H.R.Robinson Helmet Typology

[M. Demetrius]

WARNING: this is an opinion expressed by a non-expert in the Field of Everything, who also happens to be a Texan. Strike two-and-a-half.

It's clear that the naming of Gallic-x and Imperial Italic-y is deficient, since the lettering system no longer is sequential with reference to date of manufacture.

The system of naming helmets by the place they were excavated is hard for the outsider to discern, also. Some of us have no idea where the town or fort is, let alone how that might relate to a particular quarter of some long-ago century.



So is there a suggestion or a plan for renaming or otherwise organizing the growing array of helmets?

All of us who buy replicas, study the helmets by way of print and photo, or want to discuss or organize the various helmets by date would be benefited by some new criteria. Sometimes a hypothetical Gallic-Q turns out to be merely another Madrid helmet, and from looking only at the photo, one might not realize that the two are one and the same. By having an agreed-upon nomenclature, clearly the experts and archeologists would likewise benefit, seems to me.

However, finding agreement and consensus on method might be a monumental struggle in its own right.