Agris Helmet

The Agris Helmet (French: Casque d'Agris) is a ceremonial Celtic helmet from c. 350 BC that was found in a cave near Agris, Charente, France, in 1981. It is a masterpiece of Celtic art, and would probably have been used for display rather than worn in battle. The helmet consists of an iron cap completely covered with bands of bronze. The bronze is in turn covered with unusually pure gold leaf, with embedded coral decorations attached using silver rivets. One of the cheek guards was also found and has similar materials and designs. The helmet is mostly decorated in early Celtic patterns but there are later Celtic motifs and signs of Greek influence. The quality of the gold indicates that the helmet may well have been made locally in the Atlantic region.

The Agris helmet was found in a cave near Angoulême in 1981. The Perrats cave had been known for just over a week when cavers found two contiguous parts of the front of the helmet on 9–10 May 1981. The fragments were on a cone of debris thrown out from a badger burrow in the cave's main chamber. An excavation team was quickly formed to search the site. They found scraps of gold leaf, two fragments that joined to form a larger triangular piece, and then the helmet itself, which was well-preserved other than the part that had been torn off by the badgers.

The site shows signs of having been occupied from the Bronze Age through the Iron Age, the Gallo-Roman period and into the Middle Ages. The entrance collapsed and closed the cave in the 13th or 14th century AD. At the time of discovery almost all the parts of the helmet had been disturbed by burrowing animals. In 1983, the cheek guard and three fragments of ornamentation from the side of the helmet were discovered during excavations. Other fragments were found in 1986, including the base of the helmet's crest, several meters from where the helmet had been found. They seem to have been carried there accidentally, either by people or by badgers. The second cheek guard and the ornamentation of the summit of the helmet have not been found.

The government bought the found objects from the owner of the land. The helmet was restored by Laszlo von Lehóczky at the Romano-Germanic Central Museum (Mainz). It is now held by the Musée d'Angoulême in Angoulême, France. The helmet is considered one of the masterpieces of Celtic art and has been featured in several international exhibitions. It has even formed the basis for a graphic novel, Le casque d'Agris (2005).

Excavations in 2002 show that the cave entrance was guarded by a mud wall and a ditch, and would have been a sanctuary until the early Roman Empire. The helmet is isolated, with no sign of a human burial, and was buried deliberately. At the time of burial at least some of the external ornaments had been broken off and placed in the interior of the helmet. The helmet had been carefully placed. The archaeologists who found it think it may have been buried as part of a ritual to the underworld spirits. Roman sources say that the Celtic warriors generally did not wear helmets. The helmet would have been used for display, and would have indicated the high rank of the owner, or the wish to attain such a rank.

The helmet dates from the early period of the La Tène culture. The gold leaf is extremely pure, and the helmet may be one of the oldest refined gold objects of Western Europe. It was found further west than most other examples of high-status La Tène metalwork. A few similar objects have been found in France at Amfreville-sous-les-Monts (Normandy), Saint-Jean-Trolimon (Brittany) and Montlaurès near Narbonne (Aude) and in Italy at Canosa (Puglia).

The design of the inner iron cap is similar to that of a series of helmets that have mostly been found in the Central Alps. The veneer of bronze strips recalls Italian helmets of the Montefortino type. The palmette-based design links it to the early style of the La Tène culture. Most of the motifs in the decoration belong to the first western style of the culture, or are closely derived from this style. Other motifs are from an intermediate stage with the Waldalgesheim style.

Authorities differ on the date of the helmet. In a 2001 paper, José Gomez De Soto suggests the middle or the second half of the 4th century. D. W. Harding says the stratigraphic association of the helmet with a Dux-type fibula from La Tène B and other signs indicate that it was made in the later part of the 4th century. However, in a 2010 paper Gomez de Soto and Stephane Verger conclude that the decorations, when viewed as a whole, indicate that the helmet was made in the 2nd quarter or the middle of the 4th century.