the rhetorical use of Saul's dress to other the king and shape his downfall. [End Page 728] Like Goliath, Saul owns a bronze helmet and heavy armor (1 Sam 17:5-7). Saul's lack of clothes and nakedness in 1 Sam 19:23-24 shame the king, and his slaughter of Yhwh's priests clothed in linen ephods shows that the king stands over and against Yhwh (1 Sam 22:18). In addition, Saul's attempt to hide his identity with a robe to engage in divination practices like those of the Philistines (1 Sam 28:8; 6:2) displays the king's embrace of foreign identity. Ian D. Wilson ("The Emperor and His Clothing: David Robed and Unrobed before the Ark and Michal") also attends to the dress of kings. Wilson analyzes the parallel accounts of David dancing before the ark of Yhwh (2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 15). Using the lens of cultural memory and social forgetting, Wilson investigates the (in)appropriateness of the king's (lack of) garments, with particular attention to how the Persian literati reading the books would have judged David's (lack of) clothing. Wilson surveys artistic and textual data to conclude that ancient readers would likely have expected the king to be elaborately clothed, as indeed...

Helmet of the “Kuban” Type from Kelermes Burial Ground (Excavated in 1993)

The “Kuban” type helmet was found in the “Meotian” grave of small kurgan 15 (with the main and primary grave of the Bronze Age) in 1993 by the Kelermes archaeological expedition of the State Hermitage Museum. It is an object included in one of the components of the so-called “Scythian triad” and relates to the 7th – 6th centuries BC. The helmet has a shape that is close to hemispherical, it is corroded and in the front part it has superciliaryarcuate cuts, forming a small nose triangular plate, and a rectangular cutout in the back. On the edge of the helmet, there are 10 holes for fastening or lining of the helmet or leather earflaps. The helmet was cast on a wax model with a loss of a mould, and made of good tin bronze (Cu – base, Sn – 7–8%, As – 0.4%, Pb – 0.4%, Fe < 0.4%, Sb – traces), like many other items of this category of weapons. Regarding the origin of the “Kuban” type helmets, many of which are irregular finds, there are three versions of the origin of such helmets, which can be called the North Caucasian one, the Near Eastern one, and the Central Asiatic–North Chinese one. In the 1980s, a summary of such helmets, compiled by L.K. Galanina, consisted of 16 copies. Currently, it can be increased due to several new finds that have become known in recent decades, the area of which covers the territory of Eurasia from Mongolia to the Dnieper-river forest-steppe region. This allows to link their origin to the territory of Central Asia and North China more confidently, and typologically connect them with bronze helmets of the Western Zhou dating to the 11th – 8th centuries BC.

The Late Iron Age Bronze helmet from Apahida (Transylvania)

The Late Iron Age Bronze helmet from Apahida (Transylvania)

Into the Cyclorama by Annie Kim

Reviewed by: Into the Cyclorama by Annie Kim Kevin Holton Annie Kim. Into the Cyclorama. University of Southern Indiana Press, 2016. It’s often said that wonderful and terrible events shape those who experience them, and in Into the Cyclorama, Annie Kim explores what shapes exactly they create. This book, winner of the 2015 Michael Waters Poetry Prize, brings together twenty-eight poems that don’t simply play with form, but manipulate lyrical construction, strengthening the theme of a given piece, whether examining the lonely displacement of moving from house to house, or the desolation of lost faith after a sudden death. Structure becomes content highlighting the ways one is altered, often permanently, by life’s events, even when they seem innocuous. [End Page 41] The book begins with an epigraph from Hesiod’s The Shield of Herakles, which describes the shield, with a Gorgon’s head surrounded by silver and gold, terror and beauty in harmony. This serves as a powerful precursor to the poems, offering a mixed image of something deadly designed to lure people toward danger, as well as a bad situation surrounded by good tidings and silver linings. “Thin Gold String,” the first poem, explores this well, describing escalating tribulations like a button falling off a beloved antique coat, soon reaching “Each heartbreak swooping in for its / own black bit of universe.” Soon, it culminates in a need to “hold it all before your eyes, grab / both ends of this thin gold string.” This poem is a series of couplets, beginning and ending with a single line, physically emulating this idea, showing how easy it can be to hold on while the words emphasize the need to let go. “Portrait with a Blurred Tattoo” shows Kim’s use of structure again in this piece about a woman gradually losing the ability to care for herself as she ages, suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s. It begins with a description of the portrait sitting by herbed, describing the woman and son as they were when younger. The third line is set off, indented farther than the others, saying they were “still perfect, unwrinkled,” while describing the son two stanzas later as “embarrassed by the moment.” This poem is full of breaks to show a change of scene, and the next brings an image of the mother, wearing a bib to keep drool off her clothing, her body withered and weak, when the son looks away, “his mouth a fist.” Two breaks later, the piece ends with a moment of clarity for the old woman, where she “seemed to want to lose” as she laughs and forfeits a card game. Form can also be seen stretching across multiple pages. “The Bronze Helmet (A Retrospective)” is a poem in ten parts, stretching across eleven pages. A quote from Joseph Brodsky’s “Homage to Marcus Aurelius” precedes them, reading, “…and the bronze denies you any entry, including interpretation of touch.” These poems follow the saga of marathon runner Sohn Kee-chung, the first Korean man to win a gold medal at the Olympics. In response, “the Greek newspaper Vradiny donated” a bronze helmet, excavated from Olympia in 1875, to the runner, but it didn’t reach him until the 1988 games in Seoul, when he was seventy-four. Not all of the parts are overtly about him—section two, “Looking at a Collage by Raphael Danke” is about an unnamed narrator examining a work of art, describing the artist’s technique by saying, “The cut itself is a brutal, almost / physical attack on the paper.” These seemingly unrelated sections are perhaps best tied together in section eight, “Fragment of a Play,” where a chorus sings: “Do not tell us of defeat! / We have eaten nothing else / night and day these thirty years.” While a number of poems deal with history, “Hemispheres” combines historical reference and modern science. It begins with a personal sentiment, “At the piano, my adolescent sister, / Beethoven’s Pathetique swelling like / a petticoat lost at sea.” This quickly changes to grander designs, commenting that “time…could be particle and wave.” A few lines of this poem are set aside, aligned to the right side of the page...

Votive gifts from Sicily and southern Italy in Olympia and other Greek sanctuaries

Votive gifts from Sicily and southern Italy are most prominent among the objects discovered in Greek sanctuaries, especially Olympia, the most significant location for such material in Greece. Foreign objects from the west were an early focus of archaeologists working on Olympia (for example Karo 1937; Kunze 1951; Kilian 1977a; 1977b; von Hase 1979; 1997; Herrmann 1983; Moustaka 1985; Kyrieleis 1986; Söldner 1994; Strøm 2000; Naso 2000a; 2000b; 2006; 2011; 2012; Baitinger 2013; Aurigny 2016), in particular spectacular pieces with inscriptions, such as two bronze helmets of the central Italian Negau type (Fig. 84) (Egg 1986: 51–61, 198–99, nos 185–86, pls 108, 109a). The inscription confirms the dedication by Hiero I, the tyrant of Syracuse, following his victory over the Etruscans at the naval Battle of Cumae in 474 BC. As we know from Pindar's victory odes and from monuments dedicated at Olympia, the powerful tyrants of Sicily maintained strong links to the sanctuary (for example Philipp 1992; 1994; Giangiulio 1993; Di Vita 2005; Dreher 2013).

A 15th-Century Wreck of an Ordnance-Carrying Ship from Atlit North Bay, Israel

In 1977, a shipwreck assemblage was discovered off Atlit, Israel. Finds included three iron anchors, a large bombard, four swivel guns, stone and lead shot, and bronze helmets. The bronze bombard (2210 kg, 3.247 m long) contained a wooden wad and remnants of what may have been gunpowder. The swivel guns (each 185 kg) were bronze, with swivels and the tillers of iron. Twenty (or 21) bronze helmets were recovered. The findings provide rare evidence for the mounting of heavy ordnance on the bow of a galley or ship in the 15th century.

From Greek Boar's‐Tusk Helmets to the First European Metal Helmets: New Approaches on Development and Chronology

SummaryAfter more than a century of research into Bronze Age helmets throughout Europe, both the development and chronology of conical helmets with spool‐shaped sockets still remain unclear. The comprehensive studies and analysis of the helmet from Biecz have not completely resolved the discussions. Other helmets, when not solitary finds, have been usually dated according to their alleged associations in a hoard but have never been extensively discussed as a single helmet type of one date range. By introducing to the discussion a Greek bronze helmet with incised boar's tusks as well as those boar's‐tusk helmets with bronze cheek plates, more light is shed on the development and chronology of these very first European bronze helmets.

Princely Burial of the Hellenistic Period in the Mezmay Burial-Ground (North-Western Caucasus)

Abstract In 2004 a previously unknown burial-ground consisting of flat graves was discovered by grave-robbers on the northern slopes of the Central Caucasus range at a height of 800 metres above sea-level near the settlement of Mezmay in the Apsheronsk District of the Krasnodar region. In 2005 the first rescue excavations were undertaken. Among the assemblages so far investigated, the most interesting has been Grave No. 3, in which a warrior of aristocratic descent and high social rank had been laid to rest. Apart from the deceased warrior, there were also horse burials in this funerary complex and a large range of grave goods, the number and quality of which make the complex unique, not only for the Northern Caucasus but also for the whole North Pontic region. Two bronze helmets were found in it for example, iron chain-mail, swords, spear-heads, short spears and arrows, a battle-axe, bronze, glass and pottery vessels, gold jewellery, a bronze mirror, an iron tripod bearing zoomorphic depictions and many other artefacts. The preliminary date which has been assigned to the burial ranges from the late 3rd to the early 2nd century BC, while the necropolis itself is considered as belonging to the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman eras. It is not possible to identify unequivocally the culture with which the Mezmay necropolis is linked, but it can for the time being be classified as linked to the range of Maeotian antiquities of the North-western Caucasus. Apart from Burial No. 3, bronze and iron helmets from the spoil heaps of the grave-robbers’ excavations are also published in this article.

AN ELEMENTAL AND LEAD‐ISOTOPIC STUDY ON BRONZE HELMETS FROM ROYAL TOMB NO. 1004 IN YIN RUINS

Lead isotope and element composition analyses were performed by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP–OES) on bronze helmets from royal tomb No. 1004 at Yin Ruins, the last capital of China's Shang Dynasty (17th to 11th centuries bc). The data show that the copper‐based alloy helmets can be divided into two categories: tin bronze and leaded tin bronze; and the lead isotope ratios for both categories are in the range of highly radiogenic lead (HRL). This result offers some important clues to answering questions concerning the provenance of raw metal materials, as well as the chronology of this famous royal tomb.

BRONZE HELMET RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN MONGOLIA

In the ancient past, bronze helmets were highly valued objects. For this reason, they are seldom found at Bronze and Early Iron Age sites in the steppe belt of Eurasia. In the 1990 s, three bronze helmets of similar construction were found in Mongolia, two of which are associated with the slab grave culture. Another helmet has recently been found at Hitruun Mount (Central Mongolia). This helmet differs structurally from other helmets that have previously been found in Mongolia and the Trans-Baikal region. It has a spherical dome topped with a loop, two oval frontal notches with a nose-protecting piece between them, and holes for attaching an aventail (barmitsa) or a liner along the lower edge. The helmet resembles the protective headgear worn by the Scythians, the Saka, and the ancient nomads of Southern Manchuria. Research into this recent find has made it possible to elaborate on the chronology, cultural attribution, and typology of metal helmets used by various ethnic nomadic groups of the Bronze and Early Iron Age in Central Asia. Bronze helmets began to be produced among early Central Asian nomads in response to the use of more efficient manto-man weapons such as battleaxes and picks.

El tesoro celtibérico de Quintana Redonda (Soria): nuevos datos y materiales

Several documents preserved in the Real Academia de la Historia and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando have allowed us to reconstruct the circumstances of the finding of the well-known hoard of Quintana Redonda, which consists of more than a thousand denarii of bolśkan , a bronze helmet and two silver containers. We present the drawings of these two containers, a skyphos and a mastos , made at the time of the discovery, and unknown until now. By examining the set we can state that this could be a Roman soldier’s treasure, and its hiding took place before the Sertorian wars.

Gevninge – leddet til Lejre

Gevninge – leddet til Lejre

Electrochemical identification of bronze corrosion products in archaeological artefacts. A case study

The electrochemical response of the products of bronze corrosion is studied upon sample attachment to paraffin-impregnated graphite electrodes immersed into phosphate buffer. Characteristic square wave voltammetic profiles were obtained for CuCO3, CuCl, Cu2O, CuCl2 · 2H2O, azurite, malachite, atacamite and clinoatacamite. Application to real microsamples from a montefortino bronze helmet from Requena (Valencia, Spain) dated back to the Second Iron Age reveals the presence of different corrosion products, namely, cuprite, nantokite, and atacamite-type materials. Data obtained from voltammetric and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis in the samples extracted from different corroded zones of the helmet were in good agreement.

Neutron and X-ray characterisation of the metallurgical properties of a 7th century BC Corinthian-type bronze helmet

Neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and FTIR were used to examine a Corinthian-type bronze helmet which is now on display at The Manchester Museum, UK. This type of helmet was manufactured out of a single piece of bronze, probably on a rod-anvil, and like all body-armour it was made to measure. Neutron diffraction sampling of the bronze volume in different areas was used to study the composition, microstructure and crystallographic texture of the alloy in order to draw conclusions about the manufacturing processes. The neutron data revealed the presence of microstrains and non-random distributions of bronze grains hinting at annealing-hammering working cycles in order to harden and shape the alloy. X-ray fluorescence showed that the main body of the helmet is a copper–tin alloy, while the noseguard contains zinc in high abundance. This key compositional difference confirms that the noseguard is not the original but is a modern substitute fabricated for restoration purposes. SR XRD and FTIR from several spots on the head and noseguard identified several surface corrosion products and showed a variation of the Cu–Sn or Cu–Zn percentage compositions, and of the mineral phases. Small samples of corrosion flakes extracted from the outside and inside of the helmet were used to obtain powder XRD patterns.

Advantages of the Use of SR-FT-IR Microspectroscopy: Applications to Cultural Heritage

Synchrotron radiation Fourier transform infrared (SR-FT-IR) microspectroscopy represents an advance over conventional FT-IR spectroscopy because it gives a higher signal/noise ratio at the highest spatial resolution due to the high brightness and collimation of synchrotron radiation. It has been successfully applied to the study of ancient paintings, alteration and corrosion layers which are heterogeneous microlayered materials made by complex mixtures of organic and inorganic compounds. Moreover, the high brightness attribute allows FT-IR spectra to be routinely obtained directly on the surfaces of the objects and opens the possibility for nondestructive testing of museum objects. We present in this paper a selection of applications of SR-FT-IR to the analysis of ancient paintings, alteration and corrosion layers where the technique has proven to be especially useful: first, the separation and identification of pigment microparticles from ancient Roman wall paintings; second, the determination of the binding media and the byproducts resulting from the interaction between binders and pigments from medieval altarpieces; and third, the study of the surface corrosion layers of a bronze helmet by means of direct analysis of the surface.

ARMOR IN CHINA BEFORE THE TANG DYNASTY

The earliest traces of armor in China consist of bronze helmets, since body armor was made of non-durable leather. The earliest surviving body armor is of lacquered leather laminae from the Warring States period (fifth-third centuries BC). Over time, the size of the laminae grew smaller. Metal body armor appears in the Han Dynasty but lacquered leather probably remained in use for some time after that. Heavier armor and barded horses appear after the invention of the stirrup in the fourth century. Scale armor is associated with non-Chinese, and neither plate armor nor chain-mail was utilized in China. During the Tang Dynasty, a type of long rectangular lamellar armor appears to have been introduced from Iran, ending a long autochthonous tradition.