11-30-2009, 10:39 PM
For any classification system to be workable/useful it should be (a) unambiguous, (b) easily understood, © not rely on subjective criteria, (d) flexible and (e) not use reference points that are vague or obscure. There may be more things that could be added here, but you get the idea.
The advantage of using a letter is that it immediately keys to the criteria. "U" obviously means 'unknown', "Y" means 'yes', "N" means 'no' and so on. "3" wouldn't mean a thing without the crib beside you.
The disadvantage in using find spots comes under several headings. It isn't unambiguous, for example. There is a considerable overlap between the Montefortino and the Coolus types. There would be interminable arguements about where one type finishes and the other starts (as there are already). If it's made of copper alloy, has a brow guard and has a hemispherical helmet bowl, then it doesn't matter whether you think it came from Italy or France - you've typed it and now know what it looks like. If it is all those things but is made of iron, then it's something else - and so on. It also comes under (e); if you don't know exactly what a "Montefortino-Canosa" type is, you're stymied!
The HRR 'system', as has been mentioned here elsewhere before, suffers from its problems (but fewer than the 'first find spot' one does, IMO). If you want to describe "something completely different", then you need to get away from what he was using where this has proved to be dodgy. Dates are one of the prblem and an assumption that there was a developmental track that can be traced as a result of this. Wrong assumptions are another. Were helmets of a particular 'type' actually worn by cavalry or infantry? In other words, does it really, really, matter whether it's a cavalry or an infantry helm? If it doesn't - then there is no point in including this in your list of criteria, IMO.
One of the advantages of a mnemonic system is that, once the thing is up and working, you can use a spreadsheet and then tell it to 'sort' the entries. What this will do is group all the helmets with particular criteria together. You can then use this to refine the system, should it prove to be defective in some way (so, e.g. if you hadn't put the metal at the beginning, you would find that some of the IGs would end up mixed in with the Coolus types - because they would both have hemispherical bowls, with a brown guard and horizontal neck guards). I know this works for samian pottery ovolos, because I've done it - but the mnemonic is far shorter than what we are looking at here, with only around 7 'terms' in it.
Caratacus
(Dr Mike Thomas)
The advantage of using a letter is that it immediately keys to the criteria. "U" obviously means 'unknown', "Y" means 'yes', "N" means 'no' and so on. "3" wouldn't mean a thing without the crib beside you.
The disadvantage in using find spots comes under several headings. It isn't unambiguous, for example. There is a considerable overlap between the Montefortino and the Coolus types. There would be interminable arguements about where one type finishes and the other starts (as there are already). If it's made of copper alloy, has a brow guard and has a hemispherical helmet bowl, then it doesn't matter whether you think it came from Italy or France - you've typed it and now know what it looks like. If it is all those things but is made of iron, then it's something else - and so on. It also comes under (e); if you don't know exactly what a "Montefortino-Canosa" type is, you're stymied!
The HRR 'system', as has been mentioned here elsewhere before, suffers from its problems (but fewer than the 'first find spot' one does, IMO). If you want to describe "something completely different", then you need to get away from what he was using where this has proved to be dodgy. Dates are one of the prblem and an assumption that there was a developmental track that can be traced as a result of this. Wrong assumptions are another. Were helmets of a particular 'type' actually worn by cavalry or infantry? In other words, does it really, really, matter whether it's a cavalry or an infantry helm? If it doesn't - then there is no point in including this in your list of criteria, IMO.
One of the advantages of a mnemonic system is that, once the thing is up and working, you can use a spreadsheet and then tell it to 'sort' the entries. What this will do is group all the helmets with particular criteria together. You can then use this to refine the system, should it prove to be defective in some way (so, e.g. if you hadn't put the metal at the beginning, you would find that some of the IGs would end up mixed in with the Coolus types - because they would both have hemispherical bowls, with a brown guard and horizontal neck guards). I know this works for samian pottery ovolos, because I've done it - but the mnemonic is far shorter than what we are looking at here, with only around 7 'terms' in it.
Caratacus
(Dr Mike Thomas)
visne scire quod credam? credo orbes volantes exstare.
