Monday 22 November 2010

Crosby Garrett: Compare

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As I have previously mentioned on this blog, there has been some interesting discussion of the Crosby Garrett helmet on the Roman Army Talk forum. This post Re: The Crosby Garrett helmet caught my eye because I was suggesting here when I first saw it that the find had a 'Balkan' look to it. It seems worth sharing the information it contains. It is by "last roman" (don't you just love those cutesy screen names?) and was posted yesterday:
Decebalus wrote:It was mentioned in the previous posts that the helmet looks Bulgarian/of Balcan origin and it is interesting to note that of the six known helmets of the Silistra-Type (to which the mask would belong [in Junkelmann's typology, part of Robinson's CSB]) two are from Bulgaria (Chatalka-CSB12 and Silistra-CSB06), two said to be from Bulgaria (Ex-Guttmann AG 449 and AG 813 [CSB08]), one from Serbia (Smederovo-CSB25) and one from the Netherlands (Roomburgh-CSB07).

Here is some pics of Roman helmet with mask from Chatalka /now exposed in Historical Museum of Stara Zagora/:
Click on the post's link to see the two photos and note the similiarities and differences with the RECONSTRUCTED Crosby Garrett helmet and then go back to the PAS website where the initial state of the object in fragments is shown (after the restoration process had begun).

How precisely was the reconstruction of the top of the helmet achieved? What alternative reconstructions were considered and rejected and why? Is the process of arriving at the form we see in Christie's catalogue described at all in the "restoration" report? I know the answer, but - since the picture of the reconstruction already functions in the public domain - I think this information should also be in the public domain. On the basis of reading the restorer's report [I am referring to the version dated 16th September 2010] one might well ask, what exactly are we looking at when we look at the RESTORED Crosby Garrett Helmet? Is the photo on the PAS website one of an accurate reconstruction or not? Were all the pieces at the disposal of Christie's from the same object?
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Vignette: Daily Mail

3 comments:

Mo said...

I also mentioned a Roman helmet that is displayed in a Bulgarian museum in my comment to your post about the Tullie House Museum on the 15th September.

The research that was done by Hilary Cool on the findings at Brougham suggests that some of the soldiers were from "Danubian Lands".

Regarding Hilary Cool's research I understand that the artefacts were kept until new methods enabled them to be studied in more detail.

So I can understand why it is better to not rush in. The Crosby Garrett Helmet was just basically tarted up to make the most money.

I notice that Lord Renfrew is not letting the issue of the Crosby Garrett Helmet go away. Neither am I.

Not being an archaeologist I did not know much about Lord Renfrew's background but I was interested to find that he had worked with Marija Gimbutienė.

Mo said...

I know that this is an old post and I hope that you pick this up.

Another Crosby Garrett type griffin has been found at Vindolanda

see

http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/01/14/vindolanda-excavators-close-to-hitting-jackpot-61634-27983605/

Mo said...

Further to my recent post this griffin appears to have turned up without a helmet. According to the article made by the same person that made the Crosby Garrett griffin!

 
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