03-26-2014, 01:12 PM
Quote:He actually says that 'most' were raised, so he suggests that some were not.
That is correct, he says "Most bronze Montefortino helmets were raised from one sheet. The processes involved are, similar, to those already described."
Most implies not all.
After saying that he seems to dismiss this very idea as later in the text he says this, "It has been suggested that certain Etruscan helmet forms (Egg 1988,244. ), most notably the heavy Negau helmets of type II, were pre-cast and subsequently reworked. However for the reasons outlined above (see chapter 1) this is thought by the author to be unlikely."
He then goes to explain why he feels casting was not used, "Not The least of these would seem to be lack of advantage in terms of time and cost saving if the armourer would have to go to the extent of not only making an original master copy, but also a new mould for each casting, running the ever present risk of such a thin casting (approximately only 2 mm. thick) failing, and then finally having to rework and decorate the item by hand. Certainly later Roman helmet production does not exhibit this precasting technique which would surely be likely if successful in view of their adoption of other mass-production techniques such as spinning (Paddock 1985,146-147. )."
Casting a bronze helmet into a semi-finished shape was not as uncommon as we once thought according to Manti, check out his work "Shiny helmets: investigation of tinning, manufacture and corrosion of Greek helmets (7th-5th c. BC)."
Joe Balmos
