CIRCA 5TH CENTURY B.C.

The Alpanseque-Almaluez helmet type is a local production by the Celtiberians, an ethnic group that settled in Spain. The type is characterized by a hemispherical bowl fashioned out of thin bronze sheet. It is constructed from two sections and secured with iron at the central seam across the crown. The simplicity of form contrasts with the elaborate ornamentation adorning the borders and bowl. As seen on the present example, the extensive embossed elements include a band that encircles the lower edge and others that divide the bowl into quadrants, as well as bands of concentric circles (perhaps a solar motif) formed of lines and dots above bands of humans in movement – with arms raised and legs spread with the right bent and raised. The present example is extremely rare, the only known example that has a cut-out face plate and remnants of additional, separately-pinned elements (likely horns or plume-holders), possibly marking it as a transition helmet to the later Aguilar type (see pp. 71- 76 in Graells i Fabregat and A. J Lorrio Alvarado, op. cit.).