Roman legionary helmet found in Russia

[Imperial Dave]

https://www.relicsww2.net/roman-legionary-helmet-found-in-russia/

wow....

[Jim Webster]

https://www.relicsww2.net/roman-legionary-helmet-found-in-russia/

wow....

When you stop to think about it, it's not all that far from the Crimea, where we know there were Roman Garrisons. No one appears quite sure how much of the Sea of Azov was included in Roman territory

Jim

[Duncan Head]

Doesn't say what it's made of, though the "remains" photo looks like iron with copper-alloy trim.

The helmet is of the Celtic type, which was common in the 1st-2nd centuries BC.

So why are they sure it is Roman and not Celtic, especially given that date? I can't see anything definitive from the "remains" photo (since clearly neither the intact helmet in the first pic and the drawing are the newly-found helmet). If that helmet date is correct, it's very early for a Roman presence. Mithridatic, now ...

[Jim Webster]

The problem is there aren't a lot of clues to age in the text. " Having removed the top layer of the earth, they accidentally stumbled upon several metal plates. " We've got fields where that would take you straight back to the bronze age. There again, the top layer might be inches or feet!

[Erpingham]

Can't find many things about this helmet online.  It isn't a recent find - there are news items from 2012 about its discovery. 

I'm also a bit confused by it.  The broken bits are clearly of an iron helmet - the 2012 report says iron with silver fittings.

The picture heading the article seems to be an intact bronze helmet.  This picture is common on pinterest as a Roman helmet found near Rostov, so fits the article but not the picture of the excavated helmet.  I suspect a Russian source has used a stock photo in the past and it has been wrongly attached ever since.  However, I have come across the abstract of an academic paper from 2019

A. V. Boyko, A. V. Dedyulkin (Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation)
Roman Helmet from the Nizhnesazonov Farm in Historical and Archaeological Context

The article is about the Montefortino-type helmet from the Nizhnesazonov Farm. For the first time, the article presents some archival documents regarding the circumstances and the context, in which the helmet was found. The results of the Xray study are presented. The authors suggest that a similar helmet from Sergievskaya was a part of a trophy erected on the battlefield. The authors review the historical context of the erection of the trophy, associated with the victories of Pontus's army during the Mithridatic Wars. For the first time, the article presents a rare helmet of Dahovskaya-Mezmai group, reworked from Montefortino-type helmet by a local armorer from the Western Caucasus. The helmet from the Nizhnesazonov Farm was found in the river water context and it may have been a sacrificial offering, the same as votive deposits from Western and Central Europe.

This is a different helmet (see pictures here ) though - nor is it the bronze helmet in the heading picture.

The fun you can have on the internet

[Imperial Dave]

glad you had fun Anthony