The Hallaton Helmet
The Hallaton Helmet is part of the following collections: The Hallaton Treasure.
Found as part of the Hallaton Treasure, the helmet was buried at a native British shrine around the time of the Roman invasion of Britain which began in AD 43. This is a unique helmet which would have been worn by a Roman cavalry officer of high status.
The helmet has been reconstructed by conservators after suffering deterioration during burial. It is made of iron covered with very thin silver-gilt sheet which features beautiful designs on its surfaces created using a hammering technique called repoussé.
The decorated silver-gilt plating is of the highest quality. The helmet’s bowl features a wreath made of leaves, the symbol of a military triumph and the peaked brow-guard features the striking bust of a woman flanked by lions and rams.
The helmet would have originally had two cheekpieces hinged at the side to protect the side of the face. These survive separately as they are too fragile to re-attach to the helmet. The cheekpieces depict a Roman emperor on horseback with the goddess Victory flying behind. Beneath his horse’s hooves is a cowering figure, a defeated enemy.
What the native Iron Age people who buried this helmet make of this image of Roman dominance we do not know. Did they identify with the defeated foe or triumphant horseman? Does this suggest the local population were pro-Roman and received this helmet as a diplomatic gift of thanks to seal an alliance? It is an intriguing mystery but research is ongoing.
Highlights
The Hallaton helmet
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The helmet's brow-guard
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Discovery
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Ear
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The British Museum
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Excavating the helmet
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3D scanning the helmet
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The Hallaton helmet
The helmet has been painstakingly pieced together for display at Harborough Museum. It is 80% complete and any gaps have been filled to give it strength. 2000 years ago the helmet’s silver surface would have gleamed beautifully. Certain parts of the design, were probably covered with gold leaf.
The helmet's brow-guard
The helmet’s brow-guard The helmet’s brow-guard has a large female figure in the centre flanked by lions and rams. She is probably a Roman goddess or empress. The brow-guard is the most delicate part of the helmet because the silver sheet is placed directly on top of a thick sandy filler which is placed on top of the iron core. This makes the brow-guard impressive but also provides a thick, impact-resistant layer.
Discovery
The helmet was buried with pig remains and coins, suggesting this was not a hasty burial but a deliberate act like the other deposits at the shrine. A large hoard of coins was also buried next to the helmet.
Ear
A few fragments were picked off the surface of the helmet pit, including this ‘ear,’ and taken back to the University of Leicester. Archaeologists confirmed that this was part if a Roman cavalry helmet.
The British Museum
The British Museum The helmet deposit was too fragile to excavate on site so was lifted in a block for micro-excavation by conservators at the British Museum who spent many years on this task.
Excavating the helmet
By 2011 the conservators had removed all the helmet remains from the soil block. They revealed a helmet bowl (the part that sits on the head) and seven cheekpieces.
3D scanning the helmet
The helmet remains were fragile so the conservation team asked National Museums Liverpool to scan the block part way through micro-excavation so that valuable information could be retained.
In 2022 Design Futures Group scanned the reassembled helmet and cheekpieces, and created a composite 3D model showing them together for the first time.
