It was now possible to see that the cheek piece is decorated with embossed cabled borders which divide it into zones; there is a rosette in the central area. An ear extension in the top right-hand corner defines this as a helmet worn by a cavalryman. There would originally have been an iron backing to give added protection to the soldier's face as the thin sheet of copper alloy by itself would offer almost none.
On the inside of the cheek guard is the faint impression of a number XII. We do not know the significance of this number; it might simply have been inscribed by the owner to show which helmet was his.
Comparison with other helmets suggests that this one might date to the late 1st or early 2nd century, when the Ninth Legion was in York. But we are left, as ever, with questions. Did this helmet once belong to a cavalryman or a mounted messenger attached to the foot soldiers of the legion? Was the rest of the helmet damaged in some fracas with the native population? How did it come to end its days in a drain in one corner of the fortress? We can never know, but such objects provide a link with their previous owners and, in this case, to the turbulent beginnings of York's history.
Find number 88, 1985-6.22,
catalogue no.6528. Length 190, W.132.5, T.0.5mm.
For more information see The Archaeology
of York 17/10, Finds from the Fortress by H.E.M. Cool, G. Lloyd-Morgan
and A.D. Hooley (1995).
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