Faceguards on Celtic helmets?

[Oisin]

Hi all. I'm member of a Celtic unit that fights in Dagorhir and Belegarth, so we're not reinactors or living history, but we try to be as authentic as possible.

So, I've been sifting through the internet, some books I have, and what little archaeological stuff I can get access to at home, and I can't find any evidence for pre-Viking helmets with any sort of face mask, nose guard, anything. This is a problem, because I'm seriously considering a helmet, and I'd like a bit of protection against faceshots from arrows. (For those of you not familiar with our sport, our arrows are highly padded and safe, which means that they are one of the only weapons, with javelins, from which we allow headshots. Helmets are 100% protection against them. Playability over realism in the combat rules.)

My question is, then, does anyone have any examples of Celtic helmets with any sort of face protection? Late insular La Tene would I suppose be my first preference, but that's a bit picky. Basically, anything post-Bronze age and pre-Vikings, from any given Celtic area you like, would be a wonderful starting place. As an archaeology major, I've plenty of experience with how well artifacts can be traded around to various areas far from their place of manufacture, and the contact between different groups of what we call Celts was pretty high. For reference, though, our group is mostly Red Branch or Fenian period Irish.

Of course, there is a strong possibility that lacking any real examples I might just fudge a bit on it, but I'm kinda hoping not to have to . . .

[Robert Vermaat]

Hi Oisin, welcome to the forum.
Please add your real name to your signature - a forum rule.

I can't find any evidence for pre-Viking helmets with any sort of face mask, nose guard, anything. This is a problem . . .

Yes, I see. And no, afaik there are no pre-Roman helmets with nasals in the Celtic realm. However, there are early medieval Celtic helmets with nasals, such as this Pictish helmet:

[Oisin]

What helmet patterns were the Romans wearing in Britain in the 3rd and 4th century AD? Still the Gallic and Italic pattern helmets of the early empire, or were late empire patterns (Intercissa, say) showing up yet?

[Agraes]

As far I know, most helmets found in Britain from late antiquity/early middle ages are "anglo-saxons" spangelhelms, sometimes with vendel influence such as the famous Sutton Hoo helmet. We can however reasonnably think that the same late roman helms were used in Britain and the rest of the Empire. There is also the Burgh Castle helmet:


Irishmen did trade with Britain some roman artifacts, and they adopted the shape of the Imperial Gallic helmets to their own ends. Here a drawing of an irish warrior of the VIth century we used for my Rome Total War mod:
http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/7325 ... hta2zy.png

And here some stuff about gaelic warfare our gaelic "adviser" wrote that could interest you:
http://111935.aceboard.fr/111935-533-52 ... arfare.htm

As Gaels were very different from Latenian Celts.


Robert posted a part of it:

This is the aberlemno stone. Most popular theory is that it represents the battle of Dunnichen, where the Picts of Bridei III won a great victory against the Northumbrians, in 685 AD. There is however another theory, a bit more likely, this stone would comemore a battle between Picts and Strathclyders Britons - Britons were known as horsmen. Anyway, you can see the helm depicted.

[Robert Vermaat]

Well, keep in mind that this is REALLY the Burgh castle helmet, despite being the most popular Berkasovo-type Late Roman helmet, we actually don't know anything about the neck and cheek plates, nor if it had a hole for the ears:

There is also the Burgh Castle helmet:

[Lugorix]

Hi Oisin,

Late LaTene helms like you asked for are varied, depending on where in Europe you look. Insular helms are rare, nearly non-existent, which might have been because of some cultural trait and not for lack of skill or wealth. Instead of a nasal or face guard, there were late Celtic helms with brims. Imagine them being as effective as kettle helms popular among medieval archers. Though I'm not implying any lineage here.

Here are some examples:

[Andrew Brozyna]

Lugorix,

Can you tell me about the bottom two helmet images in your post. I have seen the bird motif cheek guard alone illustrated in Peter Connoly's books and have wondered where it came from.