A treasure trove of metallic artifacts, together with a bronze Roman navy helmet in an “extraordinary state of preservation,” has been recovered from the underside of the Mediterranean Sea, researchers say.
The helmet was possible misplaced within the Battle of the Egadi Islands (often known as the Aegates Islands) within the First Punic Struggle in 241 B.C.
In August 2024, a staff of divers from the Society for the Documentation of Submerged Websites found the helmet, together with about 30 different metallic artifacts, whereas investigating the realm the place the traditional battle occurred, in line with a translated assertion printed Sept. 5 by the Sicilian Area, the regional authorities of Sicily.
“The ‘Montefortino’ helmet is among the most lovely and full ever recovered,” Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, regional councillor for cultural heritage, stated within the assertion.
This type of helmet was launched to the Romans by the Celts and was a preferred armor alternative from the fourth century B.C. by means of the primary century A.D. Notably, the Montefortino-style helmet has a small knob on the highest the place plumes had been connected. It additionally had a projecting invoice, like a contemporary baseball hat, and hinged cheek plates. At the least six different helmets have been recovered from the Egadi Islands and are additionally considered related to the Punic Struggle battle.
On March 10, 241 B.C., the traditional city-state of Carthage (positioned in modern-day Tunis, Tunisia) and Rome engaged within the Battle of the Aegates, the Latin title for the islands off the west coast of Sicily. In response to the traditional historian Polybius, though the Carthaginians outnumbered the Roman military, the Romans had been higher educated and defeated them. Consequently, Carthage surrendered Sicily, and the First Punic Struggle got here to an finish after 23 years.
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Final yr, a Roman “rostrum” — a naval battering ram that will have been connected to the bow of a warship — was additionally cleaned and studied. This revealed a brand new inscription linking the ram with Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, a Roman Justice of the Peace in the course of the First Punic Struggle.
When researchers used CT scans to analyze the roughly 30 newly found metallic artifacts coated in rust, they recognized swords, spears and javelins that they imagine had been used within the 241 B.C. battle. The metallic objects might have ended up within the sea after a Roman ship was captured by the Carthaginians.
A number of Montefortino helmets had been beforehand found together with naval battering rams close to the Egadi Islands. Archaeologist William Murray instructed Dwell Science in 2019 that the Carthaginian troopers who captured a Roman ship might have jettisoned heavy tools overboard in a useless try to flee the Roman navy. However one other risk, in line with Murray, is that the Carthaginians employed mercenaries from Gaul and Iberia, who’re additionally identified to have worn Montefortino helmets.
“This was the commonest sort of helmet at the moment,” Jeffrey Royal, an unbiased archaeologist who was not concerned within the new analysis however who has discovered a number of comparable helmets from the Battle of the Aegates, instructed Dwell Science in an electronic mail. “The wonderful thing about this one is it appears the cheek items had been discovered with it; most of ours had been scattered,” Royal stated.
