In 1868 Workers Were Dredging This River When They Discovered an Incredible 2,000 - Year - Old relic

It's 1868 and London's River Thames is a sewage filled snake winning through the overcrowded city to make it easier for Commercial ships to pass the authorities order the dredging of its murky waters But beneath the surface they discover something that hasn't seen the light of day for 2,000 years The story begins in Victorian England when the country's capital city was home to some 3.5 million people 10 years before the discovery in 1858 the great stink had turned the banks of the Thames into a horror show with warm weather exacerbating the stench of human and industrial wastes to almost unbearable levels Wary of the spread of disease the authorities began to focus on directing sewage away from the river meanwhile, the newly formed Thames Conservancy charged with the rivers upkeep worked to keep the waters in line with the demands of commercial shipping and in order to accommodate the newer wider vessels It was necessary to dredge the river in early 1868 Dredging work was taking place in the Thames with the aim of improving its navigation Apparently much of the material removed from the riverbed went on to be used as ballast to stabilize boats However, there was one discovery that definitely didn't find its way to the local shipyard while working on the Thames riverbed workers stumbled across something remarkable It was a bronze helmet with two conical horns, unlike anything that had been discovered in the region before Forged from two separate sheets of metal one for the front and one for the back It was held together by a series of neat rivets Interestingly both sides of the helmet were decorated in the repr style a type of creative process that involves hammering the back of a metal sheet in order to create a relief pattern Using this ancient technique the Browns had been embossed with a striking design apparently the designs were in the style of the Lawton culture and Iron Age people who lived in Britain from 250 250 BC furthermore the helmet was adorned with 5.broan the studs with space for a missing sixth according to experts the embellishments had once housed decorations crafted from glass that had been colored red In addition to the main body of the helmet some additional parts had been riveted on to create the finished piece beneath the front sheet a Sickle shaped section of Browns had been added while binding and clips had been used to strengthen the edges of the cap meanwhile, each horn had been crafted from a single sheet of copper alloy and capped with a terminal stud on neither side the Helmet was equipped with circular fittings. Perhaps designed to hold a cheek piece or a type of chin strap and Connecting the two fixtures was a row of decorative rivets running across the helmet and circling the base of both horns Finally the edges were punctuated by a number of small holes Which might once have held a liner in place? By the time that the helmet was retrieved from the river the Browns had turned a dull shade of green however, at one time it would have been polished to a bright lien and at almost two feet and circumference with a weight of some twenty ounces It must have been a very impressive piece in March 1868 the thames Conservancy loaned the discovery to the British Museum and over the years Experts have been able to piece together a picture of who might have created the helmet and why? Apparently they believe that in dates from around 150 250 BC towards the latter part of Britain's Iron Age Interestingly the helmet is too thin and delicate to have had any useful protective purpose instead Most believe that it was created to be used in ceremonies Moreover the cap part of the piece is small in size making it unlikely to have been worn by a grown warrior Alternatively, it may have been created to sit on a statues head dubbed the Waterloo helmet This piece has come to occupy a unique position in British archaeology in fact It is only the third helmet from the Iron Age ever to be found on English soil along with the Merrik helmet Discovered in the armory of an 18th century collector and the Canterbury helmet retrieved from a meadow in Kent in 2012 However, neither of these other helmets have horns In fact, the Waterloo helmet is the only Iron Age helmet with horns to ever be discovered in Europe Despite the fact that make a number of appearances in contemporary art work across the region For example a 55 BC carving and orange France depicts men wearing horned helmets Although they are curved rather than straight similarly a cauldron discovered and gun to strip Denmark in 1891 is decorated with a figure wearing another horned helmet Apparently the fine dates to around 150 BC However, these horns are also curved although they terminate and rounded knobs rather than points Just like those on the Waterloo helmet Even though the Waterloo helmet is the only known example of its kind its aesthetic has had a wide reaching impact on artistic depictions of the era in fact It is now common for Iron Age men to be shown wearing horned helmets Despite there being little evidence to suggest they were commonplace bizarrely the helmet isn't the only archaeological anomaly that has been recovered from Britain's riverbeds over the years in fact in 1857 just over a decade before the Waterloo helmets discovery Another startling discovery was made by workers dredging the Thames this time in the vicinity of London's Chelsea bridge dubbed the Battersea shield This decorated sheet of bronze is often regarded as one of the most remarkable examples of the IRA's Craftsmanship ever discovered in britain again designed in the lon 10 style. It is thought to date from 350 250 BC making it potentially even older than the Waterloo helmet even earlier than that in 1827 another shield was recovered from the river with him in Lincolnshire, England Some 150 miles north of the River Thames Thought to date to the around 400 BC this piece also boasts the familiar law Ten flowers ishes Additionally it once bore a leather emblem in the shape of a wild boar But is there any connection between these Iron Age discoveries retrieved from rivers many miles apart? According to some experts the location of these pieces implies that they were once tossed into the water as religious offerings But if that was indeed the Waterloo helmets original purpose. It is now enjoying a second lease of life in 1988 it was permanently gifted to the British Museum where it remains on display to this day