In August 2024, a team of divers from the Society for the Documentation of Submerged Sites discovered a bronze Roman military helmet on the seafloor off Sicily during an underwater study near the Aegadian Islands, along with roughly 30 metal artifacts. CT scans of the corroded objects identified swords, spears, and javelins that researchers linked to the 241 BCE battle. A statement by the Sicilian Region on September 5 announced the recovery of the artifacts.
“The ‘Montefortino’ helmet is one of the most beautiful and complete ever recovered,” said Francesco Paolo Scarpinato, regional councillor for cultural heritage, according to The Independent.
The helmet is a nearly complete specimen of the Montefortino type, used from the fourth century BCE through the first century CE. It featured intact, hinged cheek plates, a mushroom-shaped knob at the crown for plumes, a projecting bill, a flared rim, a protective neck guard, and a conical, spin-formed bronze body. The type took its name from the region of Montefortino.
Archaeologists said the helmet was likely lost during the Battle of the Aegates on March 10, 241 BCE, the final clash of the First Punic War. Historical sources indicate the Carthaginians outnumbered the Romans, yet the Romans prevailed. The defeat led Carthage to surrender Sicily, which Rome annexed as a province. The war ended after 23 years, established Rome as the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, and forced Carthage to pay reparations.
For more than 15 years, Sicily’s Superintendency of the Sea partnered with expert divers and maritime archaeologists to survey the seabed around the Aegadian Islands. The work yielded armor, weapons, pottery, naval battering rams, and several Montefortino helmets, at least six of which were found near the islands and were thought to be tied to the Punic War battle.
Last year, a Roman rostrum - a naval battering ram attached to a warship’s bow - was cleaned and studied, revealing an inscription that linked it to Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, a Roman magistrate from 243 BCE during the First Punic War.
The Montefortino helmet was widely adopted across the Roman world through the first century CE, before it was replaced by the Coolus helmet. It was practical, durable, and readily mass-produced. Early versions showed Celtic and Etruscan influences, and scholars say the Celts introduced the type to the Romans.
Carrying equipment into combat may explain how these objects ended up on the seafloor. Carthaginian soldiers who captured a Roman ship may have jettisoned heavy gear overboard in an attempt to escape the Roman navy, according to a 2019 interview with archaeologist William Murray in Live Science. Another possibility, Murray said, is that the Carthaginians employed mercenaries from Gaul and Iberia, who were also known to have worn Montefortino helmets.
“This was the most common type of helmet at that time,” said Jeffrey Royal, an independent archaeologist who was not involved in the new research but had found several similar helmets from the Battle of the Aegates. “The great thing about this one is it seems the cheek pieces were found with it; most of ours were scattered.”
From the same site, divers also uncovered a large bronze handle of uncertain use dated to the fifth century CE. “These finds not only enrich the historical knowledge of the battle of 241 BCE, but strengthen the image of our Island as the guardian of a unique cultural heritage in the world,” said Scarpinato.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.