Rare 2,300-year-old helmet — with a pointed shape — unearthed in Poland. Take a look
Digging into a pit of black dirt in northern Poland, archaeologists noticed a blue-green object reemerging. The pointy artifact turned out to be a rare 2,300-year-old helmet.
The ancient site of Łysa Góra was already considered unique by archaeologists because of its Celtic connections, the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw and University of Warsaw wrote in an Aug. 29 Facebook post.
Excavations at Łysa Góra began in the 1970s and slowly revealed a thriving Celtic Iron Age settlement with homes, industrial areas and defensive structures, according to the government of Chorzele, a nearby town. But much of the site remains unexplored and poorly understood.
A team of archaeologists hoped to change that and spent the past summer excavating the site, researchers said in a Sept. 2 Facebook post.
The team’s most important find came from a pit filled with black charred material, researchers wrote in another post.
Buried there, archaeologists found a rare 2,300-year-old Celtic helmet. The bronze headgear originally had a Hershey’s kiss-like shape and a curved piece around the neck.
A photo shows the poorly preserved helmet. The pointed top is still identifiable, but large sections of the sides are gone.
The Łysa Góra helmet is only the second Celtic helmet found in Poland, archaeologists said. Its design style closely matches helmets found in Austria.
Archaeologists immediately removed the ancient helmet and sent it to a museum for further conservation and reassembly. Photos show the blue-green helmet fragments after being removed from the ground.
Excavations of the area near the helmet also unearthed four iron axes and an iron sword. Archaeologists did not say if these artifacts were found within an ancient structure, grave or other type of ruins.
Elsewhere at Łysa Góra, archaeologists uncovered iron tools, jewelry such as necklaces and bracelets, ceramics and other artifacts.
Excavations ended in August, but non-invasive surveys will continue through the end of the year, the university and museum said in a Sept. 7 Facebook post.
Łysa Góra is near the town of Chorzele and a roughly 80-mile drive north of Warsaw.
Google Translate and Facebook Translate were used to translate the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw and University of Warsaw’s Łysa Góra Facebook page, the State Archaeological Museum in Warsaw’s Facebook posts and website of the Chorzele government.
This story was originally published September 9, 2024 at 9:10 AM with the headline "Rare 2,300-year-old helmet — with a pointed shape — unearthed in Poland. Take a look."
