05-20-2014, 10:16 AM
Quote:what I found that this helmet is ultra light weight, and between the two heads of the cupids there is a tiny crack that reveals the bowl is only about 5 thousands of an inch thick in its upper area that I have marked.Brian is right, these things are very light.
This is due to the fact the bowl was beaten out and the peek and neck guard are about 0.6 to 0.9 mm then the bowl thins out very much in its centre area.
When we scanned the Crosby Garret Helmet recently we also weighed it and the Ribchester helmet. CGH is slightly under, and Ribby slightly over, 1.3kg. Compare that with the Depeeka replica of the latter which is something like 4kg IIRC (which could pretty much stop a round from an 88, never mind a dummy javelin!).
The argument about field of vision, which I said was the clincher, has to be taken in the context of all the other considerations -- Arrian describing the existence of battle and sports helmets, the two types being found together in grave deposits, and the flimsiness of face-mask helmets. They are all about spectacle and little to do with combat, as the vestigial neckguards make abundantly clear.
Mike Bishop
