From Greek Boar’s-Tusk Helmets to the First European Metal Helmets: New Approaches on Development and Chronology

Marianne Mödlinger Oxford Journal of Archaeology 32:4 (November 2013): 391-412.

Abstract

After more than a century of research into Bronze Age helmets throughout Europe, both the development and chronology of conical helmets with spool-shaped sockets still remain unclear. The comprehensive studies and analysis of the helmet from Biecz have not completely resolved the discussions. Other helmets, when not solitary finds, have been usually dated according to their alleged associations in a hoard but have never been extensively discussed as a single helmet type of one date range. By introducing to the discussion a Greek bronze helmet with incised boar’s tusks as well as those boar’s-tusk helmets with bronze cheek plates, more light is shed on the development and chronology of these very first European bronze helmets.