SL-1 helmet

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Object
Proper name:	Helmet of Vače
Classification:	helmet
Archaeological type:	Negau helmet, Slovenian type, variant Vače
Material:	bronze
Size:	length: 27 cm, width: 25.8 cm, height: 19 cm, thickness: 1 mm
Condition:	complete
Date:	second half of the 5th century BC
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Vače (Litija, Slovenia)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 7' 8.40" N, 14° 50' 16.80" E [from site]
Find date:	before July 1886
Find circumstances:	unknown
Current location:	Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien – Antikensammlung (repository)
Inventory Nr.:	VI 2655
Inscription:	SL-1 (terisna)
Sources:	Reinecke 1942: 145–146 Egg 1986: 228 [No. 330], fig. 186, pl. 249 Nedoma 1995: 32–34, fig. 22, 23

Images

Object SL-1 helmet - detail rear side.	Object SL-1 helmet - detail rear side.	Object SL-1 helmet with inscription SL-1 - front side.	Object SL-1 helmet - sideview.	Object SL-1 helmet - rear side.
Object SL-1 helmet - underside.	Object SL-1 helmet - detail of the brim.	Object SL-1 helmet - detail of the brim.

Commentary

Bronze Negau-type helmet of the Slovenian type, variant Vače.
Domed bowl with median ridge; highly creased filler with roll-shaped chin strap bails. The filler was riveted together in one place on the back side; the two rivets still visible. Interior brim of the filler perforated at regular intervals. Patina from light green to dark green in colour with patches from light brown to white in colour. Age-related corrosion with some slivers. Rarely other traces of abrasion. Slight dell on the left exterior of the brim thus the brim slightly broken in this area.
Stamped decoration around the filler, a row of palmettes and a spiral eyes row between three lines which on the one hand enframed the decoration rows, otherwise the lines serve as border for each row. On exterior no further decoration.
In front of the throat an embossed inscription, and marks in two more places: An oblique stroke (height 1.5 cm) is embossed with a pointed tool (about thirty indentations) in the back on the throat. The same mark is found in the exact same place on another Negau-type helmet (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien – Antikensammlung, with inv. No. VI 1668), but embossed with an oblong tool (Marstrander 1927: 14 et seq. and 20). Another mark (height 0.6 cm) is embossed on the edge of the calotte right over the throat and the oblique stroke.
An attribution of the helmet to the variant Vače is possible because of the roll-shaped bails which are characteristical of this variant in contrast to the variant Idrija and the for this variant typical bracket bails. Also characteristic of the Vače group is a stamped decoration in form of spiral eyes, circle eyes or palmettes. Normally the Negau-type helmets of the Slovenian type, variant Vače, were dated to the second half of the 5th century BC. At the turn of the 4th century the variant Idrija appears. For the distinction of the different variants and the dating see Urban & Nedoma 2002: 52–54.
Any indications of the find circumstances like detailed find place are unknown. The helmet was purchased by the Kunsthistorisches Museum from Johann Grilz who excavated the helmet near the location of Klenik, 1886. An attached document – dated to the 10 July 1886 – of the Kunsthistorisches Museum indicates that the helmet was part of a number of antiquities which were sold by Johann Grilz to the museum. The local farmer Johann Grilz (1860-1931) or in Slovenian Janez Grilc discovered the famous Situla of Vače in January or in March 1882 and sold the object to the museum in Ljubljana / Laibach. Related to the helmet there are no references about the detailed find place (Reinecke 1942: 145–146). It is however obviously that the helmet must be found before July 1886.
Due to the missing find circumstances a specific classification is not possible. The good state of preservation of the helmet at which no evidence of intentional damage are visible implies that the kind of deposition does not suggest a sacral motivation (Nedoma 1995: 33).
Against the good state of preservation of the helmet and the well legible inscription in the front of the throat, currently the helmet is preserved in the repository of the Kunsthistorisches Museum due to museum didactic aspects. The showcase which presents all the other Negau-type helmets is reserved to all the helmets of the hoard of Ženjak e.g. SL-2 helmet.
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in February 2014.
S.K. with additional information by C.S.

S.K.

Bibliography

Egg 1986	Markus Egg, Italische Helme. Studien zu den ältereisenzeitlichen Helmen Italiens und der Alpen. Teil 1: Text, Teil 2: Tafeln, Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum 1986.
Marstrander 1927	Carl Johan Sverdrup Marstrander, "Remarques sur les inscriptions des casques en bronze de Negau et de Watsch", Avhandlinger utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo. Hist.-filos. klasse 1926/2 (1927), 1–26.