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PRIMITIVE HELMETS (Read 3894 times)
Mauro Fiorentini
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PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Jan 20th, 2013 at 11:56am
 
Hallo people!
In the last few days I've been working at my fantasy helmet, and since it's the second I made, I wondered if such a topic would be of interest here.
Hence I'm going to show you my two helmets, the historical and the fantasy one.
Here we begin with the historical one.

... Front view.
... Right side.
... Back view.
...  Internal view.

This is my hypothesis of a 8th Century b.C. linen cap. It's made of 4 layers of linen glued and sawn together.
I've used carpenters glue and beewaxed cotton wire.
Various sources show this kind of helmet, or a very similar one. Sources I've used are:
Homerus' "Odyssey", a 8th Century b.C. copper cap find in Northern Italy, a 7th Century b.C. cap made of bark found in Southern Germany, representations in pottery and stele found in Region Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche and dating from the 6th to the 3rd Century b.C. Plus a lot of modern Authors.
My cap will equip a Picenian warrior of modest wealth, who fought between 8th and 7th Century.
Unlike Homerus' description, my cap is a bit thinner, but it's still quite hard thanks to the glue.
I won't rely on it, though: it may absorb part of a blow, but it'd hardly save my life.
Which makes an interesting light on the role of active defense in ancient battles fought by my ancestors.
Greetings,
Mauro.

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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #1 - Jan 20th, 2013 at 12:01pm
 
And now, the fantasy one.
This was born as a leather cap, and it's been modified during the months. It has been my "training field" to test different techniques such as sawing metal plates on a leather base, fixing wood on a leather base, and so on.
It ended up so messy that I decided it earned a special role in my fantasy gear.
Here it is:

... Front.
... Right.
... Back.
... Left.

Teg already know that I'll show it at Montelago this summer  Grin
I've used leather, copper, horsehair, beewaxed wire, glue, pens, linen, feathers, wood and shells, which makes a nice sound when I move my head.
It has Pictish, Greek, Celtic, Japonese and Italic characteristics.
It's simply too kitch. I Love It!
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #2 - Jan 20th, 2013 at 1:49pm
 
Topic added to the Index!
Greetings,
Mauro.
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Bill Skinner
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #3 - Jan 20th, 2013 at 1:54pm
 
As far as the first helmet, even a poor one beats nothing.  I would guess, though, that if it didn't work, it would have been abondoned for something that did work.  So, could it have had a thicker cloth than you used or could it have been lined with something like heavy felt?

I like the second one.  If you aren't having fun, why do it?  You can use the first when you are doing the presentations and during the battles, the second is for when you are around the fire in the evening.  And besides, I'm pretty sure chicks will dig it.
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #4 - Jan 20th, 2013 at 2:02pm
 
Ahahahaha thanks for the second  Grin
Regarding the first one, I agree with you that a poor one is better than nothing.
Always Homerus tell us of Psilņi (Greek light infantry, almost always poor pastors) protecting their heads with felt hats, and using a thick felt mantle as shield.
I can see the relationships between sheep herding and felted wool gear, it makes sense!
I used a 100 years old linen sheet I've found in a church, and I think I'm going to harden it with beewax or a bath in water+salt.
If it doesn't harden, I'll make another cap with felt and will leave this one as an experiment.
Another scientist has made a leather cap like this, but it's just for display so we don't really know how effective leather can be (I bet it would work great).
Greetings,
Mauro.
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LukeWebb
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #5 - Jan 20th, 2013 at 10:43pm
 
  I would think felt would be very tough to penetrate or cut though, I have found it to be so.  If you had a piece 3/4in. thick it would work quite well I think, much like a padded jack.
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jlasud
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #6 - Jan 21st, 2013 at 12:35am
 
The minimum i would use in a battle,and even poor folk could make for themselves is a 1" thick felt inside,with a 1/4 " thick hardened cow hide outer.
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: PRIMITIVE HELMETS
Reply #7 - Jan 21st, 2013 at 7:06am
 
Homerus wrote that both linen and felt protections were thick at least "3 fingers".
Quite interesting to see how this dimension coincides with Conquistadores' reports about Aztec and Mayan linen armors, which they describe as "3 fingers thick".
My linen hat is just half of this  Sad Better than nothing however  Grin
Greetings,
Mauro.
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