For more than 30 years, a remarkable collection of helmets recovered from the waters off Spain was believed to date back to Roman times. New research has now overturned that assumption, revealing that the artifacts are actually medieval and provide rare insight into the movement of weapons, trade, and military activity across the Mediterranean during the Late Middle Ages.
The study, led by researchers at the University of Alicante (UA), reexamined 43 helmets discovered in 1990 at the underwater archaeological site of Piedras de la Barbada near Benicarló on Spain's eastern coast. The findings, published in the Cambridge University Press journal Antiquity, show that the helmets were manufactured between the late 14th and early 15th centuries, completely overturning their long-standing Roman classification.
The research was led by Manuel Frallicciardi, a doctoral student jointly supervised by the University of Alicante and the University of Salerno.
Largest Medieval Helmet Hoard in the Western Mediterranean
The discovery itself happened by accident. Local fishermen pulled up two large masses of metal that had become fused together through centuries of marine corrosion after snagging them in their nets. Inside the concreted blocks was an extraordinary cache of iron helmets.
