Helmets in the late Roman world are something of a fascination of Magister Militum, as regular readers will be aware. Those who have read our material or researched the topic before will also be familiar with how often it proves either difficult or impossible to establish exactly what a complete find may have looked like or exactly where an item was either deposited or first made. This is due to a plethora of small fragmentary evidence giving few clues as to the appearance of the finished object or a lack of concrete archaeological data to indicate the provenance of a given find. Below therefore are listed any helmet-related finds we felt pertinent to cover but which do not merit an entire article of their own or, for those without context, we will discuss the find itself in isolation of any other factors.
Helmets - Fragments and Unknown Contexts
An article covering those helmets in the late Roman world found without a known context or in such small fragments that a solo article would be unecessary. This article will be regularly updated as the roster of late Roman helmets is completed.
Breisach am Rhein helmet fragment
Found during the excavations conducted during the expansion of the town hall area and related underground car park installation, these fragments were deposited in relocated material in a high-medieval layer from the 12th/13th Century.
The fragments form what appears to be the iron neck-guard of an Intercisa-type helmet, with a series of perforations along the outer edge to provide a means by which the leather lining may be attached.
Currently held in the inventory of the State Monuments Office in Bade-Wurttemberg, these fragments are a fantastic example of just how little can be left of the original objects in many of these investigations; a frustrating prospect for archaeologists and historians attempting to identify them indeed, and in stark contrast to some of the fantastically preserved almost-complete helmets we have showcased so far (the Richborough finds being a notable exception).
A good deal of Late Roman military equipment finds are in such a state, helmets particularly. Despite having identifiable features, the Intercisa-style neckplate, for example, or the Berkasovo cheeks and neck on the St. Giorgio helmet we looked at previously, we sadly do not have enough data to reconstruct these helmets in full - this paucity of complete finds goes some way to explaining the almost uniformity amongst Late Roman re-enactors, at least in the variety of kit on display, as the lack of complete finds available makes for a much smaller pool of replicas to choose from.
Image courtesy of Christian Miks.
Brunehaut-Liberchies Helmet Fragment
A fragment of the gilded decorative material plating of what appears to be an iron cheekpiece (although the interior piece has not been preserved); it seems to be a rather narrow cheek flap with an ear opening and was designed to be attached by multiple rivets.
Found in a fort in 1931 in Brunehaut-Liberchies in Belgium, and associated with numerous coins also found on the same site (predominantly 4th century AD; the latest coin being one bearing the head of Emperor Gratian, dated to 367-383 AD.
Based on the shape, this appears to have been an Intercisa-type helmet. It is now stored in the Musee Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels.
As we have seen before, another frustratingly sparse fragment of what could have been a stunningly beautiful helmet based on the fanciful decorations.
Picture courtesy of Christian Miks.
Nijmegen helmet crest
This item is also available as a YouTube video at the link below.
As can be seen from the images, this article covers the helmet crest find from Nijmegen (or “Noviomagus”) in the Netherlands. Found in the province of Gelderland in the River Waal, this is a well-preserved example of the typical “fish fin” crest we see on other examples of the Intercisa type. Unlike the example moulded into the ridge of the Intercisa IV, the ridge of the Nijmegen example features slotted mounts for the fin-shaped crest to attach to. The crest is locked in by riveting a series of tabs over corresponding rectangular metal washers. We can see an example of the appropriate recess in the images below.
As we can see from the side-view, the crest swells towards the front section, and may have included a Chi-Rho monogrammed plate as seen on other helmets of a similar type as suggested by two small rivet-holes towards the tip of the crest itself. The crest itself also displays signs of gilding, poorly-preserved on the right side due to corroded river sand (grey traces of which can be seen in the images). As is to be expected from a Late Roman period helmet, we can safely assume the gilding also covered the surface of the helmet bowl as well. Whilst this may not necessarily be the case, it is unlikely the bowl beneath would not have received the same treatment.
As to why we believe this belongs to an Intercisa helmet, to put it simply we only have finds and tangible artwork of such crests attached to Intercisa-types. Whilst it is not impossible such a crest was designed to fit with a Berkasovo-type, it seems unlikely. As with the gilding, this is not a concrete answer but certainly fits the pattern we have seen so far both in finds and artistic representation.
The overall look of the helmet will therefore have likely been similar to the image of a reconstructed Intercisa-type, courtesy of the Pustelak Brothers Art Workshop and the Vicus Ultimus re-enactment group, as seen in our Intercisa article. The decorative gilding on all other examples (with enough material surviving to appropriately judge them) suggests that all gilded helmets had some degree of decorative repousse work at least around the edges of the bowl and cheek-plates, held on likely with precious silver rivets.
Is this a guarantee? Again, sadly not. Simply the most likely outcome based on the available evidence and the corroboration of other finds and artworks.
The purpose of these crests is also something we will (perhaps eternally) be debating, and is an issue we will be covering in more detail in a later feature; there is an issue with crests in general in the late Roman period. Lack of clarity in artwork and the relative paucity of finds make it unclear as to the exact use of crests; were they to mark out officers, or perhaps soldiers of particular regiments? We cannot be sure. Debate continues to reign over the topic, with some citing the almost identical form of all the metal fish fin crests compared to the possibilities available with horsehair and feathers to suggest these fish-fin crests actually bore no particular significance, although the latter are most frequently depicted in scarlet-red rather than a variety of colours in relevant artworks, thus perhaps suggesting neither type bore the connotations we would perhaps expect. What we can discern is that the Nijmegen example indicates firstly that crests of the metal fin nature may have been quite common (based not only on their relatively frequent appearance in artwork, but also on the ratio of helmet finds with this type of crest or slots to insert such a crest on the helmet, as well as a rather impressive number of chi-rho plates found that are seemingly designed to fit them). It also shows us these crests were designed to be (at least in some cases) detachable and re-attachable.
At the end of the day, we find ourselves with yet another rather speculative piece which goes some way to helping further our understanding of how Late Roman helmets were both constructed and to a certain extent issued, and could hopefully inspire more crested ridge helmet impressions in the Noviomagus area.
The images of the finds are courtesy of Dr. Christian Miks.
