Grave of a Gallic warrior in Britain?

[Duncan Head]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/07/22/real-life-asterix-fought-caesar-found-amid-trove-weapons-possessions/
https://www.chichester.co.uk/news/people/the-2-000-year-old-mystery-warrior-in-pictures-1-9009022?page=1

A West Sussex burial contains sword, helmet, and a rather flash openwork helmet crest, thought to be from Gaul.

[Duncan Head]

There is now an exhibition about this guy, which of course none of us can go and see, at the Novium Museum - "Mystery Warrior: the North Bersted Man". There is, however, quite a lot of interesting stuff on the website including a reconstruction painting and articles about the sword, the shield, the magnificent helmet, and so on. I was pointed to this by a piece in the latest Ancient Warfare magazine.

Our man may have grown up in eastern Britain or northern Gaul, but his helmet and sword at least are probably Continental, suggesting a Gaul; speculation, at least in the magazine piece, suggests that he might have been associated with Commius, the Atrebatian chief mentioned by Caesar who fled from Gaul to Britain. Skeletal evidence suggests that he was middle-aged, and used to handling weapons and riding horses. The burial includes the helmet with unique openwork crest, scabbarded sword, spearhead and shield-boss (no armour).

[Erpingham]

Nice set of stuff on the artefacts and reconstruction on the museum site.  I couldn't see the bit where it explained why they reconstructed him as left handed though.

[Imperial Dave]

I read the same article Duncan.  That us one very ornate helmet!

[Duncan Head]

I couldn't see the bit where it explained why they reconstructed him as left handed though.

In fact one piece specifically says that:

There were also marked differences in the size of the bones of his left and right forearms. His right arm was significantly larger, suggesting a preference for his right arm for repetitive or heavy exercise, such as holding and controlling a heavy sword.

So yes, unexplained.

[Jim Webster]

I read the same article Duncan.  That us one very ornate helmet!

He cannot have expected to wear that in battle surely?
Not with all that stuff added to it

[Duncan Head]

I couldn't see the bit where it explained why they reconstructed him as left handed though.

I've just looked through the video at https://www.thenovium.org/article/33794/The-Making-of-the-Mystery-Warrior and there are several shots where you can see computer graphics, work-in-progress on the reconstruction, which show him with the spear in his right hand. I wonder if the "left-handed" picture was a last-minute thing by some graphic designer who thought the poster would look better that way round.

[Imperial Dave]

I read the same article Duncan.  That us one very ornate helmet!

He cannot have expected to wear that in battle surely?
Not with all that stuff added to it

maybe maybe not. Just reference Zulu warriors and native American warriors going into battle for which we do have some very ornate battle attire...?

[Erpingham]

Yes, it looks like the original was right handed.  The problem, it seems to me, is that someone had decided the pose required without thinking about displaying the shield.  Clearly the need for the horse heading to the right (for design reasons?) outweighed the obvious answer of making a mirror image.