A partially excavated Roman helmet viewed in 3D
In 2000 the Hallaton Fieldwork Group and University of Leicester Archaeological Services discovered a large collection of Roman artefacts in southeast Leicestershire. Most of the items discovered date to just before the Roman Conquest. The site of the find proved to be an internationally important ritual site dating to the generations before and after the Roman Conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD.
Amongst the 5,000 silver and gold coins, jewellery and many other objects found, archaeologists discovered a unique iron with silver gilt decoration Roman parade helmet, which would have been worn by a very high ranking cavalry officer in the Roman army. The helmet was purchased by Leicestershire County Council with Heritage Lottery Funding. It was excavated, documented and conserved at the British Museum before going on display for the first time in the Hallaton Treasure exhibition at Harborough Museum, which opened in autumn 2009.
Detailed excavation of the helmet revealed the image of an emperor on horseback on one cheek piece. Conservators at the British Museum asked Conservation Technologies at National Museums Liverpool to scan the helmet to provide a 3D document of the find during excavation and conservation. Conservation Technologies used a portable, non-contact Konica Minolta Range 7 close range laser scanning system to produce a highly accurate 3D computer model of the partially exposed helmet.
Have a look at images of the excavation and the 3D computer model of the helmet in the image gallery.
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