The Waterloo Helmet, also called the Waterloo Bridge Helmet, is a bronze ceremonial helmet from pre-Roman Celtic times. It has a special type of decoration called repoussé, which is part of the La Tène style. The helmet is about 150 to 50 BC old. It was discovered in 1868 in the River Thames near Waterloo Bridge in London, England. Today, it is displayed at the British Museum in London.

Discovery

The helmet was found in the River Thames near Waterloo Bridge in 1868. In March of that year, the Thames Conservancy gave the helmet to the British Museum. In 1988, the Port of London Authority, which replaced the Thames Conservancy, donated the helmet to the British Museum.

Description

The main part of the helmet is made from two bronze sheets. One sheet forms the front, and the other forms the back. These sheets are joined together using rivets on the sides and top. A separate bronze piece shaped like a crescent is attached to the bottom of the front sheet with rivets. Two bronze horns shaped like cones, each with a knob at the end, are riveted to the top of the helmet. A decorative strip with a row of rivets covers the place where the front and back sheets are joined. This strip also wraps around the base of the horns. At the ends of the strip, on both sides of the helmet, there are rings used to attach a chin-strap or cheekpiece. Small holes are found around the bottom edge of the helmet. These holes may have been used to attach a lining.

The helmet has six bronze studs. One of these is missing, with three located on the front and three on the back. Each stud has cross-shaped marks, which suggest they were meant to hold red glass enamel studs. However, these enamel pieces are no longer present.

The helmet also features repoussé decoration in the La Tène style on both the front and back. This design is similar to the decoration found on the Snettisham Great Torc.

Purpose

The helmet was made from thin bronze sheets, so it was too fragile for battle. It was likely used for ceremonies or parades. This is similar to Iron Age bronze shields, which were not strong enough to stop weapons and were only used for display. Another idea is that the helmet was too small for most adult men and might have been worn by a wooden statue of a Celtic god. It is believed that the Waterloo Helmet and shields like the Battersea Shield and Witham Shield were found in rivers because people threw them in as gifts to the gods.

Importance

The Waterloo Helmet is one of only three Iron Age helmets discovered in England and the only horned helmet from the Iron Age found anywhere in Europe. Other examples of people wearing horned helmets appear in artwork from other parts of Europe during the same time period. For example, carvings on the triumphal arch in Orange, France, created around 55 BC, show Gauls wearing horned helmets. These helmets have realistic, curved bull horns with an upright wheel placed between them, which is different from the Waterloo Helmet. The Waterloo Helmet has straight, conical horns with a wide base that look like simplified animal horns.

A similar image appears on the Gundestrup cauldron from Denmark, made in the 1st century BC. This artwork shows a person wearing a horned helmet and holding a wheel. The helmet in this image has curved horns like those on the triumphal arch in Orange, but the horns are not pointed. Instead, they have rounded ends. Another example is a carving at Brague, near Antibes in France, which also shows people wearing horned helmets.

Even though many ancient artworks show people wearing horned helmets, the Waterloo Helmet is the only real example of such a helmet from the Iron Age. Other Iron Age helmets, like the Canterbury helmet and the Meyrick Helmet from northern Britain, do not have horns. However, the unique design of the Waterloo Helmet has influenced modern artistic depictions of Iron Age people, who are often shown wearing horned helmets. Miranda Aldhouse-Green, a professor of archaeology at Cardiff University, has noted that the Waterloo Helmet has become a common feature in many popular images of ancient British warriors.