This Is The Only Roman Helmet To Be Uncovered In Denmark, And It Belonged To A Chieftain Who Buried A Stash Of Supplies
Around 1,500 years ago, a chieftain buried a large stash of weapons and supplies, enough to equip a small army. Among the hidden items were swords, spears, lances, chainmail, and the only Roman helmet that had ever been found in Denmark.
Researchers from the Cultural Museum in Vejle discovered the site while conducting excavations in advance of the construction of a new motorway.
They have unearthed more than 100 weapons at Løsning Søndermark, a site located just northwest of a town in central Denmark called Hedensted.
“From the very first surveys, we knew this was going to be extraordinary, but the excavation has exceeded all our expectations,” said Elias Witte Thomasen, the leader of the excavation and an archaeologist at the Vejle Museums.
“The sheer number of weapons is astonishing, but what fascinates me most is the glimpse they provide into the societal structure and daily life of the Iron Age. We suddenly feel very close to the people who lived here 1,500 years ago.”
The collection of weapons was buried inside the ruins of two houses. The researchers think it was a massive sacrificial act.
Ancient residents took apart one of the houses and buried weapons in the hole that was left behind. During the construction of the other house, they buried even more weapons.
The site was first inhabited in the 1st century C.E. By the early 5th century, the settlement was home to some powerful people who had enough social and economic influence to assemble a group of warriors and participate in military campaigns. One of those individuals may have been the chieftain who buried the weapons.
The researchers made an exciting discovery a few months into the excavation. They used X-ray imaging to determine that two iron plates were parts of a Roman helmet.
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The pieces were a neck guard and a cheek guard from a crest helmet, which was a type of headwear used in the Roman Empire around the 4th century.
The site was located on the outskirts of the Roman Empire. Most of the people living in that area were farmers, although Julius Caesar wrote about violent Germanic warriors.
“The helmet may have belonged to a Germanic warlord who served in the Roman auxiliaries, bringing his personal equipment home after his service ended,” said Thomasen.
“Alternatively, it could have been looted from a Roman legionary in battles closer to the empire’s Germanic frontier and later brought to Jutland.”
The helmet is believed to date back to Denmark’s Late Iron Age. Roman helmets in southern Scandinavia are rare from this period. So far, no similar findings have been made.
Only two small pieces of the helmet were discovered because weapons and military equipment were often destroyed or lost in battle. As a result, they were almost never buried intact during rituals.
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