B&C3

[Urselius]

Or simply is it that we have a biased picture of ridge helmets because gold and silver are statistically more likely to survive than iron, and the reality is that gold and silver sheathes weren't as common as we may think?

Nevertheless, I am definitely looking forward to this new volume by MC Bishop.

Even if this were the case, why would the people who could afford silver sheathing buy cheap and nasty ridge helmets, when they could have purchased helmets with solid skulls? After all earlier generations of Roman officers appear to have worn Hellenistic and Attic helmets long after the rank and file had abandoned them. This suggests that the ridge helmet had a functional edge over the earlier single-piece skull types