Finding Bronze Armor
Across the ancient world, many of the surviving pieces of ancient bronze armor come from burials. However, the Hittite style of burial doesn’t provide examples. Hittites practiced either cremations that left little trace or earth burials with few grave goods. So the discovery in 2002 of a Hittite bronze helmet at the archaeological site of Sapinuwa offered a rare glimpse into the real thing.
From the find spot, it appears that this precious bronze helmet was left as an offering to the Stormgod. That may explain why it was neither reused nor melted down.
A Bronze Helmet that Matches the King’s Gate
The conical bronze helmet looks a lot like the helmet carved in stone on one of the gates into the Hittite capital Hattusa. (See the photo at top.) The gate sculpture represents either the Stormgod or a king. The actual helmet has the same shape and similar cheek pieces.
Sapinuwa
Sapinuwa is an impressive archaeological dig to visit. I never include this city in my Hittite inspired fiction because this royal seat had apparently gone out of use by the time of my characters. But that doesn’t mean I ignore what we’ve learned from all the superb treasures and architecture at Sapinuwa. At one time, it was a center of royal life with interesting religious structures.
The Çorum Museum
Now the helmet is on display in the Çorum museum near ancient Sapinuwa. The Çorum museum is one of my all time favorite museums. I’ll grant you have to be interested in Hittites to find it so intriguing. They’ve done an excellent job of contextualizing the artifacts with visual portrayals of the objects in use and with some working reconstructions. So now you can also see one of the only actual Hittite bronze helmets.
Further Reading
Here’s an article about the newly displayed helmet in the Daily Sabah, “Museum in Turkey displays 3,300-year-old Hittite warrior helmet”. You’ll have to go to the article for a copyrighted photo of the helmet since it wasn’t on display yet when I was there.
For a post about a rare find of human bones at Sapinuwa.