When you buy through link on our site , we may pull in an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it works .
Archaeologists in Croatia have discovered a 2,500 - class - old metal helmet within an Illyrian burial mound that may have been a votive offering or part of a religious cult practice .
The helmet was unearthed in a stone social system within a burial mound at the Gomile archeologic situation . It date to sometime between the end of the 6th century B.C. and the offset of the fourth century B.C.,Hrvoje Potrebica , an archaeology prof at the University of Zagreb who is lead the excavation , told Live Science in an email .
The 2,500-year-old helmet was found upright in a stone structure on the burial mound.
The site of Gomile has multiple burial heap and is located near the small town of Zakotorac , on the Pelješac Peninsula near the Adriatic Sea . " Each hill [ hold ] multiple Robert Ranke Graves and each tomb contain[s ] multiple burials , " Potrebica say .
concord to ancient Greek disk , a people the Greeks call the Illyrians flourished in the realm around the time the helmet was made . The Illyrians were divided among dissimilar tribes and realm and were step by step conquered by theRomansin a serial publication of war that pass between 229 and 168 B.C.
Related : Cold War orbiter images reveal nearly 400 popish forts in the Middle East
This 3D model shows the burial mound where the helmet was discovered by archaeologists.
While the newly found helmet has yet to undergo conservation , it " seems to be in complete condition " Potrebica said . The rock complex body part holding the helmet is freestanding from all the graves in the burial cumulation , which suggests it was intend as a votive offering " to deceased ascendent or part of some cult practice related to the whole mound and not [ a ] especial individual or a grave , " Potrebica said .
If the new found helmet was used in battle , it may have had a psychological effect on the enemy , Domagoj Perkić , film director of the Archaeological Museum , which is a part of Dubrovnik Museums , and a researcher working on the excavation , told Live Science in an email . " Just stress to imagine a warrior with a lustrous [ helmet ] on his head , in the sun , on the eve of a struggle … that moment alone induce awe in the enemy . "
— Remains of 7,000 - class - old sunken stone road discovered off Croatia ’s coast
An aerial photo showing the mound where the helmet was found.
— Ancient skeletons with exotic - comparable head excavate in Croatia
— Why were lashings of hoi polloi butcher 6,200 year ago and buried in a Neolithic death pit ?
In 2020 , archeologist found another helmet in a stone structure in a nearby burial agglomerate , Potrebica said . Like the new discover helmet , it in all likelihood was n’t mean for any one person or grave .
The Centre for Prehistoric Research in Zagreb , which Potrebica is president of , is align enquiry at the Gomile site and collaborating with scientists from Dubrovnik Museums and the Institute of Archaeology in Croatia .
' If it was a humankind , we would say that ’s a warrior ’s grave ' : Weapon - fill interment are shake up what we know about women ’s role in Viking society
' It was deliberately hide ' : golden hoard of nearly 600 coins found in Czech Republic may date to World War II
The constant surveillance of modern aliveness could decline our brain procedure in ways we do n’t full sympathise , disturbing studies suggest
