The Viking Gjermundbu Helmet

[Skywizard]

What is it?
The Gjermundbu Helmet dates to about AD 970. It is the only complete example of a Viking helmet yet discovered, and was found beneath a burial mound on a farm in Norway, broken into nine pieces. The helmet was designed with a horizontal rim that went around the head, attached to which were two vertical strips, one extending from ear to ear, the other from the front of the head to the back. Protective iron plates were riveted onto this framework. It probably would have had an aventail (a chainmail neck guard) but none was found.
Where was it found and when?
The discovery was made in 1943 at Gjermundbu, a site that is just outside the village of Haugsbygd in the Ringerike municipality of Norway. In fact, two rich Viking burials were uncovered there, named Gjermundbu and Gjermundbu II. Excavations revealed a huge number of Viking warrior gravegoods. In addition to the helmet, these included spears, axes, swords, shields, and a chainmail shirt, all of which were dated to the second half of the 10th century.
Why it matters
Few remains of Viking Age helmets survive in the archaeological record. Maybe they were considered heirlooms and passed down from father to son, rather than being buried with the dead. The Gjermundbu helmet is similar in design to the pre-Viking helmets that were found in the 6th- to 8th-century AD Swedish Vendel burials. These feature a rounded cap with the spectacled-face guard, and mail aventails, a design that was common across Anglo-Saxon, Frank, and Slav cultures, and often embellished by decorations to depict individual warriors. Such ornamentation disappeared in later periods, in favour of a simpler standardised conical helmet with a nosepiece. There is no evidence that Vikings wore horned or winged helmets into battle. Horned helmets did exist in pre-Viking Nordic and Germanic cultures, but for ceremonial use only. The enduring image of horned-helmeted Vikings probably stemmed from a misinterpretation of evidence, popularised in 19th-century Romanticism, and taken up by the German costume-designer Carl Emil Doepler for the Viking characters in Wagner’s operatic version of the Nibelungenlied, thus embedding the image in popular culture of the time.

Source: http://www.world-archaeology.com/gre...dbu-helmet.htm



peace...

[MorningSong]

I find the form of this helmet quite interesting.... closely placed slanted eyes, crest on the skull... it looks like it was modelled, not to appear human, but something else... like, to mimic "the gods"... hmmmm.