Multisegmental Helmets on the Euro-Asiatic Frontier: A Reassessment Based on the helmet from the Relka Burial Site

Abstract

This article reassesses multisegmental helmets from the Euro-Asiatic frontier through a detailed study of the helmet from the Relka Burial Site in Siberia. Re-examination of the artefact shows that it belongs to a wider Eurasian group of spangenhelme characterised by tapering spangs, oval cut-outs, decorative rivet systems, and distinctive finial constructions. The Relka helmet, previously insufficiently analysed and inconsistently illustrated, is shown to be a key object for understanding the technological development of segmented helmets between the late 6th and early 8th centuries CE. By comparing the Relka specimen with helmets from Nineveh, Iran, Perm, Dyurso, Astrakhan, Moldavanskoe, and iconographic evidence from Afrasiab, the study proposes a refined typological sequence. It argues that these helmets developed from narrow-spanged Sasanian forms into wider-spanged variants and, ultimately, into four-part constructions known from the Caucasus and southern Russia. The article also considers the possible role of Iranian, Central Asian, Siberian, and Khazar networks in the transmission and transformation of this armour tradition. The Relka helmet thus provides important evidence for longterm technological continuity, regional adaptation, and cross-cultural exchange in arms and armour production during Late Antiquity, the Migration Period, and the Early Medieval Period