I went into the Harborough Museum today to see the Hallaton Helmet.
BBC News explains:
A "bling" Roman Helmet found in a Leicestershire field offers a tantalising glimpse into a world in flux, experts have said.
The artefact, lavishly decorated with silver and gold, was uncovered in 2000, along with 5,000 coins, near the village of Hallaton.
It has gone on display in Market Harborough with previously unseen artefacts after further study revealed new insights into its decoration, construction, and historical period it was made in.
The helmet has been dated to the mid 1st Century AD, a crucial time for Britain as this saw the full-scale invasion of the island by four Roman legions in 43AD.
When it was first discovered, a popular explanation for the finding of the helmet at Hallaton was that it had been presented to a British chieftain who had fought for Rome on mainland Europe as a mercenary.
But when I went to an archaeology conference at the University of Leicester last year, I found that one had slipped down the league table of theories.
