Archaeology breakthrough as 'exceptionally rare' Roman helmet unearthed

Fragments of an "exceptionally rare" Roman helmet have been unearthed in Denmark, along with a stash of weapons and an "incredibly valuable" chainmail shirt.

Researchers say that this is the only known Roman helmet to have ever been found in Denmark, and the earliest known iron helmet in the country.

A team of archaeologists from the Cultural Museum in Vejle, Denmark, discovered the site while excavating ahead of a motorway being expanded in the area. They found nearly 200 weapons at the site, called Løsning Søndermark, which are believed to be around 1,500 years old.

Only a very small number of chainmail shirts from the Iron Age have been found in the southern Scandinavian region, the authors said, claiming this "valuable" shirt indicates that the site was home to a powerful chieftain.

“From the very first surveys, we knew this was going to be extraordinary, but the excavation has exceeded all our expectations,” said team leader Elias Witte Thomasen, an archaeologist at the Vejle Museums, in a statement in November.

“The sheer number of weapons is astonishing, but what fascinates me most is the glimpse they provide into the societal structure and daily life of the Iron Age. We suddenly feel very close to the people who lived here 1,500 years ago.”

The team says the way in which the war equipment was buried suggests it was a ritualistic offering to higher powers.

“During the examination of one of the largest weapon deposits – offered in a posthole of a house – two unusual iron plates were unearthed, both roughly the size of a palm,” Vejle Museums archaeologist Elias Witte Thomasen and colleagues said in a statement.

The archaeologists used X-ray imaging to see beneath thick layers of rust covering the two objects. “The