| # | Polity | Coded Value | Tags | Year(s) | Edit | Desc |
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Bronze helmets from Iran appear to have been used by Steppe Nomads. Also Steppe Nomads in other polities have been found to use leather or other helmets, therefore I have coded this as present. "Sauromatian bronze helmets and scale or plate armor not of local production appear in the Volga River region and southern Ural Steppes in the fifth-fourth century b.c., showing an increase in the exchange economy among neighboring communities."
[1]
[1]: Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 42 |
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Bronze helmets from Iran appear to have been used by Steppe Nomads. Also Steppe Nomads in other polities have been found to use leather or other helmets, therefore I have coded this as present. "Sauromatian bronze helmets and scale or plate armor not of local production appear in the Volga River region and southern Ural Steppes in the fifth-fourth century b.c., showing an increase in the exchange economy among neighboring communities."
[1]
[1]: Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 42 |
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According to the Chinese Nan chou i wu chih (A Record of Strange Things in the Southern Regions) written about 222-228 CE a volcanic country called ’Ge-ying’ (thought to be western Java) traded with the Malay Peninsula and imported horses from India. They were used by warriors.
[1]
It is likely they had some basic armour. Metallurgy was introduced after the third century BCE
[2]
so in addition to imported items, they may have had the ability to smith their own armour. Indian military terms surviving in Javanese: "war, weapon, sword, lance, armour, shield, helmet, banner, battle, siege, fortress, soldier, officer, enemy, spy, etc."
[3]
[1]: (Miksic and Goh 2017, 215) John Norman Miksic. Geok Yian Goh. Routledge. 2017. Ancient Southeast Asia. London. p. 215 [2]: (Bellwood 2004, 36) Bellwood, Peter. The origins and dispersals of agricultural communities in Southeast Asia. Glover, Ian. Bellwood, Peter. eds. 2004. Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History. RoutledgeCurzon. London. [3]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
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According to the Chinese Nan chou i wu chih (A Record of Strange Things in the Southern Regions) written about 222-228 CE a volcanic country called ’Ge-ying’ (thought to be western Java) traded with the Malay Peninsula and imported horses from India. They were used by warriors.
[1]
It is likely they had some basic armour. Metallurgy was introduced after the third century BCE
[2]
so in addition to imported items, they may have had the ability to smith their own armour. Indian military terms surviving in Javanese: "war, weapon, sword, lance, armour, shield, helmet, banner, battle, siege, fortress, soldier, officer, enemy, spy, etc."
[3]
[1]: (Miksic and Goh 2017, 215) John Norman Miksic. Geok Yian Goh. Routledge. 2017. Ancient Southeast Asia. London. p. 215 [2]: (Bellwood 2004, 36) Bellwood, Peter. The origins and dispersals of agricultural communities in Southeast Asia. Glover, Ian. Bellwood, Peter. eds. 2004. Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History. RoutledgeCurzon. London. [3]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
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Helmets were introduced in Japan in the 5th century CE
[1]
. "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth."
[2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. [2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
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Helmets were introduced in Japan in the 5th century CE
[1]
. "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth."
[2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. [2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
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we need expert input in order to code this variable
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Finds within France during this time period but not close to Paris Basin region.
[1]
Organic/metal armour, shields, helmets.
[2]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Koch ed. 2006, 1469) John T. Koch ed. Celtic Culture. A historical Encyclopedia. Volume I. A-Celti. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara. |
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Not mentioned by sources in lists of artifacts found at sites in the region dating to this time.
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Not mentioned by sources in lists of artefacts found at sites in the region dating to this time.
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Inferred from Gupta period. Might not be of metal.
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Present in earlier periods.
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Present in earlier periods.
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Present in earlier periods.
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Present in earlier periods.
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Present in previous and subsequent polities.
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"Between the 11th and 16th centuries, the weapons and armour of the Islamic world ... mail coat (a dir or zirh) ... Islamic helmets were most often conical, egg- or turban-shaped, and of metal or organic material."
[1]
[1]: (Jones ed. 2012, 92-93) Gareth Jones. ed. The Military History Book: The Ultimate Visual Guide to the Weapons that Shaped the World. Dorling Kindersley Limited. London. |
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no mention of this technology in sources
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"Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer."
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002: 22) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/VAWK3Z9E/q/Gabriel. |
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[There is no hard evidence that helmets were already in use by 930 CE, but is very probable.]
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Again, the "present" code is to account for ceremonial units.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
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An Iron Age settlement in Cambodia yielded a bronze helmet inlaid with gold, and evidence of bronze and iron weaponry.
[1]
At Phum Snay looters reported finding skulls with bronze helmets; however, our excavations and subsequent excavations have not encountered such evidence. A shallow bronze bowl was found covering the right side of one female skull (O’Reilly et al. 2006b; O’Reilly & Pheng 2001; O’Reilly 2004), similar to a discovery at Prohear in south-east Cambodia (Reinecke et al. 2009). It is possible that similar burial behaviour has been misinterpreted by the villagers as representing helmets. A helmet would protect the cranium to some degree, perhaps providing an explanation for the large number of healed injuries.
[2]
[1]: (Higham 2002, p. 214) [2]: (Domett et al. 2011, p. 452) |
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Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
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"Little is known about warfare in Mesoamerica before the Middle Formative [...] warfare was relatively unorganized, conducted by small groups armed with unspecialized tool-weapons".
[1]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 12-13) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
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"Headgear consisted of a pillbox-shaped hat".
[1]
[1]: (Coe 1994: 140) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5DJ2S5IF. |
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[There is no hard evidence that helmets were already in use by 930 CE, but is very probable.]
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"Ghur had long been renowned for its metal deposits and its manufacture of weapons and coats of mail".
[1]
"According to Togan, the entire mountain region from Ghur and Kabul to the land of the Karluk was metal-working. It exported armour, weapons and war equipment to neighbouring areas."
[2]
The armour of the heavy cavalry presumably included the helmet.
[1]: (Jackson 2003, 15-16) Peter Jackson. 2003. The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. [2]: (Nizami 1999, 178) K A Nizami. The Ghurids. M S Asimov. C E Bosworth. eds. 1999. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume IV. Part One. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi. |
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Contemporary images show helmets being worn.
[1]
Saka warriors who destroyed the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai Khanoum in 145 BCE (and may have used similar military technology to the Kushan nomads) left illustrations in Sogdia (Orlat) depicting chainmail, domed helmets, high-collared metal-plated corselets.
[2]
"cap-like helmets and metal suits that cover their legs and sleeves with concentric armoured bands."
[3]
[1]: The armies of Bactria 70 BC-450 AD, p.13, 59. [2]: (McLaughlin 2016, 76) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley. [3]: (McLaughlin 2016, 77) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley. |
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Bronze helmets from Iran appear to have been used by Steppe Nomads. Also Steppe Nomads in other polities have been found to use leather or other helmets, therefore I have coded this as present. "Sauromatian bronze helmets and scale or plate armor not of local production appear in the Volga River region and southern Ural Steppes in the fifth-fourth century b.c., showing an increase in the exchange economy among neighboring communities."
[1]
[1]: Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 42 |
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"By the years around AD 300 ... the appearance of heavy armor for both man and horse"
[1]
"A pictoral representation dated to 357 shows us a fully armored warrior. "The body of the rider is almost completely covered by armor. He wears a plumed helmet that protects the sides and back of the head..."
[2]
Sculpture of "Tomb guardian" warrior shows helmet.
[3]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 41) [2]: (Graff 2002, 42) [3]: (Howard 2006, 108) Howard, Angela Falco. 2006. Chinese Sculpture. Yale University Press. |
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The fourth century Thracian army:“Light cavalry was now likely to have the basic protection of helmet and shield, while heavy cavalry took to wearing iron helmets and composite corselets.”
[1]
[1]: Webber, C. (2003) Odrysian Cavalry, Army, Equipment and Tactics. Bar International Series 1139, pp. 529-554. p537 |
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Though not common, some Iroquois wore helmets made of animal hide or wood.
[1]
[1]: (Jones 2004: 60) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IPU9UA8I. |
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This is possible, but I have found no references to it.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Pliny (6.161-62) said probably referring to a civilian context "The Arabs wear turbans or else go with their hair unshorn" - however a thick Turban might potentially be used as head protection in warfare.
[1]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 46) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. |
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Widespread use of armor seems to have developed alongside rise of large infantry forces only in Warring States period, 5th c. BCE.
[1]
[2]
[1]: (Dien 1981) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/F82EE9ZF. [2]: (Tin-bor Hui 2005) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/CSPZPNV5?. |
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Langebaek’s intent to understand the appropriation of Spanish weapons and tools, such as helmets, swords, arquebuses and steel axes, as a form of acculturation of Tairona caciques and warriors, is another mode of analysis which reduces the adoption of these goods to utilitarian terms. He supposes that these objects were automatically incorporated by the Taironas because of their inherent technological value, and that the Spaniards controlled the flow of goods. "El intento de Langebaek (1985:80- 84) por entender la apropiación de armas y herramientas españolas, notablemente los yelmos, espadas, arcabuces y hachas de acero, por parte de los guerreros y caciques taironas como una forma de aculturación, es otro modo de análisis que reduce la adopción de estos bienes a términos utilitarios. Se supone entonces que estos objetos fueron automáticamente incorporados por los taironas debido a su eficacia tecnológica inherente, y eran los españoles quienes controlaban el flujo de los bienes."
[1]
[1]: (Giraldo 2000, 50) |
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The ethnographic record contains descriptions of caps and ornamentation rather than physical armor in the conventional sense of the term: ’When the Jibaro warrior prepares for an attack against an enemy he puts on his head a sort of cap made of monkey’s skin, which he prefers to the ordinary head ornament made of parrot or tucan feathers (tawása). The ear-tubes ought to be as large as possible so that their ends nearly reach the shoulders.’
[1]
[1]: Karsten, Rafael. 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru.”, 287-288 |
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The ethnographic record contains descriptions of caps and ornamentation rather than physical armor in the conventional sense of the term: When the Jibaro warrior prepares for an attack against an enemy he puts on his head a sort of cap made of monkey’s skin, which he prefers to the ordinary head ornament made of parrot or tucan feathers (tawása). The ear-tubes ought to be as large as possible so that their ends nearly reach the shoulders.
[1]
[1]: Karsten, Rafael. 1935. “Head-Hunters Of Western Amazonas: The Life And Culture Of The Jibaro Indians Of Eastern Ecuador And Peru.”, 287-288 |
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In Egyptian warfare 3000-1700 BCE the "only personal protection was the shield".
[1]
Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[3]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Appeared in 18th Dynasty, likely to have been made of bronze as the word for helmet is the same as the word for an "ingot of metal." Battle scenes do not depict soldiers wearing helmets. Likely used by charioteers who were unable to carry shields.
[1]
Sherdan mercenaries wore spiked helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Brewer and Teeter 1999, 75) |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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based on Cairan armour, which was probably the most advanced at the time
[1]
"The Carian equipment may resemble that of the hoplites representated on the Amathus bowl found in a tomb in Cyprus and dated to the time of Psamtek (see Figure 2.1)." Artwork in figure 2.1 shows: shields, throwing spears, cavalry, archers, crested helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Manning 2015, Personal Communication) [2]: (Fischer-Bovet 2014, 20-21) |
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"The Aztecs used shields, various forms of body armor, warriors’ suits, and helmets […] the elite also adopted complete torso armor".
[1]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 139) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
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In Egyptian warfare 3000-1700 BCE the "only personal protection was the shield".
[1]
Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[3]
"From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[4]
[4]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 27) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [4]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Appeared in 18th Dynasty, likely to have been made of bronze as the word for helmet is the same as the word for an "ingot of metal." Battle scenes do not depict soldiers wearing helmets. Likely used by charioteers who were unable to carry shields.
[1]
Sherdan mercenaries wore spiked helmets.
[2]
"The northern exterior wall of the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (Medinet Habu) is decorated with episodes from the war against the Sea Peoples (c. 1164 BC), including a scene of the official allocation of various types of arms (spears, helmets, bows, quivers, khepesh daggers and shields) to the soldiers."
[3]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Brewer and Teeter 1999, 75) [3]: (Shaw 1991: 43) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
No helmets until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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|
Not until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
"The soldiers of the Old and Middle Kingdom wore no armour. In the Old Kingdom they are usually depicted wearing only a belt and a small triangular loincloth, and by the Middle Kingdom their costume was invariably the same short linen kilt as that worn by civilian workmen. [...] From the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, Egyptian soldiers’ only bodily protection (apart from the occasional use of a band of webbing across the shoulders and chest) was supplied by long, roughly rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame."
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Shaw 1991: 32) Shaw, Ian. 1991. Egyptian Warfare and Weapons. Princes Risborough: Shire. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/7J8H86XF. |
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Present.
[1]
What description accompanied this code of present? No helmets until the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[3]
These sources are in contradiction. Egypt was close enough to Sumer to possibly be influenced by technological developments there so a code of inferred present seems reasonable.
[1]: (Booth 2005, 39) [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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|
"The widespread use of firearms and waning popularity of jousting tournaments caused a steep decline in the production of armor in the seventeenth century. Because the symbolic value of armor outlived its effectiveness in battle, sumptuous examples were still made as diplomatic gifts and appeared in portraits of members of the royal family."
[1]
“Captains and wealthier nobles might have three-quarter armour, consisting of a closed helmet, curiass (breastplate), arm defences, and leg defences that ended at the knees. Those of lesser means made do with a helmet and some form of leather or cotton armour. In time, however, the Spanish began to favour the native-style quilted cotton armour, which was far more comfortable to wear in the humid climate of the New World.”
[2]
“Both the classes of pikemen and 16th century arquebusiers usually wore a metal helmet.”
[3]
[1]: “The Art of Power: Royal Armor and Portraits from Imperial Spain. National Gallery of Art. Web. Accessed May 5, 2017. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/WHH6KD3N) [2]: (Pemberton 2011, preview) Pemberton, John. 2011. Conquistadors: Searching for El Dorado: The Terrifying Spanish Conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires. Canary Press eBooks Limited. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/3SI549GS [3]: (López 2012, 93) López, Ignacio J.N. 2012. The Spanish Tercios 1536-1704. Osprey Publishing. https://www.zotero.org/groups/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4EWFWHCQ |
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|
LeBar describes head-bands, but no helmets: ’Man’s head band The man’s head band (nakasäka) was one of the most valued of ornaments, and according to the literature it evidenced perhaps the finest workmanship of any item of ornamentation. The piece was made by men and worn by men at dances and also, according to Romonum informants, when going out as a war party. The nakasäka was rubbed thoroughly with yellow turmeric powder, wrapped in pandanus leaves, and stored in a wooden chest when not in use.’
[1]
[1]: LeBar, Frank M. {nd}-/. “Material Culture Of Truk", 351 |
||||||
|
LeBar describes head-bands, but no helmets: ’Man’s head band The man’s head band (nakasäka) was one of the most valued of ornaments, and according to the literature it evidenced perhaps the finest workmanship of any item of ornamentation. The piece was made by men and worn by men at dances and also, according to Romonum informants, when going out as a war party. The nakasäka was rubbed thoroughly with yellow turmeric powder, wrapped in pandanus leaves, and stored in a wooden chest when not in use.’
[1]
[1]: LeBar, Frank M. {nd}-/. “Material Culture Of Truk", 351 |
||||||
|
"Leather and bronze helmets were developed in the Bronze Age, the latter often for ceremonial use. An impressive pair of Late Bronze Age helmets were recovered from Viksø in Denmark; they bore long curved horns and a face made up of eyes, eyebrows, and a curling beak."
[1]
no geographical resolution, no indication that they were present before the Early Bronze Age.
[1]: (McIntosh 2006, 300) |
||||||
|
Mercenary professionals: "By the 17th century most had discarded all armor other than a helmet and cuirass".
[1]
"By the mid-17th century even cavalry units, which were still predominantly aristocratic in origin, discarded most armor other than the helm and breastplate. Leg armor went first, replaced by three-quarter leather skirts. ... By the end of the 17th century only bits and pieces of burnished metal survived here and there, and then mostly as polished ceremonial accouterments for officers-on-parade."
[1]
[1]: (Nolan 2006, 26) Cathal J Nolan. 2006. The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Volume 1 A - K. Greenwood Press. Westport. |
||||||
|
Medieval armour was much like that worn by Germanic warriors in 100 CE still consisting of a shield, helmet and coat.
[1]
[1]: (Boulton 1995 67-68) Jonathan D Boulton. Armor And Weapons. William W Kibler. Grover A Zinn. Lawrence Earp. John Bell Henneman Jr. 1995. Routledge Revivals: Medieval France (1995): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. Abingdon. |
||||||
|
Medieval armour was much like that worn by Germanic warriors in 100 CE still consisting of a shield, helmet and coat.
[1]
[1]: (Boulton 1995 67-68) Jonathan D Boulton. Armor And Weapons. William W Kibler. Grover A Zinn. Lawrence Earp. John Bell Henneman Jr. 1995. Routledge Revivals: Medieval France (1995): An Encyclopedia. Routledge. Abingdon. |
||||||
|
Helmet found in Loire Valley dates to 1000-820 BCE time period.
[1]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) |
||||||
|
Finds within France during this time period but not close to Paris Basin region.
[1]
Organic/metal armour, shields, helmets.
[2]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Koch ed. 2006, 1469) John T. Koch ed. Celtic Culture. A historical Encyclopedia. Volume I. A-Celti. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara. |
||||||
|
Finds within France during this time period but not close to Paris Basin region.
[1]
Organic/metal armour, shields, helmets.
[2]
Organic/metal armour, shields, helmets.
[2]
[1]: (http://www.chronocarto.ens.fr/gcserver/atlas#) [2]: (Koch ed. 2006, 1469) John T. Koch ed. Celtic Culture. A historical Encyclopedia. Volume I. A-Celti. ABC-CLIO. Santa Barbara. |
||||||
|
[1]
"Few appear to have had helmets, or indeed any covering for the head; but their hair was allowed to grow sufficiently long in front to be tied over the crown of the head, so as to deaden considerably the force of a blow from a weapon."
[2]
[1]: (Halsall 2003, 163-176) Halsall, Guy. 2003. Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900. Routledge. London. [2]: People’s Magazine. 1867. People’s Magazine: An Illustrated Miscellany for Family Reading. Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge. London. p. 381 |
||||||
|
[1]
"Few appear to have had helmets, or indeed any covering for the head; but their hair was allowed to grow sufficiently long in front to be tied over the crown of the head, so as to deaden considerably the force of a blow from a weapon."
[2]
[1]: (Halsall 2003, 163-176) Halsall, Guy. 2003. Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900. Routledge. London. [2]: People’s Magazine. 1867. People’s Magazine: An Illustrated Miscellany for Family Reading. Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge. London. p. 381 |
||||||
|
[1]
"Few appear to have had helmets, or indeed any covering for the head; but their hair was allowed to grow sufficiently long in front to be tied over the crown of the head, so as to deaden considerably the force of a blow from a weapon."
[2]
[1]: (Halsall 2003, 163-176) Halsall, Guy. 2003. Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West, 450-900. Routledge. London. [2]: People’s Magazine. 1867. People’s Magazine: An Illustrated Miscellany for Family Reading. Society For Promoting Christian Knowledge. London. p. 381 |
||||||
|
"We have no evidence for warfare. In contrast with later periods, ’Ubaid seals show no depictions of weapons, prisoners, or combat scenes".
[1]
[1]: (Stein 1994: 39) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/V94SXJRJ. |
||||||
|
Present.
[1]
Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 CE) reference: typical French knight wore "plate armor for shoulders and limbs topped by a bascinet, a metal helmet with projecting hinged visors and air holes. Instead of the surcoat, they wore a shorter leather jupon, and their warhorses were also armored, with plate covering their heads and mail or leather their flanks."
[2]
[1]: (Nicolle 1991, 6) David Nicolle. 2000. French Armies Of The Hundred Years War. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. [2]: (Wagner 2006, 27-29) John A Wagner. 2006. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Greenwood Press. Westport. |
||||||
|
Present.
[1]
Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 CE) reference: typical French knight wore "plate armor for shoulders and limbs topped by a bascinet, a metal helmet with projecting hinged visors and air holes. Instead of the surcoat, they wore a shorter leather jupon, and their warhorses were also armored, with plate covering their heads and mail or leather their flanks."
[2]
[1]: (Potter 2008, 79) [2]: (Wagner 2006, 27-29) John A Wagner. 2006. Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War. Greenwood Press. Westport. |
||||||
|
"Ansa the king appeared in full state, accompanied by a large retinue. Before him went his men sounding trumpets and horns, carrying tinkling bells, and playing various kinds of drums, as well as other instruments, which were quite new to the Portuguese. His Gyasi men, that is, bodyguard, were armed with spears, javelins, shields, bows and arrows; on their heads they wore a sort of helmet made of skins thickly studded with shark’s teeth, the same kind of helmets one sees whenever a town company turns out in fighting attire, and as they came with their lord and master, they sang their popular martial airs. The subordinate rulers wore chains of gold and other ornaments, and each of them was attended by two pages, one carrying his master’s shield and arms, and the other a little round stool for him to sit on."
[1]
[1]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 57 |
||||||
|
Military head-coverings used by leaders offered mystical protection and should not be characterized as helmets in the conventional sense of the term: ’These smocks were usually worn with a talisman-covered cap, and sometimes with additional protective asuma[unknown] hung around the neck.’
[1]
But Sarbah reports leather helmets: "Ansa the king appeared in full state, accompanied by a large retinue. Before him went his men sounding trumpets and horns, carrying tinkling bells, and playing various kinds of drums, as well as other instruments, which were quite new to the Portuguese. His Gyasi men, that is, bodyguard, were armed with spears, javelins, shields, bows and arrows; on their heads they wore a sort of helmet made of skins thickly studded with shark’s teeth, the same kind of helmets one sees whenever a town company turns out in fighting attire, and as they came with their lord and master, they sang their popular martial airs. The subordinate rulers wore chains of gold and other ornaments, and each of them was attended by two pages, one carrying his master’s shield and arms, and the other a little round stool for him to sit on."
[2]
Although his material refers to an earlier time period, we have assumed that the practice was not abandoned during the Ashanti period.
[1]: McLeod, M. D. (Malcolm D.) 1981. “Asante”, 148 [2]: Sarbah, John Mensah 1968. “Fanti National Constitution: A Short Treatise On The Constitution And Government Of The Fanti, Asanti, And Other Akan Tribes Of West Africa Together With A Brief Account Of The Discovery Of The Gold Coast By Portuguese Navigators, A Short Narration Of Early English Voyages, And A Study Of The Rise Of British Gold Coast Jurisdiction, Etc., Etc.”, 57 |
||||||
|
The most common helmet is the so-called boar’s tusk helmet made by a series of small boar’s tusks sewn onto a cup-shaped piece of leather or felt in alternating rows.
[1]
[2]
These helmets were used from ca. 1650 to 1150 BCE. They were depicted on frescoes -a very fine example was found at Thera - seals, and metal vessels. Bronze helmets with a plume knob and two cheek guards that were sewn onto the bowl were also know from the Warrior Graves at Knossos. Helmets were recorded in Linear B tablets.
[3]
Around 1200 BCE, a horned helmet appeared.
[4]
[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 5 [2]: Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. 2005. The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Athens, 207. For the online version see http://www.latsis-foundation.org/eng/electronic-library/the-museum-cycle/the-archaeological-museum-of-herakleio. [3]: Ventris, M. and Chawick, J. 1973. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge, 291-381. [4]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 37. |
||||||
|
The most common helmet is the so-called boar’s tusk helmet made by a series of small boar’s tusks sewn onto a cup-shaped piece of leather or felt in alternating rows.
[1]
[2]
These helmets were used from ca. 1650 to 1150 BCE. They were depicted on frescoes -a very fine example was found at Thera- seals, and metal vessels. Bronze helmets with a plume knob and two cheek guards that were sewn onto the bowl were also know from the Warrior Graves at Knossos. Helmets were recorded in Linear B tablets.
[3]
[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 5 [2]: Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. 2005. The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Athens, 207. For the online version see http://www.latsis-foundation.org/eng/electronic-library/the-museum-cycle/the-archaeological-museum-of-herakleio. [3]: Ventris, M. and Chawick, J. 1973. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge, 291-381. |
||||||
|
The most common helmet is the so-called boar’s tusk helmet made by a series of small boar’s tusks sewn onto a cup-shaped piece of leather or felt in alternating rows.
[1]
[2]
These helmets were used from ca. 1650 to 1150 BCE. They were depicted on frescoes -a very fine example was found at Thera - seals, and metal vessels. Bronze helmets with a plume knob and two cheek guards that were sewn onto the bowl were also know from the Warrior Graves at Knossos. Helmets were recorded in Linear B tablets.
[3]
[1]: Everson, T. 2004. Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great, Stroud, Gloucestershire, 5 [2]: Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. 2005. The Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Athens, 207. For the online version see http://www.latsis-foundation.org/eng/electronic-library/the-museum-cycle/the-archaeological-museum-of-herakleio. [3]: Ventris, M. and Chawick, J. 1973. Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Cambridge, 291-381. |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
The Borobudur reliefs depict armour but do not specify which kinds.
[1]
Old Mataram was a ’highly Indianized culture’ until it was replaced by an East Javanese one "that increasingly promoted various elements of the island’s older indigenous traditions."
[2]
Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’armour, shield, helmet’.
[3]
[1]: (Draeger 1972, 23) D F Draeger. 1972. Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia. Tuttle Publishing. [2]: (Unesco 2005, 233) Unesco. 2005. The Restoration of Borobudur. Unesco. [3]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
"After the formation of the Majapahit Dynasty, however, weapons and warfare underwent significant changes. The military dress completely evolved from the Indian to the East Javanese fashion."
[1]
Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’armour, shield, helmet’.
[2]
The Borobudur reliefs depicted armour but do not specify which kinds.
[3]
[1]: (Powell 2002, 325) John Powell. 2002. Weapons & Warfare: Ancient and medieval weapons and warfare (to 1500). Salem Press. [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. [3]: (Draeger 1972, 23) D F Draeger. 1972. Weapons and Fighting Arts of Indonesia. Tuttle Publishing. |
||||||
|
Old Mataram was a ’highly Indianized culture’ until it was replaced by an East Javanese one "that increasingly promoted various elements of the island’s older indigenous traditions."
[1]
Indian military terms surviving in Javanese include ’armour, shield, helmet’.
[2]
[1]: (Unesco 2005, 233) Unesco. 2005. The Restoration of Borobudur. Unesco. [2]: (Kumara 2007, 161) Sasiprabha Kumara. 2007. Sanskrit Across Cultures. Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
Conical helmet represented on Indo-Scythian coins.
[1]
Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a head covering called sirastrana but not the material it was made from (Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents").
[1]: (Egerton 2002, 12) Wilbraham Egerton. 2002 (1880). Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
||||||
|
Earlier period Vakataka "soldiers were provided with armours and helmets."
[1]
A military historian states that helmets were not widely used until the CE period; soldiers used thick turbans to protect their heads
[2]
- do ancient Indian specialists agree? "Several Chalukyan epigraphs refer to kavacha or armour. A good number of sculptures at Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal show not only armoured soldiers but also caparisoned horses. Metal armours served as shields against attack by enemies, protecting both men and animal forces."
[3]
[1]: (Majumdar and Altekar 1986, 277) Anant Sadashiv Altekar. The Administrative Organisation. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. Anant Sadashiv Altekar. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi. [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [3]: (Dikshit 1980, 266) Durga Prasad Dikshit. 1980. Political History of the Chalukyas of Badami. Abhinav Publications. New Delhi. |
||||||
|
‘Before 600 BC, warfare in India consisted of duels among the Kshatriya aristocrats in chariots and cow lifting raids carried out by tribal militias’. Kshatriya charioteers wore helmets made of metal
[1]
, presumably of copper. Refers to north of India? Deccan in south unlikely to be more developed than this. According to a military historian helmets were not widely used until the CE period; soldiers used thick turbans to protect their heads
[2]
[1]: (Roy 2013) Kaushik Roy. 2013 Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Number 8. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
‘Before 600 BC, warfare in India consisted of duels among the Kshatriya aristocrats in chariots and cow lifting raids carried out by tribal militias’. Kshatriya charioteers wore helmets made of metal
[1]
, presumably of copper. Refers to north of India? Deccan in south unlikely to be more developed than this. A military historian states that helmets were not widely used until the CE period; soldiers used thick turbans to protect their heads
[2]
- do ancient Indian specialists agree? Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions a helmet and a neck guard.
[3]
[1]: (Roy 2013) Kaushik Roy. 2013 Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Number 8. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [3]: (Olivelle 2016, 142-143) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for India: Helmets were not widely used until the CE period; soldiers used thick turbans to protect their heads.
[1]
Soldiers of the Pala Empire after 750 CE - the core of which was located in the southern reaches of the Ganges Basin to the east of this polity and at its height possessed territory all the way to Afghanistan - wore plate armour and conical-shaped helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [2]: (Lomazoff and Ralby 2013) Amanda Lomazoff. Aaron Ralby. 2013. The Atlas of Military History. Simon and Schuster. San Diego. |
||||||
|
"The Guptas imitated the dress, equipment and the techniques of warfare as practised by the Central Asian nomads."
[1]
Gupta coins show "peaked Kushana caps or close fitting caps".
[2]
Kushan caps also referred to as "cap-like helmets"
[3]
and picture evidence at Orlat in Sogdia of earlier Saka warriors wearing "domed helmets".
[3]
[1]: (Roy 2016, 22) Kaushik Roy. 2016. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. Abingdon. [2]: (Roy 2016, 24) Kaushik Roy. 2016. Military Manpower, Armies and Warfare in South Asia. Routledge. Abingdon. [3]: (McLaughlin 2016, 77) Raoul McLaughlin. 2016. The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy and the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia and Han China. Pen and Sword History. Barnsley. |
||||||
|
According to a military historian, thick turbans could be used to protect heads
[1]
- do ancient Indian specialists agree and does it apply to this polity? Soldiers of the Pala Empire after 750 CE - the core of which was located in the southern reaches of the Ganges Basin to the east of this polity and at its height possessed territory all the way to Afghanistan - wore plate armour and conical-shaped helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [2]: (Lomazoff and Ralby 2013) Amanda Lomazoff. Aaron Ralby. 2013. The Atlas of Military History. Simon and Schuster. San Diego. |
||||||
|
According to a military historian, thick turbans could be used to protect heads
[1]
- do ancient Indian specialists agree and does it apply to this polity? Soldiers of the Pala Empire after 750 CE - the core of which was located in the southern reaches of the Ganges Basin to the east of this polity and at its height possessed territory all the way to Afghanistan - wore plate armour and conical-shaped helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [2]: (Lomazoff and Ralby 2013) Amanda Lomazoff. Aaron Ralby. 2013. The Atlas of Military History. Simon and Schuster. San Diego. |
||||||
|
Referring to Vedic texts: "The use of shields and protective armour is throughout in evidence."
[1]
[1]: (Singh 1965: 116) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/QW5EBAAU. |
||||||
|
Helmets not known in this period.
[1]
According to a military historian (this needs confirmation from a Mauryan specialist) the helmet did not come into wide use until well after the Common Era, and for most of the ancient period the soldier relied mostly upon the thick folds of his turban to protect his head."
[2]
Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a head covering called sirastrana but not the material it was made from (Book II, The Duties of Government Superintendents").
[1]: Singh, Sarva Daman. Ancient Indian Warfare: With Special Reference to the Vedic Period p. 116 [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. |
||||||
|
A military historian suggests helmets were not widely used until the CE period; soldiers used thick turbans to protect their heads
[1]
- do ancient Indian specialists agree? Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions a helmet.
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Gabriel, Richard A. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Greenwood Publishing Group. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 142-143) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Inferred from use in Mauryan Empire. The Sunga Dynasty was in effect the continuation of the Mauryan Empire as it was established in a coup by the Mauryan general Pushyamitra Sunga (Roy 2015, 19).
[1]
According to one military historian (this data needs to be confirmed by a polity specialist): "The helmet did not come into wide use until well after the Common Era, and for most of the ancient period the soldier relied mostly upon the thick folds of his turban to protect his head."
[2]
While the quotation does not rule out the earlier use of metal helmets the turban is enough to code present for helmets.
[1]: (Roy 2015: 19) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/35K9MMUW. [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 220) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies Of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Vakataka "soldiers were provided with armours and helmets."
[1]
Kautilya’s Arthasastra, written after 200 BCE, mentions a helmet.
[2]
[1]: (Majumdar and Altekar 1986, 277) Anant Sadashiv Altekar. The Administrative Organisation. Ramesh Chandra Majumdar. Anant Sadashiv Altekar. 1986. Vakataka - Gupta Age Circa 200-550 A.D. Motilal Banarsidass. Delhi. [2]: (Olivelle 2016, 142-143) Patrick Olivelle trans. 2016. King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
"Head-pieces" which protected the neck and the face were made of leather and iron.
[1]
Soldiers of the Vijayanagara c1400 CE used iron plates inside raw leather tunics and headpieces similar to helmets.
[2]
According to Nuniz, soldiers of Vijayanagar ’were all armed each after his own fashion, the archers and musketeers with their quilted tunics, and shield-men with swords and poignards in their girdles. Their shields are so large that there is no need for armour to protect the body, which is completely covered. Their horses were in full clothing. The men wore doublets, and had weapons in their hands. And on their heads were headpieces after the manner of their doublets, quilted with cotton.’
[3]
[1]: (Ramayanna 1986, p. 127) [2]: (Domingos Paes [c1520] 1991, 276) Domingos Paes (c1520-1522). Of the things which I saw and contrived to learn concerning the Kingdom of Narsimga, etc. The Vijayanagar Empire: Chronicales of Paes and Nuniz. Asian Educational Services. New Delhi. [3]: (Eraly 2015) Abraham Eraly. 2015. The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin. |
||||||
|
"In the seventh century the Arab Caliphate overran the Sāssānian Empire and, as far as we can tell, no great changes took place in the Persian equipment then or for a long time afterwards."
[1]
Widely available for soldiers in the armies of the earlier Abbasids.
[2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs pp. 168-178 |
||||||
|
Opinion of a military historian (a specialist opinion on this is needed to confirm it applies to this polity): Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Opinion of a military historian (a specialist opinion on this is needed to confirm it applies to this polity): The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
Present.
[2]
On Naram-Sin’s Victory Stele soldiers have no armour other than helmets.
[3]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: Hamblin 2006, 87 [3]: (Foster 2016, 167) Foster, Benjamin R. 2016. The Age of Agade. Inventing Empire In Ancient Mesopotamia. Routledge. London. |
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|
"As with the rest of the Near East, there is little evidence for warfare in Neolithic Mesopotamia."
[1]
[1]: (Hamblin 2006: 33) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/4WM3RBTD. |
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|
Greek mercenaries under Cyrus had "helmets, greaves and shields of bronze"
[1]
"Of the Medes and Persians as a whole, only a few wore armour. Some had body armour of iron scales and wicker targes and only some of the cavalry wore helmets of bronze or iron."
[2]
[1]: (Sekunda 1992, 10) Sekunda, N. 1992. The Persian Army 560-330 BC. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. |
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|
According to a military historian (a polity specialist needs to check this data): Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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|
"In the seventh century the Arab Caliphate overran the Sāssānian Empire and, as far as we can tell, no great changes took place in the Persian equipment then or for a long time afterwards."
[1]
The Sassanids
[2]
wore helmets as did the Abbasids.
[3]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: (Mitterauer 2010, 106) Mitterauer, M. 2010. Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path. University of Chicago Press. [3]: Kennedy, the Armies of the Caliphs pp. 168-178 |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Members of Te-Umman’s royal house wore rounded helmets with ear flaps. They were not very effective as Te-Umman’s head was cut off in battle and taken to Nineveh by the Assyrians as war booty and hung in the gardens.
[2]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. [2]: Potts, D.T. 1999. The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press p.280 |
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|
Early Parthian: "Amongst the many graffiti discovered [at Dura] was one of a Parthian cataphractus dating from the second century A.D. It is a crude drawing - probably the work of a child - but still remarkably detailed and informative. The horseman wears a tall conical helmet with little streamers tied at the point. This would appear to be of segments or lamellae with a hood of mail falling to the shoulders."
[1]
Late Parthian: Rock carvings of Firuzabad, third century CE, show Parthians "have rounded helmets with curtains of scale or lamellar attached, scale or lamellar body armour covered by sleeveless surcoats, and both their arms and their legs are completely encased in laminated plates. The sleeves extend over the wrists on to the back of the hands."
[1]
Cassius Dio’s description of Parthian cavalry "in full armour" and depictions of helmets on coins.
[2]
"The standard turn-out would have included helmets of bronze or iron, sometimes with a neck guard and/or an aventail of lamellar, scale or mail, sometimes sporting a small plume of horsehair, either dyed or left natural".
[3]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: Ted Kaizer, ‘The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires c.247 BC - AD 300’, in Thomas Harrison (ed.), The Great Empires of the Ancient World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009), p.186 [3]: (Penrose 2008, 223) Penrose, Jane. 2008. Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War. Osprey Publishing. |
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|
Reference to the use of shields, helmets, greaves, breastplates dates to the Bronze Age.
[1]
[1]: (Guilaine 2008: 204-05) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/LZB53FDH. |
||||||
|
Breastplate and helmet worn only by the Ostrogothic nobility.
[1]
Gothic horseman "ideally wore a helmet with protection for his neck and cheeks"
[2]
Iron helmets or skullcaps and body armour often worn by chieftains.
[3]
Spangenhelments made in Italy.
[4]
[1]: (Thompson 2002, 81) [2]: (Wolfram 1990, 302) [3]: (DeVries and Smith 2012) [4]: (Burns 1991, 185) |
||||||
|
Early Parthian: "Amongst the many graffiti discovered [at Dura] was one of a Parthian cataphractus dating from the second century A.D. It is a crude drawing - probably the work of a child - but still remarkably detailed and informative. The horseman wears a tall conical helmet with little streamers tied at the point. This would appear to be of segments or lamellae with a hood of mail falling to the shoulders."
[1]
Late Parthian: Rock carvings of Firuzabad, third century CE, show Parthians "have rounded helmets with curtains of scale or lamellar attached, scale or lamellar body armour covered by sleeveless surcoats, and both their arms and their legs are completely encased in laminated plates. The sleeves extend over the wrists on to the back of the hands."
[1]
Cassius Dio’s description of Parthian cavalry "in full armour" and depictions of helmets on coins.
[2]
"The standard turn-out would have included helmets of bronze or iron, sometimes with a neck guard and/or an aventail of lamellar, scale or mail, sometimes sporting a small plume of horsehair, either dyed or left natural".
[3]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: Ted Kaizer, ‘The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires c.247 BC - AD 300’, in Thomas Harrison (ed.), The Great Empires of the Ancient World (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009), p.186 [3]: (Penrose 2008, 223) Penrose, Jane. 2008. Rome and Her Enemies: An Empire Created and Destroyed by War. Osprey Publishing. |
||||||
|
Damascus steel helmet.
[1]
[1]: (Phyrr 2015, 6) Stuart W Phyrr. 2015. American Collectors and the Formation of the Metropolitan Museum’s Collection of Islamic Arms and Armor. David G Alexander. ed. Islamic Arms and Armor in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yale University Press. New Haven. |
||||||
|
Two-piece, ridge helmet and the four-part Spangenhelm. Later designs incorporated mail to protect the face.
[1]
Conical helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Farrokh 2005, 3-27) Farrokh, Kevah. 2005. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. |
||||||
|
Two-piece, ridge helmet and the four-part Spangenhelm. Later designs incorporated mail to protect the face.
[1]
"During the reign of the first King Khosrow, or Chosroes (531-79), a cavalryman’s equipment consisted of body armor, breastplate, helmet, greaves and arm shields".
[2]
at the muster parades of Khusrau I (second Sassanid period) cavalry units required to have "mail, breastplate, helmet, leg guards, arm guards, horse armour, lance, buckler, sword, mace, battle axe, quiver of thirty arrows, bow case with two bows, and two spare bow strings."
[3]
[1]: (Farrokh 2005, 3-27) Farrokh, Kevah. 2005. Sassanian Elite Cavalry AD 224-642. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Mitterauer 2010, 106) Mitterauer, M. 2010. Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path. University of Chicago Press. [3]: (Chegini 1996, 58) Chegini, N. N. Political History, Economy and Society. in Litvinsky, B. A. ed. and Iskender-Mochiri, I. ed. 1996. History of Civilizations of Central Asia. Volume III. The crossroads of civilizations: A.D. 250 to 750. pp.40-58. unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104612e.pdf |
||||||
|
"In the infantry of the later fifth and sixth centuries ... breastplate, helmet, leg-armour (splinted greaves of either iron or leather or felt), and wide round or oval shields."
[1]
[1]: (Haldon 2008, 473-474) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[1]
The example from Sumer was "a cap of hammered copper" fitted onto a leather cap.
[1]
[1]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Italian Bronze Age metal helmets are rare, only five have been found from Iseo, Oggiono-Ello, Brancere, Matua and Monte Altion. The earliest Italian crested helmets made of ceramic and bronze emerged at the end of the Bronze Age/beginning of the Iron Age. Later than some neighbouring cultures in Western Europe.
[1]
Present in Egypt probably worn by charioteers by the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
[1]: (Modlinger 2017: 83, 92) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SXF9N66L. [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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|
On the basis of armour worn by French soldiers of the 12th-13th centuries we would expect helmet and shield, leather and quilted armour as well as metal breastplate, limb protection and chainmail.
[1]
[2]
[1]: Boulton in Kilber, W W. 1995. Medieval France: An Encyclopedia. Psychology Press. [2]: Nicolle, D and McBride, A. 1991. French Medieval Armies 1000-1300. Osprey Publishing Ltd. London. |
||||||
|
[1]
Early Roman equipment was Hellenistic which implies helmets and Roman illustrations from the 5th century depict helmets.
[2]
"Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond).
[3]
[1]: (Dupuy and Dupuy 2007) [2]: (Fields 2007, 5-6) [3]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press. |
||||||
|
"Helmet styles included: Attic; Montefortino; Etrusco-Corinthian."
[1]
"Polybius (6.22-23; 25) describes how the legion in this period was divided into four types of infantry. There were three different groups of heavy infantry: 1,200 hastati (’spearmen’), 1,200 principes (’leading men’) and 600 triarii (’third line men’). They were equipped in broadly similar fashion, with bronze helmets and greaves and either a simple square bronze chest-guard, or more elaborate body armour such as a mail tunic, according to each individual’s wealth and ability to provide his own protection."
[2]
[1]: (Fields 2007, 19) [2]: (Pollard and Berry 2012, 14-15) |
||||||
|
Worn by classes I-III.
[1]
"Disc-and-stud helmet (Bologna, Museo Civico Archeologico) from the Necropoli sotto la Rocca-Lippi la Tomba Principesca N.85, 7th century BC ... made of a wickerwork cap reinforced with bronze discs, the gaps between these discs being filled with bronze studs."
[2]
- example from Lippi Necropolis, Verruchio. "Hoplite panoplies have been discovered in the so-called Tomb of the Warrior at Vulci, dating to c. 530 B.C., as well as in a tomb at Lanuvium in Latium dating to the early fifth century" (citing Torelli 1989 and Drummond).
[3]
[1]: (Cornell 1995, 179) [2]: (Fields 2011) [3]: (Forsythe 2006, 114) Forsythe, Gary. 2006. A Critical History of Early Rome: From Prehistory to the First Punic War. University of California Press. |
||||||
|
From the 5th century a rounder form of helmet called mabizachi-tsuke kabuto (’visor-attached helmet’), with a ’baseball cap’ flat visor, was also worn with the tanko. this was an important style, modeled after the helmets of the Korean and Chinese warriors encountered on the continent. Such helmets were made en suite with the later lamellar armours, but examples have been found in the same tombs as tanko. most had a cup-shaped crest holder supported by a bronze tube, presumably for some sort of plume.
[1]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. |
||||||
|
General reference for medieval warfare: During the Late Middle Ages (c1000-1500 CE) reknowned production centres of military equipment in Italy included: "Aquileia (helmets), Benevento (spear-heads), Brescia and Milan (swords), Otranto (helmets), Pavia (helmets, spears, swords), and Sardinia (helmets, shields, coats of mail)".
[1]
General reference for medieval warfare: "The increasing use of gunpowder weapons as well as changes in tactics and the increasing sizes of armies led to the demise of armor in the seventeeth century."
[2]
Illustration shows "Dalmatian soldier, mid-13th C." with a shield, sword and helmet.
[3]
Illustration shows "Italian armoured infantryman, c.1320" with dagger, sword, helmet, guantlets.
[4]
Illustration shows "Knight, Collato family, c.1340" with a helmet, guantlets, sword, dagger, limb protection including plate armour for the feet, lower legs and knees.
[4]
Illustration shows "Venetian infantryman, late 14th C." with a spear, sword, helmet, shield, guantlets, and plate armour for lower legs.
[5]
Illustration shows "Venetian arquebusier, early 17th C." holding an arquebus, carrying a sword, wearing plate armour covering the torso and a helmet.
[6]
[1]: (Gaier 2010, 75) Claude Gaier. Arms Industry and Trade. Clifford J. Rogers. ed. 2010. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Smith 2010, 73) Robert Douglas Smith. Armor, Body. Clifford J. Rogers. ed. 2010. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate A) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. [4]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate B) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. [5]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate C) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. [6]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate H) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. |
||||||
|
General reference for medieval warfare: During the Late Middle Ages (c1000-1500 CE) reknowned production centres of military equipment in Italy included: "Aquileia (helmets), Benevento (spear-heads), Brescia and Milan (swords), Otranto (helmets), Pavia (helmets, spears, swords), and Sardinia (helmets, shields, coats of mail)".
[1]
General reference for medieval warfare: "The increasing use of gunpowder weapons as well as changes in tactics and the increasing sizes of armies led to the demise of armor in the seventeeth century."
[2]
Illustration shows "Venetian infantryman, late 14th C." with a spear, sword, helmet, shield, guantlets, and plate armour for lower legs.
[3]
Illustration shows "Venetian arquebusier, early 17th C." holding an arquebus, carrying a sword, wearing plate armour covering the torso and a helmet.
[4]
[1]: (Gaier 2010, 75) Claude Gaier. Arms Industry and Trade. Clifford J. Rogers. ed. 2010. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Smith 2010, 73) Robert Douglas Smith. Armor, Body. Clifford J. Rogers. ed. 2010. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate C) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. [4]: (Nicolle 1989, Plate H) David Nicolle. 1989. The Venetian Empire 1200-1670. Osprey Publishing. Oxford. |
||||||
|
The helmets were introduced in Japan in the 5th century CE
[1]
"The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth."
[2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. [2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
||||||
|
The basic form of helmet (kabuto) that dominated medieval and early modern armor was shaped generally like a skull cap with an opening at the front top and flaps at the sides intended to protect the neck and face. In addition, the neck was shielded by a series of three or five metal plates. By the end of the Muromachi period, most ordinary helmets were made from iron and/or steel. The helmet was formed from individual plates fastened with rivets or simply joined together. The top portion of the helmet, shaped like the pate of a human head, was called the hachi. In the early medieval period, from the 11th to 14th centuries, hachi were almost invariably rounded.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.171. |
||||||
|
The songhay knight, like his French counterpart, wore a great helm, a hauberk, chainmail, an iron plate armour, a helmet and used a javelin. "Le chevalier songhoy, comme son homologue de l’Ile de France, portait heaume et haubert, cottes de mailles, cuirasse de fer, casque et javelot."
[1]
[1]: (Niane 1975, 122) |
||||||
|
From the 5th century a rounder form of helmet called mabizachi-tsuke kabuto (’visor-attached helmet’), with a ’baseball cap’ flat visor, was also worn with the tanko. this was an important style, modeled after the helmets of the Korean and Chinese warriors encountered on the continent. Such helmets were made en suite with the later lamellar armours, but examples have been found in the same tombs as tanko. most had a cup-shaped crest holder supported by a bronze tube, presumably for some sort of plume.
[1]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. |
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
||||||
|
No archaeological evidence for this. Moreover, the scholarly consensus is that the Jomon were relatively peaceful.
|
||||||
|
’The basic form of helmet (kabuto) that dominated medieval and early modern armor was shaped generally like a skull cap with an opening at the front top and flaps at the sides intended to protect the neck and face. In addition, the neck was shielded by a series of three or five metal plates. By the end of the Muromachi period, most ordinary helmets were made from iron and/or steel. The helmet was formed from individual plates fastened with rivets or simply joined together. The top portion of the helmet, shaped like the pate of a human head, was called the hachi. In the early medieval period, from the 11th to 14th centuries [CE], hachi were almost invariably rounded.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.171. |
||||||
|
The basic form of helmet (kabuto) that dominated medieval and early modern armor was shaped generally like a skull cap with an opening at the front top and flaps at the sides intended to protect the neck and face. In addition, the neck was shielded by a series of three or five metal plates. By the end of the Muromachi period, most ordinary helmets were made from iron and/or steel. The helmet was formed from individual plates fastened with rivets or simply joined together. The top portion of the helmet, shaped like the pate of a human head, was called the hachi. In the early medieval period, from the 11th to 14th centuries, hachi were almost invariably rounded.’
[1]
[1]: Deal, William E. 2005. Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan. Oxford University Press.p.171. |
||||||
|
The helmets were introduced in Japan in the 5th century CE
[1]
. "The earliest armor used in Japan, as elsewhere, was padded or made of scales or rings sewn on cloth."
[2]
[1]: Bryant, Anthony J. 1991. Early Samurai: 200-1500 AD. Vol. 35. Osprey Publishing.p.45. [2]: (Stone 1999, 60-61) George Cameron Stone. 1999. Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor in All Countries and in All Times. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. |
||||||
|
"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change."
[1]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. |
||||||
|
"Helmets were widely used, although just as much evidence suggests soft, perhaps padded, headgear was also common. All types of helmets typical of the eras in this discussion found expression among the nomads, often with stylistic changes made to suit the tastes of the new nomadic owner. Often, especially among the Turkic and Mongolian tribes, metal helmets had leather neckflaps attached."
[1]
[1]: (Karasulas 2004, 30) |
||||||
|
’The permanent guard maintained at the capital was probably better. Relief sculpture portrays guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guardians carrying ceremonial weapons, their points protected by covers; sentinels carry lances, swords and shields. Ordinary soldiers carried lances in their right hands and shields in their left. The arsenal included sabres, swords, shields, broadswords, daggers, catapults and other contrivances.’
[1]
’The warriors are nearly always bear-headed. In the outer gallery at the Bayon there is one example in a poor condition of a dealers (Fig. 58E). [...] The head and nape of the neck seem to be covered by a kind of helmet with three protuberances: the central one is highest, and all three are embossed with regular concentric circles.’
[2]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.157) [2]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 74) |
||||||
|
"Helmets were widely used, although just as much evidence suggests soft, perhaps padded, headgear was also common. All types of helmets typical of the eras in this discussion found expression among the nomads, often with stylistic changes made to suit the tastes of the new nomadic owner. Often, especially among the Turkic and Mongolian tribes, metal helmets had leather neckflaps attached."
[1]
[1]: (Karasulas 2004, 30) |
||||||
|
’The warriors are nearly always bear-headed. In the outer gallery at the Bayon there is one example in a poor condition of a dealers (Fig. 58E). [...] The head and nape of the neck seem to be covered by a kind of helmet with three protuberances: the central one is highest, and all three are embossed with regular concentric circles.’
[1]
’The permanent guard maintained at the capital was probably better. Relief sculpture portrays guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guardians carrying ceremonial weapons, their points protected by covers; sentinels carry lances, swords and shields. Ordinary soldiers carried lances in their right hands and shields in their left. The arsenal included sabres, swords, shields, broadswords, daggers, catapults and other contrivances.’
[2]
[1]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 74) [2]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.157) |
||||||
|
’The permanent guard maintained at the capital was probably better. Relief sculpture portrays guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guardians carrying ceremonial weapons, their points protected by covers; sentinels carry lances, swords and shields. Ordinary soldiers carried lances in their right hands and shields in their left. The arsenal included sabres, swords, shields, broadswords, daggers, catapults and other contrivances.’
[1]
’The warriors are nearly always bear-headed. In the outer gallery at the Bayon there is one example in a poor condition of a dealers (Fig. 58E). [...] The head and nape of the neck seem to be covered by a kind of helmet with three protuberances: the central one is highest, and all three are embossed with regular concentric circles.’
[2]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.157) [2]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 74) |
||||||
|
’The permanent guard maintained at the capital was probably better. Relief sculpture portrays guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guards wearing helmets wrought with elaborate motifs; door guardians carrying ceremonial weapons, their points protected by covers; sentinels carry lances, swords and shields. Ordinary soldiers carried lances in their right hands and shields in their left. The arsenal included sabres, swords, shields, broadswords, daggers, catapults and other contrivances.’
[1]
’The warriors are nearly always bear-headed. In the outer gallery at the Bayon there is one example in a poor condition of a dealers (Fig. 58E). [...] The head and nape of the neck seem to be covered by a kind of helmet with three protuberances: the central one is highest, and all three are embossed with regular concentric circles.’
[2]
[1]: (Mabbett and Chandler 1995, p.157) [2]: (Jacq-Hergoualc’h and Smithies 2007, p. 74) |
||||||
|
An Iron Age settlement in Cambodia yielded a bronze helmet inlaid with gold, and evidence of bronze and iron weaponry.
[1]
At Phum Snay looters reported finding skulls with bronze helmets; however, our excavations and subsequent excavations have not encountered such evidence. A shallow bronze bowl was found covering the right side of one female skull (O’Reilly et al. 2006b; O’Reilly & Pheng 2001; O’Reilly 2004), similar to a discovery at Prohear in south-east Cambodia (Reinecke et al. 2009). It is possible that similar burial behaviour has been misinterpreted by the villagers as representing helmets. A helmet would protect the cranium to some degree, perhaps providing an explanation for the large number of healed injuries.
[2]
[1]: (Higham 2002, 214) [2]: (Domett et al. 2011, 452) |
||||||
|
An Iron Age settlement in Cambodia yielded a bronze helmet inlaid with gold, and evidence of bronze and iron weaponry.
[1]
At Phum Snay looters reported finding skulls with bronze helmets; however, our excavations and subsequent excavations have not encountered such evidence. A shallow bronze bowl was found covering the right side of one female skull (O’Reilly et al. 2006b; O’Reilly & Pheng 2001; O’Reilly 2004), similar to a discovery at Prohear in south-east Cambodia (Reinecke et al. 2009). It is possible that similar burial behaviour has been misinterpreted by the villagers as representing helmets. A helmet would protect the cranium to some degree, perhaps providing an explanation for the large number of healed injuries.
[2]
[1]: (Higham 2002, p. 214) [2]: (Domett et al. 2011, p. 452) |
||||||
|
"At Phum Snay looters reported finding skulls with bronze helmets; however, our excavations and subsequent excavations have not encountered such evidence."
[1]
[1]: (Domett et al. 2011: 452) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RJH39GGM. |
||||||
|
Vedic sources mention charioteer warrior gods with helmet of bull skin or metal.
[1]
Not everyone agrees Vedic culture was descendant from, and thus can tell us about, Andronovo culture.
[2]
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 137) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Lamberg-Karlovsky 144-145) C C Lamberg-Karlovsky. 2005. Archaeology and language: the case of the Bronze Age Indo-Iranians. Edwin Francis Bryant. Laurie L Patton. eds. The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Routledge. Abingdon. |
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|
Rare, but present. "Le antiche figurazioni e i reperti archaeologici suggeriscono inoltre la presenza di soldati di fanteria dotati di lance, pugnali, asce e mazze, ma scarsamente protetti da armi difensive, quali elmi, corazze e scudi, che compaiono raramente nei repertori figurati; risulta, infine, la presenza di corpi di arcieri."
[1]
TRANSLATION: "Ancient iconography and archaeological findings suggest that the infantry was armed with spears, daggers, axes, and clubs, but was only rarely clad in defensive gear such as helmets, armour and shields; finally, armies also included archers’ corps."
[1]: Bartoloni, P. 1988. L’esercito, la marina e la guerra. In Moscati, S. (ed) I Fenici pp. 132-138. Milano: Bompiani. |
||||||
|
Knights: "The princes of Black Africa who could afford to outfitted themselves in complete or partial armor like that of the knights of the Western Middle Ages."
[1]
"coat of mail and iron breastplate, helmet, boots, javelin ... all of it."
[2]
However, due to climate complete knightly armour not as common as in Europe and in fact Songhai Askia Bano died of suffocation.
[2]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 116) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Diop 1987, 117) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
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|
The last Yuan emperor Toghon Temur returned to Mongolia and established the capital of his new Mongol state ("which extended from Manchuria to Kyrgystan") at Karakorum. At that time the MilTech codes would be the same as for the preceding Yuan China. Over the next decades the state lost territory and there was civil war at the start of the 15th century although in 1409 CE they still managed to rout a very large invading Ming army. The Ming attacked again but the Mongols were not conquered. Under an Oirat noble called Esen (1440-1455 CE) they invaded China in 1449 CE with 20,000 cavalry and captured the Ming emperor. In 1451 CE Esen overthrew the Mongol Khan but he wasn’t a direct descendent of Genghis Khan and was killed during a 1455 CE rebellion. His rule was followed by minor Khans who ruled a Mongolia in which the Khalkhas were one of three ’left-flank’ tumens (in addition to Chahars and Uriangqais). The state also had ’right-flank’ tumens (Ordos, Tumeds, Yunshebus) and the Oirats of western Mongolia. "These 6 tumens were major administrative units, often called ulus tumens (princedoms), comprising the 40 lesser tumens of the military-administrative type inherited from the Yuan period, each of which was reputedly composed of 10,000 cavalry troops ..."
[1]
The narrative suggests at least for 1400 CE and 1500 CE the army was cavalry based and in continuity with the preceding Yuan. The Yuan Dynasty is coded present for this armour.
[1]: (Ishjamts 2003, 208-211) N Ishjamts. 2003. The Mongols. Chahryar Adle. Irfan Habib. Karl M Baipakov. eds. History Of Civilizations Of Central Asia. Volume V. Development in contrast: from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO Publishing. Paris. |
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|
"Helmets were widely used, although just as much evidence suggests soft, perhaps padded, headgear was also common. All types of helmets typical of the eras in this discussion found expression among the nomads, often with stylistic changes made to suit the tastes of the new nomadic owner. Often, especially among the Turkic and Mongolian tribes, metal helmets had leather neckflaps attached."
[1]
[1]: (Karasulas 2004, 30) |
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|
Bronze helmets from Iran appear to have been used by Steppe Nomads for several hundreds of years before this. Also Steppe Nomads in other polities have been found to use leather or other helmets, therefore we have coded this as present due to the extremely similar nature of the weapons and armor across the Steppe Plains. "Sauromatian bronze helmets and scale or plate armor not of local production appear in the Volga River region and southern Ural Steppes in the fifth-fourth century b.c., showing an increase in the exchange economy among neighboring communities."
[1]
[1]: Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 42 |
||||||
|
Knights: "The princes of Black Africa who could afford to outfitted themselves in complete or partial armor like that of the knights of the Western Middle Ages."
[1]
"coat of mail and iron breastplate, helmet, boots, javelin ... all of it."
[2]
However, due to climate complete knightly armour not as common as in Europe and in fact Songhai Askia Bano died of suffocation.
[2]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 116) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Diop 1987, 117) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
||||||
|
Knights: "The princes of Black Africa who could afford to outfitted themselves in complete or partial armor like that of the knights of the Western Middle Ages."
[1]
"coat of mail and iron breastplate, helmet, boots, javelin ... all of it."
[2]
However, due to climate complete knightly armour not as common as in Europe and in fact Songhai Askia Bano died of suffocation.
[2]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 116) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Diop 1987, 117) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
||||||
|
Knights: "The princes of Black Africa who could afford to outfitted themselves in complete or partial armor like that of the knights of the Western Middle Ages."
[1]
"coat of mail and iron breastplate, helmet, boots, javelin ... all of it."
[2]
However, due to climate complete knightly armour not as common as in Europe and in fact Songhai Askia Bano died of suffocation.
[2]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 116) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Diop 1987, 117) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
||||||
|
Knights: "The princes of Black Africa who could afford to outfitted themselves in complete or partial armor like that of the knights of the Western Middle Ages."
[1]
"coat of mail and iron breastplate, helmet, boots, javelin ... all of it."
[2]
However, due to climate complete knightly armour not as common as in Europe and in fact Songhai Askia Bano died of suffocation.
[2]
[1]: (Diop 1987, 116) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. [2]: (Diop 1987, 117) Diop, Cheikh Anta. Salemson, Harold trans. 1987. Precolonial Black Africa. Lawrence Hill Books. Chicago. |
||||||
|
Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
There is little evidence for armor other than cotton armor and shields, as recorded by the Spanish at the end of this period.
[1]
[1]: Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
"Little is known about warfare in Mesoamerica before the Middle Formative [...] warfare was relatively unorganized, conducted by small groups armed with unspecialized tool-weapons".
[1]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 12-13) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
||||||
|
"There was little armor during the Early Classic, with the primary Teotihuacan innovation being the use of protective helmets of quilted cotton."
[1]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 48) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
||||||
|
"Quilted cotton helmets were also widely used".
[1]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 83) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
||||||
|
"Little is known about warfare in Mesoamerica before the Middle Formative [...] warfare was relatively unorganized, conducted by small groups armed with unspecialized tool-weapons".
[1]
known form artwork, but they may have been purely decorative (i.e. for status) and related to shamanistic rituals or the Mesoamerican ball game.
[2]
[3]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 12-13) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. [2]: Niederberger, Christine. (1996). "The Basin of Mexico: Multimillenial Development toward Cultural Complexity." In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by Emily P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, pp. 83-93. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. |
||||||
|
The following implies that shields were the only form of armor: "In reaction to slings, shields were widely adopted in the Late Formative, especially rectangular ones that protected most of the body [...] The protection afforded the trunk and the limbs".
[1]
known form artwork and figurines, but they may have been purely decorative (i.e. for status).
[2]
[3]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 31) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. [2]: Hassig, Ross. (1992) War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica. Berkeley: University of California Press, pg.31. [3]: Piña Chán, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, 157-178. |
||||||
|
Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
It’s technically possible they could have been used earlier than the mid-2nd millennium BCE in both Egypt and in Antolia as the earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. Gabriel (2002) claims after this time use of helmets became standard issue
[3]
, but possibly he was only referring to the Mesopotamian region.
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
"Little is known about warfare in Mesoamerica before the Middle Formative [...] warfare was relatively unorganized, conducted by small groups armed with unspecialized tool-weapons".
[1]
known form artwork, but they may have been purely decorative (i.e. for status) and related to shamanistic rituals or the Mesoamerican ball game.
[2]
[3]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 12-13) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. [2]: Niederberger, Christine. (1996). "The Basin of Mexico: Multimillenial Development toward Cultural Complexity." In Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, edited by Emily P. Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, pp. 83-93. [3]: Niederberger, Christine. (2000) "Ranked Societies, Iconographic Complexity, and Economic Wealth in the Basin of Mexico Toward 1200 BC." In Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, edited by John E. Clark and Mary E. Pye. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. 169-192. |
||||||
|
The following implies that shields were the only form of armor: "In reaction to slings, shields were widely adopted in the Late Formative, especially rectangular ones that protected most of the body [...] The protection afforded the trunk and the limbs".
[1]
known form artwork and figurines, but they may have been purely decorative (i.e. for status).
[2]
[3]
[1]: (Hassig 1992: 31) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. [2]: Hassig, Ross. (1992) War and Society in Ancient Mesoamerica. Berkeley: University of California Press, pg.31. [3]: Piña Chán, Román. (1971). "Preclassic or Formative Pottery and Minor Arts of the Valley of Mexico." In The Handbook of Middle American Indians, vol. 10, ed. G. F. Ekholm and I. Bernal. Austin: University of Texas Press, 157-178. |
||||||
|
Among the Toltecs (previous polity): "Headgear consisted of a pillbox-shaped hat".
[1]
Among the Aztecs (succeeding polity): "The Aztecs used shields, various forms of body armor, warriors’ suits, and helmets […] the elite also adopted complete torso armor".
[2]
[1]: (Coe 1994: 140) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/5DJ2S5IF. [2]: (Hassig 1992: 139) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/E9VHCKDG. |
||||||
|
Sources
[1]
only mention very little archaeological evidence for military technology for this period, and this does not include armour. However, armour made from wood and cloth have been documented for the later periods, so their absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Relative to military technology used in this period, sources only mention the atlatl and spears.
[1]
However, armour made from wood and cloth has been documented for the later periods, so its absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
Relative to military technology used in this period, sources only mention the atlatl and spears.
[1]
However, armour made from wood and cloth has been documented for the later periods, so its absence in the archaeological record may be due to preservation bias.
[1]: Marcus and Flannery (1996) Zapotec Civilization: How urban society evolved in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley. Flannery and Marcus (1983) The Cloud People: divergent evolution of the Zapotec and Mixtec civilizations. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Academic Press, New York. |
||||||
|
The Peruvian Moche civilization (end c700 CE) had helmets, as demonstrated by the Moche warrior pot in the British Museum.
[1]
Not the same archaeological sub-tradition
[1]: (British Museum. Link to photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Moche_warrior_pot_at_the_British_Museum.jpg) |
||||||
|
This may require reconsideration, given the presence of colonial forces on the island.
|
||||||
|
No evidence for weapons or armor, apart from arrowheads, spearheads, daggers and axes, have been found at Pirak. This may in part be due to preservation conditions at the site.
[1]
However, Harappan weapons are "characterised by the absence of shields, helmets and armour".
[2]
[1]: Jarrige, J-F. (1979) Fouilles de Pirak. Paris : Diffusion de Boccard. [2]: Sharma, R. S., ‘Material Background of Vedic Warfare’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 9 (1966):305. |
||||||
|
If "the first archaeologically recognizable, large post-Indus urban settlements are not earlier than the fifth century BC ... solidly visible states ... appear in a sudden profusion in the late first millennium B.C."
[1]
- who was king Stabrobates of India who used war elephants against a queen of Assyria (considered Shammuramat?) in the 9th century BCE?
[2]
One could infer king Stabrobates, if not based there himself, must have subdued and controlled the Kachi Plain region in order to invade Mesopotamia from ’India’. (Another source says Assyria invaded India and were driven out of Pakistan and India).
[3]
Diodorus Siculus says this too, queen Semiramis was based in Bactra (Bactria?).
[4]
If king Stabrobates’s polity controlled the Kachi Plain then we must code the according to the military technology he possessed. This would have included armour. Note: one military historian estimates that the Assyrian army had a strategic range of 2000 km
[5]
which places the Indus region in reach of their forces.
[1]: (Ahmed 2014, 64) Mukhtar Ahmed. 2014. Ancient Pakistan - An Archaeological History: Volume V: The End of the Harappan Civilization, and the Aftermath. Foursome Group. [2]: (Mayor 2014, 289) Adrienne Mayor. Animals in Warfare. Gordon Lindsay Campbell. ed. 2014. The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Kistler 2007, 18) John M Kistler. 2007. War Elephants. University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. [4]: Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Complete Works of Diodorus Siculus. Delphi Classics. [5]: (Gabriel 2002, 9) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
"Besides not producing many socketed weapons, the Indus is also lacking in narrow-bladed axes and square-sectioned spears. These axe designs have been connected with the appearance of body-armour, and the ensuing need for piercing weapons (Yadin 1963: 40), and the square-sectioned spears may arguably have been a response to the same stimulus. The absence of these designs in the Indus, or at least of weapons that seem to have an emphasis on piercing through something, implies that armour (presumably made of organic materials, as no metal helmets or scales of armour have been found) was not commonly used."
[1]
[1]: (Cork 2006: 174) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IQQCEMPC/q/cork. |
||||||
|
"Besides not producing many socketed weapons, the Indus is also lacking in narrow-bladed axes and square-sectioned spears. These axe designs have been connected with the appearance of body-armour, and the ensuing need for piercing weapons (Yadin 1963: 40), and the square-sectioned spears may arguably have been a response to the same stimulus. The absence of these designs in the Indus, or at least of weapons that seem to have an emphasis on piercing through something, implies that armour (presumably made of organic materials, as no metal helmets or scales of armour have been found) was not commonly used."
[1]
[1]: (Cork 2006: 174) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/IQQCEMPC/q/cork. |
||||||
|
"In the report of the soldier Semen Epishev (1652) to the Yakutsk voivode Dmitrii Frantsebekov it says, incidentally: we came by seam to the mouth of the Okhta River and at that time at the mouth there were many clans of foreigner Tungus, a thousand and more, and they shot at us; they had harnesses and weapons, and shot at us with arrows and cast spears, wearing caps and helmets of iron and of bone, and did not want to let us to the Okhta--they wanted to kill us."
[1]
[1]: Sieroszewski, Wacław. 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research.”, 635 |
||||||
|
"In the report of the soldier Semen Epishev (1652) to the Yakutsk voivode Dmitrii Frantsebekov it says, incidentally: we came by seam to the mouth of the Okhta River and at that time at the mouth there were many clans of foreigner Tungus, a thousand and more, and they shot at us; they had harnesses and weapons, and shot at us with arrows and cast spears, wearing caps and helmets of iron and of bone, and did not want to let us to the Okhta--they wanted to kill us."
[1]
[1]: Sieroszewski, Wacław. 1993. “Yakut: An Experiment In Ethnographic Research.”, 635 |
||||||
|
[1]
"A poem describes the defensive armament of the Arab warrior in the following terms. ’We wore helmets and Yemeni leather shields ... and glittering coats of mail having visible folds about the belt.’ The helmets were fabricated of hammered iron or cast bronze and were either of Byzantine or Persian design; they were no doubt imported. Metal helmets were very expensive and were affordable only by the wealthy. Those of lesser standing usually had only a thick cloth turban for head protection. Later it became the Arab habit to wrap a cloth turban around the metal helmet worn underneath."
[2]
[1]: (Kennedy 2001, 168-178) [2]: (Gabriel 2007, 31) Richard A Gabriel. 2007. Muhammad: Islam’s First Great General. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman. |
||||||
|
Khudh (heavy). Baydah (light).
[1]
At a ceremonial occasion the Caliph al-Mu’izz was "surrounded by his four armored and helmeted sons".
[2]
"While the styles of weapons varied according to region and time period, the warriors of the Crusader era generally employed many of the same types of weapons used during the first Islamic centuries - coasts of mail, helmets, shields, swords, spears, lances, knives, iron maces, lassos, bows, arrows, and naft (or Greek fire)."
[3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1996, 76) [2]: (Raymond 2000, 38) [3]: (Lindsay 2005, 78) Lindsay, James E. 2005. Daily Life in The Medieval Islamic World. Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis. |
||||||
|
Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
It’s technically possible they could have been used earlier than the mid-2nd millennium BCE in both Egypt and in Antolia as the earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. Gabriel (2002) claims after this time use of helmets became standard issue
[3]
, but possibly he was only referring to the Mesopotamian region.
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
"The majority of infantry, even the heavy infantry, had felt caps rather than metal helmets, for example, and this must have been standard wear from the later seventh or eighth century on, and remained so until the eleventh century and after (although there were certainly exceptions, especially among infantry tagmata recruited from foreign mercenaries, for example, whose panoply reflected their own cultural and martial traditions)."
[2]
[1]: (Johannes Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Haldon 2008, 476) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Preiser-Kapeller says present.
[1]
"The mid-tenth-century heavy cavalryman is described in several sources, in particular the Praecepta militaria ascribed to the emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, and was protected by a lamellar klibaniony with splinted arm-guards, sleeves, and gauntlets, the latter from coarse silk or quilted cotton. From the waist to the knee he wore thick felt coverings, reinforced with mail; over the klibanion was worn a sleeveless quilted or padded coat (the epilorikon); and to protect the head and neck an iron helmet with mail or quilting attached and wrapped around the face. The lower leg was protected by splinted greaves of bronze."
[2]
Varangian guard wore an iron helmet.
[1]: (Preiser-Kapeller 2015) Institute for Medieval Research, Division of Byzantine Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences) [2]: (Haldon 2008, 476-477) Jeffreys E, Haldon J and Cormack R eds. 2008. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
||||||
|
Inferred, based on presence in the contemporary Pontic kingdom.
[1]
[2]
[1]: McGing, B. C. (1986) The foreign policy of Mithridates VI Eupator, King of Pontus. Leiden: Brill. [2]: Erciyas, D. B. (2006) Wealth, Aristocracy and Royal Propaganda under the Hellenistic Kingdom of the Mithradatids. Colloquia Pontica: Brill, Leiden, Boston. |
||||||
|
Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
According to a military historian (this data needs to be checked by a polity specialist) earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[3]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[3]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
||||||
|
Present.
[1]
Helmets were present in Egypt probably worn by charioteers by the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
According to one military historian (a polity expert is needed to check its application here): Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[3]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Present in Egypt probably worn by charioteers by the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[1]
Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[2]
[1]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [2]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
According to a military historian (this data needs to be checked by a polity specialist) earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[3]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. |
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Earliest reference for present we currently have is for the Hittites.
[1]
In Egypt helmets were probably first worn by charioteers in the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
According to a military historian (this data needs to be checked by a polity specialist) earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer.
[3]
[1]: Bryce T. (2007) Hittite Warrior, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, pp. 15-16 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Bronze helmets from Iran appear to have been used by Steppe Nomads. Also Steppe Nomads coded in other polities have been found to use leather or other helmets. "Sauromatian bronze helmets and scale or plate armor not of local production appear in the Volga River region and southern Ural Steppes in the fifth-fourth century b.c., showing an increase in the exchange economy among neighboring communities."
[1]
[1]: Nicola Di Cosmo. 2002. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, p. 42 |
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‘Knives, daggers, swords, arrowheads, spearheads, armor scales, and helmets discovered in these fortresses were produced on a mass scale and speak to an impressive military apparatus, unprecedented for this region.
[1]
Which time/polity does this quote precisely refer to? Helmets were present in Egypt probably worn by charioteers by the 18th Dynasty c1500 BCE.
[2]
According to a military history (data requires check by polity expert): Earliest known helmet dates to 2500 BCE in Sumer. After this time use of helmets became widespread.
[3]
[1]: Lori Khatchadourian, ‘The Iron Age in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 480 [2]: (Hoffmeier 2001) J K Hoffmeier in D B Redford. ed. 2001. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. Oxford. [3]: (Gabriel 2002, 22) Richard A Gabriel. 2002. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Praeger. Westport. |
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Rounded helmet with a high crest
[1]
. ‘Knives, daggers, swords, arrowheads, spearheads, armor scales, and helmets discovered in these fortresses were produced on a mass scale and speak to an impressive military apparatus, unprecedented for this region.
[2]
Which polity does this quote reference?
[1]: Roller, L., 1999, “Early Phrygian Drawings from Gordion and the Elements of Phrygian Artistic Style”, Anatolian Studies, Vol. 49, pg:146 [2]: Lori Khatchadourian, ‘The Iron Age in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 480 |
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‘Knives, daggers, swords, arrowheads, spearheads, armor scales, and helmets discovered in these fortresses were produced on a mass scale and speak to an impressive military apparatus, unprecedented for this region.
[1]
[1]: Lori Khatchadourian, ‘The Iron Age in Eastern Anatolia’, The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia: (10,000-323 BCE), Edited by Gregory McMahon and Sharon Steadman, 2011, p. 480 |
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Sources only mention shields
[1]
. It should be noted that sources that specifically describe the way the Illinois Confederation waged war are relatively rare.
[1]: Illinois State Museum, The Illinois, Technology: Weapons (2000), http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/nat_amer/post/htmls/te_houses.html |
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"At one time a round cap, woven of willow sticks, in two layers, was worn for better protection against a stroke from a war club. Later this type of helmet developed into a skull cap or round turban. It was made over a frame consisting of a band of splints shaped round to fit the head, with two cross splints arched over the top. This was covered with tanned skin, red or blue broadcloth, velvet, or a fancy silk handkerchief, and bound at the rim with a quilled, beaded, or silver band."
[1]
"Helmets are not referenced for the Huron, but the Iroquois sometimes wore them (Lafitau 1977, 115). ’Several New York pipes and carved heads have helmets. They seem made of a series of hoops, gradually becoming smaller and sometimes with a knob at the top. They were woven of twine. Another kind was cylindric, with some animal’s head in front and a cover for the neck behind.’ (Beauchamp 1905, 128)"
[2]
[1]: Lyford 1945, 27 [2]: (Jones 2004, 60) Jones, David. 2004. Native North American Armor, Shields, and Fortifications. Austin: University of Texas Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/collectionKey/943RGM7A/itemKey/HABDQG2T |
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At one time a round cap, woven of willow sticks, in two layers, was worn for better protection against a stroke from a war club. Later this type of helmet developed into a skull cap or round turban. It was made over a frame consisting of a band of splints shaped round to fit the head, with two cross splints arched over the top. This was covered with tanned skin, red or blue broadcloth, velvet, or a fancy silk handkerchief, and bound at the rim with a quilled, beaded, or silver band.
[1]
[1]: Lyford 1945, 27 |
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Checked by Peter Peregrine.
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Inferred from lack of helmets in previous and later polities.
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Illustration in Rashidu’d Din’s "History of the World": "helmets are rounded, with a central ornamental spike, and frequently have a turned-up peak or reinforce over the brow. Nape guards are of mail, leather or fabric, as are probably the deep collars of the lamellar coats."
[1]
"A helmet of rounded conical form, formerly in the collection of Count Krasinski of Poland, dating from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries, retained many features in common with that on the Tāq-i-Bōstān relief. ... This form of helmet is distinctly Persian in origin."
[1]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. |
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Safavid and Mughal cavalry armour of the period included mail, cuirass (four breast-pieces, back and side plates), arm guards, circular shield, helmet.
[1]
[1]: (Roy 2014, 47) Kaushik Roy. 2014. Military Transition in Early Modern Asia, 1400-1750: Cavalry, Guns, Government and Ships. Bloomsbury Academic. London. |
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Probably present for the Andronovo charioteers but by the 12th century BCE "mounted horsemen armed with bows and arrows replaced chariot drivers"
[1]
so we need to know what armour (if any) they wore. Tazabagyab culture is considered to have had its origin in Andronovo culture.
[2]
Andronovo culture (2000-900 BCE, Alakul phase 2100-1400 BCE, Fedorovo phase 1400-1200 BCE, Alekseyevka phase 1200-1000 BCE). Tazabagyab culture (15th - 11th), Suyarganskaya culture (11th - 9th), Amirabad culture (9th - 8th).
[1]: (Kuz’mina 2007, 138) Elena Efimovna Kuzʹmina. 2007. The Origin of the Indo-Iranians. J P Mallory ed. BRILL. Leiden. [2]: (Mallory 1997, 20-21) J P Mallory. Andronovo culture. J P Mallory. D Q Adams. eds. 1997. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. Chicago. |
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"The dearth of illustrative material for the greater part of six centuries is largely due to the wanton destruction caused by two savage invasions from the east and only such finds as the stucco figures from Kara-shar [Central Asian warrior, eighth to tenth century] tell us that in all this period there had been little change."
[1]
The Sassanids wore helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: (Mitterauer 2010, 106) Mitterauer, M. 2010. Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path. University of Chicago Press. |
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"In the seventh century the Arab Caliphate overran the Sāssānian Empire and, as far as we can tell, no great changes took place in the Persian equipment then or for a long time afterwards. The invader came under the influence of the remarkable Persian culture and no doubt, in due course, took advantage of the superior craftsmen now at his disposal for the making of his own equipment."
[1]
The Sassanids wore helmets.
[2]
[1]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. [2]: (Mitterauer 2010, 106) Mitterauer, M. 2010. Why Europe?: The Medieval Origins of Its Special Path. University of Chicago Press. |
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Metal helmets.
[1]
The Tatar foot-soldier "sported a tall hat made of fur, felt or sheepskin."
[2]
"The richer soldiers had helmets, single-edged sabres and coats of mail for themselves and their horses."
[2]
Illustration in Rashidu’d Din’s "History of the World": "helmets are rounded, with a central ornamental spike, and frequently have a turned-up peak or reinforce over the brow. Nape guards are of mail, leather or fabric, as are probably the deep collars of the lamellar coats."
[3]
"A helmet of rounded conical form, formerly in the collection of Count Krasinski of Poland, dating from the late thirteenth or early fourteenth centuries, retained many features in common with that on the Tāq-i-Bōstān relief. ... This form of helmet is distinctly Persian in origin."
[3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1990, 40) Nicolle, David. 1990. The Age of Tamerlane. Osprey Publishing. [2]: (Marozzi 2004, 100) Marozzi, J. 2004. Tamerlane. HarperCollinsPublishers. London. [3]: (Robinson 1967) Robinson, H. Russell. 1967. Oriental Armour. Walker and Co. New York. |
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Pliny (6.161-62) said probably referring to a civilian context "The Arabs wear turbans or else go with their hair unshorn" - however a thick Turban might potentially be used as head protection in warfare.
[1]
"A poem describes the defensive armament of the Arab warrior in the following terms. ’We wore helmets and Yemeni leather shields ... and glittering coats of mail having visible folds about the belt.’ The helmets were fabricated of hammered iron or cast bronze and were either of Byzantine or Persian design; they were no doubt imported. Metal helmets were very expensive and were affordable only by the wealthy. Those of lesser standing usually had only a thick cloth turban for head protection. Later it became the Arab habit to wrap a cloth turban around the metal helmet worn underneath."
[2]
[1]: (Hoyland 2001, 46) Robert G Hoyland. 2001. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam. Routledge. London. [2]: (Gabriel 2007, 31) Richard A Gabriel. 2007. Muhammad: Islam’s First Great General. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman. |
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In North Yemeni rock-art from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, figures interpreted as "warriors" appear to mostly wear"feathered head-dresses".
[1]
However, Jung himself does not state these were not in use, nor does he remark on their absence in said depictions.
[1]: (Jung 1991) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JP9KX5BK. |
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These do not appear to be included in depictions of"warriors" in North Yemeni rock-art from the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, as reproduced in Jung (1991).
[1]
However, Jung himself does not state these were not in use, nor does he remark on their absence in said depictions.
[1]: (Jung 1991) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/JP9KX5BK. |
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Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate
[1]
which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE. The Sulayhids used African mercenaries
[2]
and Central Sudanic Bornu horseback warriors often wore quilted armour and chainmail and a iron cap-helmet.
[3]
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy [2]: (Stookey 1978, 66) Robert W Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Westview Press. Boulder. [3]: Jacquelin A Blair. Nicholas Roumas. Fernando Martell advised by Jeffrey L Forgeng. 2011. The Progression of Arms and Armor from Ancient Greece to the European Renaissance across Eurasia and Africa. Worcester Polytechnic Institute. |
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"Practical considerations, however, prevailed during the South African campaigns and fighting men in the Boer War needed the large shady hat of soft felt with brim that could be lowered to shield eyes or nape ... The soft khaki felt hat of the Boer War proved acceptable and comfortable and its shape was retained for the the Civil Imperial Volunteers. ... At the outbreak of the First World War the peaked cap proved a light and practical form of headwear for all ranks, but under shellfire the metal helmet (or ’tin hat’) protected the head against shrapnel."
[1]
"The Home Service pattern helmet, generally known as the ’Blue Cloth’ helmet, was introduced by General Order 40 of May 1878, and replaced the shako that had been worn since 1869. The fittings, spike, plate, rosettes and chinchain were all in brass."
[2]
"The foreign service helmet was introduced in 1877. Made of cork covered in khaki cloth, it was usually worn with the curtain or neck protector. The tunic was also of khaki cloth ... Trousers were of the same material and were worn with puttees."
[2]
"Crealock’s sketches confirm this dress for the infantry and show the King’s Dragoon Guards in brass, plume-less helmets with turbans, or probably later in the campaign, airpipe helmets, tunics and booted overalls or, for officers, long boots pulled on over their trousers."
[3]
[1]: Hilda Amphlett.1974 (2003). Hats: A History of Fashion in Headwear. Dover Publications, Inc. Mineola. [2]: Christopher Wilkinson-Latham. 1977. The Boar War. Osprey Publishing. [3]: (Barthorp 1988, 24, 33) Michael Barthorp. 1988. The British Army on Campaign. 1856-1881. Osprey Publishing Ltd. |
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Code inferred from Abbasid Caliphate
[1]
which occupied Yemen between 751-868 CE.
[1]: Hugh N Kennedy. 2001. The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State. Routledge. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/SGPPFNAZ/q/kennedy |
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