London, Jan.11 (ANI): Historians have pieced together a 2,000-year-old Roman cavalry helmet 10 years after its discovery in an Iron Age shrine and claim that it sheds new light on the conquest of Britain.
Experts at the British Museum have painstakingly restored the helmet and its cheek pieces from 1,000 small fragments over three years.
Constructed of sheet iron, the helmet, once decorated with gold leaf, is the only one to have been found in Britain with its silver gilt plating intact and is also one of the earliest ever found in Britain, the Daily Mail reports.
The helmet was unearthed in a Leicestershire field and metals conservation expert Marilyn Hockey began unearthing the fragments out of a 'big lump of soil' at the British Museum three years ago.
She said: 'Working our way down this enormous lump of clay, we discovered at the bottom some amazing finds ... the emperor cheek piece told us it was something really special.
'To get something straight out of the soil like this is like gold. You can find out so much from it.'
The helmet features several scenes of Roman military victory, including the bust of a woman flanked by lions and a Roman emperor on horseback with the goddess Victory flying behind while a cowering figure, possibly a native Briton, is being trampled under his horse's hooves.
It is believed to have been buried in the years around the emperor Claudius's invasion of Britain in AD43.
Experts claim there is a 'distinct possibility' that it belonged to a Briton serving in the Roman cavalry before the conquest of Britain. (ANI)
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