10-20-2012, 10:15 PM
A quick reply to the pat immediately preceding...
Yes they were cast, especially in the later iterations. Then hammering to draw out the shape. The earliest helmets found gave rise to the 'hammered out of a thin sheet' as this was the way they initially made them. But the shapes were not complex and allowed that technique to be used. By the later stages hammering would have been difficult and more left as a finishing treatment to the helmet. The alloy had one commonality from early to late helmets and was distinctly found only in helmets. By the late types the bronze is so specific that it is nearly immune to any hammering! Even today this class of bronze alloy if made, is impossible to flatten into sheet. It must be cast.
Yes they were cast, especially in the later iterations. Then hammering to draw out the shape. The earliest helmets found gave rise to the 'hammered out of a thin sheet' as this was the way they initially made them. But the shapes were not complex and allowed that technique to be used. By the later stages hammering would have been difficult and more left as a finishing treatment to the helmet. The alloy had one commonality from early to late helmets and was distinctly found only in helmets. By the late types the bronze is so specific that it is nearly immune to any hammering! Even today this class of bronze alloy if made, is impossible to flatten into sheet. It must be cast.
Michael
