encircled the head and probably projected in front. Additional support would be given by fastenings carried through the holes which are visible above the hinges for the cheek-pieces. The general arrangement suggests some such form of protection as we see in the helmet from Witcham Gravel. On the latter there was also a projecting flange, designed to protect the back of the ear. A specimen of such a flange (Plate XXXV., Fig. 10) was found in Pit XXII at Newstead with our iron helmet. But it does not seem to belong to it. It should be added that on the projecting rim at the back of the helmet, a rivet still holds in place part of a decorative plating of silver. Whether the whole surface had once been overlaid with this metal we cannot say with any certainty. But on general grounds it seems not improbable that it may have been. Traces of silver have been noted on a helmet of analogous form from Augsburg[1] and they can also be seen on the more highly decorated helmet found at Bettenberge in Wurtemberg, and possibly also on the Newstead visor-helmet of iron, to be described below.
The next two helmets, one of which is of iron, the other of brass, belong to a different type, both being highly decorated. Neither of them was provided with hanging cheek-pieces. Instead, the iron example has a visor-mask covering the whole face, and it is safe to say that, though now lost, a similar visor must once have belonged to the brass helmet. It will be convenient to take the latter first. All that remains to us of it is the head-piece (Plates XXVII. and XXVIII.). This has no mountings affixed to it. It is complete in itself, being beaten out of brass, which has retained its golden colour, so that the helmet is to-day as bright as when its Roman owner wore it. Above the forehead there rises a sharp peak three and five-eighths inches in length, while rims project on either side to cover the backs of the ears. Behind, as in the iron helmet already discussed, a rim one inch and five-eighths in width juts outwards to form a protection for the nape of the neck. On the outside of the helmet two small studs show at the base of the peak in front. One of these is the end of a rivet, the other the end of a small hook, which appear on the interior and which probably served for the attachment of the visor and perhaps also as catches for the lining. On the rivet a small piece of leather was actually found adhering.
The whole crown of this brass helmet is covered with an embossed design in high relief. On the back, a nude winged figure stands upright, driving a car to which are harnessed a pair of leopards. The charioteer grasps the reins
1 Forrer, 'Fund eines römischen Eisenhelmes,' Westdeutsche Zeitschrift, vol. xx. p. 110, Taf. 4.
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