A Man Foraging For Mushrooms In Slovakia Has Discovered Two Rare Bronze Age Helmets

While hunting for mushrooms last year, a man in Slovakia managed to discover two extremely well-preserved Bronze Age helmets, which are now proudly being held at the Eastern Slovakia Museum in Košice. The mushroom picker originally found the helmets in Michalovce County — close to the village of Trhovište — and took them to the museum earlier this year for further investigation and study.

According to The Slovak Spectator, the Bronze Age helmets are estimated to be worth €60,000, yet are truly invaluable historically speaking. After the Eastern Slovakia Museum’s resident archaeologist Dárius Gašaj observed the helmets, he reported the exciting discovery to the Regional Monument’s Board.

Róbert Pollák, who is currently the director of the museum, has explained that the Bronze Age helmets were also discovered alongside arm guards and cheek pads by the mushroom picker. The fortunate finder does not wish to be named publicly.

“This precious finding consists of two Bronze Age helmets, partly stuck to each other. There were also two pairs of protective cheek pads and two spiral arm guards.”

As soon as the helmets were identified by archaeologist Gašaj, a colleague also working in conjunction with the Regional Monument’s Board accompanied him on a journey to the site where the helmets were found.

@bronzeagemantis bap book been out for https://t.co/leQJLiFsfi

— Disgust Maximizer (@kalashnikovism) September 21, 2018

The Bronze Age helmets are currently in the property of the state, but the Eastern Slovakia Museum would very much like to acquire them. According to Pollák, this museum and also the Košice Region are of the opinion that these helmets belong inside a museum — where they can be placed on display and properly preserved.

Bronze Age helmets are extremely rare to discover. This is true not only for Slovakia but also throughout the entirety of the European mainland. The helmets found by the mushroom picker were very much in the western European style and were fashioned out of Bronze plates, with a three-toothed comb attached. This comb fortunately comes with a tiny hole inside of it, so that its wearer is able to attach whatever kind of plume they fancy to it.

These two helmets are so very rare that only three others have been found that are similar, with all of them having been discovered in the Eastern Alpine region of Europe. The helmets are dated as having been made somewhere between the 12th and 10th centuries BC.

While it is still not clear who owned these Bronze Age helmets initially, it is believed that they were once in the possession of important military chiefs.