Bronze Age bell helmets: new aspects on typology, chronology and manufacture

Over more than 150 years of research, Late Bronze Age bell helmets have usually been included in discussions about Bronze Age helmets in general, and are rarely the main topic of discussion. This article discusses in detail and for the first time all known bell helmets and one associated fragment, and aims to shed new light on the development and chronology of these unique Late Bronze Age helmets. Their origin remains unclear and they date into HaB1, and were mostly found in hoards in the Carpathian Basin. Moreover, the number of published analyses of bell helmets has increased with elemental and micro-structural analyses and the results will be compared and discussed in detail. Unfortunately, of the 14 helmets known today, three are in private collections or lost. The ten remaining secure finds are analysed and discussed and their manufacture reconstructed, with detailed description of a new manufacturing technique that emerged through the new analyses.