Pit XXII, late Flavian/Antonine fortress, Newstead (GBR), at a depth of between 18 and 20 feet (5.5 to 6.1 m).
Date:
Pit infill dated to AD 105. However, the state of the helmet when deposited and the possible evidence of multiple ownership (see below, Note 6) may indicate a much earlier construction date, possibly Neronian or even Claudian.
Now kept:
Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh.
Dimensions:
H (mask), 180mm; H (skull), 220mm; W (across chin), 170mm; W (max surviving, skull), 194mm; Th (mask, at neck), 1.2mm; Th (mask, at left hand side and forehead), 0.7mm; Th (skull, at edge), 0.5mm; Th (skull, below ear), 1mm.
Iron and bronze. The face has rounded cheek-bones and a relatively short nose with wide nostrils. The right hand nostril is lost but that on the left was plugged with lead in antiquity.
Most of the brow areas and ears are lost from the mask as well as the bronze border and ear guards from the skull piece. When found, the helmet was in two main pieces.
The neck guard has, on its upper surface, an embossed pattern of triangles, interspersed with large dots. The guard itself slopes downwards at an angle of approx. 45 deg.
Three fragments of the hair survive, one above the centre of the forehead, the others in front of the ears. The hair pattern on the skull piece is carefully fashioned as a series of concentric rings of curls surrounding a central Catherine wheel of hair. There is an encircling ribbon on the crown made of laurel leaves. At the front of the wreath is a domed rosette with a radiate star design. It is likely that, originally, the hair was covered with a silver foil sheet. A number of silver rivets remain, which probably held this covering in place.
There is a short copper alloy rivet in the lower corner by the left hand side below the missing ear. There may be some form of organic material below the rivet head - perhaps the remains of a leather strap, which ran around the back of the skull above the neckguard to hold the visor in place during wear.
A series of inscriptions are cut into the iron on the underside of the neckguard. These have been interpreted as follows. (a) A dotted inscription designed to be read with the outer edge of the guard towards the reader, which has been interpreted as MI [c.4] VCI.T ATINIA, i.e. Mi []uci t(urma) Atinia(na)?, translated as "property of Mi...ucus in the Atinian troop". (b) to the right of this (probably cut with a chisel) IIX X, interpreted as "18 10", or maybe the other way up as "22". This probably referes to a unit and a sub-division. (c) Four vertical cuts where the neck guard meets the helmet, at the angle. Their meaning is unknown but may represent an ownership mark.
There are a number of fittings on the helmet. (a) A domed copper alloy stud on the lower part of the right hand side of the wreath. (b) A copper alloy spike with a washer around it in the centre of the Catherine wheel. (c) A copper alloy loop in the centre of the nape of the neck, just above the angle where it meets the neckguard. (d) A plume holder immediately above the left ear. This is crudely made and may be a later addition.
References:
Robinson, H.R. (1975), "The Armour of Imperial Rome", (Arms & Armour Press), p.114, No.318-9
Curle, J. (1911), "A Roman frontier post and its people: the Roman Fort at Newstead", (Glasgow).
Manning, W., (2005), "The Newstead Parade Helmet", in N. Crummy (Ed), "Image, Craft and the Classical World. Essays in honour of Donald Bailey and Catherine Johns. (Monograph Instrumentum 29), (Montagnac), pp.119-141.
