South Shields, River Tyne, Roman helmet cheek-piece

HER Number:
927

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
South Shields, River Tyne, Roman helmet cheek-piece

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Armour and Weapons

Site Type: Broad:
Armour

Site Type: Specific:
Helmet

General Period:
Roman

Specific Period:
C2/C3

Form of Evidence:
Find

Description:
...elegant, bronze left cheekpiece from a helmet of Robinson's Auxiliary Cavalry Type H. Height 190 mm. It was reduced in size after the decoration was incised. Central decoration, pricked out in fine pounced lines, shows a naked male figure standing with a cloak over his shoulders. With his right hand he controls a horse, in his left he holds a spear. This figure represents one of the Dioscuri. Below is a dolphin, above a frieze of leaves. Supposed to have been dredged up at, or near, the bar across the River Tyne before 1877 with, or close to, HER no. 928. Another source says it was dredged up on the south side of the Tyne at its junction with the sea.

Easting:
36876

Northing:
68184

Grid Reference:
NZ3687668184

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 927 >> C. Bruce, 1880, On the recent discoveries in the Roman Camp on the Lawe... Archaeologia Aeliana, 2, X, 262-3; Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle, 1885, Cheek Piece of a Roman Helmet found in the Tyne, 2, I (for 1882-4), p. 341; F. Haverfield, 1907, Note on Roman Armour found on Tynemouth Bar, Northumberland County History, VIII, pp. 278 and 280; H.R. Robinson, 1975, The Armour of Imperial Rome, pp. 102-03, and pl. 287; L. Allason-Jones & R. Miket, 1984, The Catalogue of Small Finds from South Shields Roman Fort, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, Monograph, No.3.723; D.J. Smith, 1974, Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne - An Illustrated Introduction, 21; J.M.C. Toynbee, 1963, Art in Roman Britain, no. 104; J.M.C. Toynbee, 1964, Art in britain under the Romans, 297