Antaeus - Communicationes ex Instituto Archaeologico Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 24. (A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Régészeti Intézetének közleményei, 1997-1998)

László Kocsis: A cavalry sports helmet find from Albertfalva

The other end of the series is closed by the type 19 with decorated brow plate, of which an almost intact example is known from Rusovce/Oroszvár (Ge­­rulata)20 (Fig. 3. 1). In case of this type disappears the crest and the mask, made with the raised relief technique, from the top of the bowl, and the face-helmet is substituted with a cheek piece. The well known representation of the eagle, also appears on the cheek-piece of the Gerulata copper-alloy helmet. The decoration here is not a simple repoussé work but a raised relief, showing the eagle emerging spectacularly from the flat background of the cheek-piece. On these copper-alloy helmets the gleaming surface of the raised decoration, shining like gold, was con­trasted by the white coating of the background. This polychromy increased the general impression brought about by the embellishment. Although, as for its shape, our cheek-piece is almost identical with the pieces applied on auxiliary cavalry helmet types,21 judging from its ornaments and cop­per-alloy material, it still belongs to the category of parade helmets.22 Due to the small number of helmets considered so far, we cannot say never­theless, which type of bowls could bear the Albertfalva cheek-piece. Both the bowl of the Theilenhofen helmet23 with a brow plate and a crest, decorated with a raised relief, and the bowl type of the Guisborough24 helmet (Fig. 3. 3) with a decorated brow plate alone, could be brought into consideration. Thus, according to the typology of Robinson, the Albertfalva cheek-piece represents a transitional form between the types H-I of the cavalry sports helmets. On the basis of the comparable material at our disposal we may date the manufacture and use of our cheek-piece to the période between the end of the 2nd and the middle of the 3rd century. REFERENCES Barkóczi 1954 - L. Barkóczi: Római díszsisak Szdnybdl. FolArch 6 (1954) 45-48. Borhy 1990 - L. Borhy: Zwei neue Parde-Brustplatten im Un­garischen Nationalmuseum. BVbl 55 (1990) 299-307. 19 The eponymous piece of this type is known from Guisborough. See: Robinson 1975 132-133, 391-393. 20 See: Snopko 1980 249. According to the description of the author, the helmet had been found among the remains of a heating system. On the basis of the ceramics found together with the helmet, the latter was dated to the lst-2nd centuries, although the author admitted, that the other part of the finds are dated to the période before 230. The excavator insists on his early dating in his further publications as well. See: Snopko 1986 13. This helmet type first appears at the end of the 2nd century, and is still in use during the first half of the 3rd century. 21 Robinson 1975 89-106. 22 From the inscriptions found on the Theilenhofen helmet, giving informations about its temporary owner and his unit, we can establish unambiguously, that it was not an officer’s helmet. See: Klumbach - Wämser 1978 58. 23 Garbsch dated the helmet to the second half of the 2nd century. See: Garbsch 1978 55. According to Robinson the type of the helmet is dated to the 3rd century. See: Robinson 1975 131. 24 The age of the helmet is the first part of the 3rd century. See: Robinson 1975 133; Garbsch 1978 73.

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