Possible Medieval Helmet Recovered Off Sicily’s Coast

News April 1, 2024

Sicily Helmet
(Superintendency of the Sea)
SHARE:
Sicily Helmet

PALERMO, ITALY—The Miami Herald reports that a helmet thought to have been worn by an infantryman during the late medieval period or the early Renaissance has been found on the ocean floor off the southeastern coast of Sicily by researchers from the Superintendency of the Sea. The helmet is oval in shape with a ridge along its bottom edge and a crest across the top, in a style known as a cabasset, or a capacete in Spanish and Portuguese. It is not clear if the artifact was part of a shipwreck, or if it was lost on its own by a soldier at sea. The divers plan to return to the site for further investigation of the area. To read about a Byzantine shipwreck discovered off the Sicilian coast, go to "Shipping Stone."

  • Features May/June 2024

    Alexander the Great's Untold Story

    Excavations in northern Greece are revealing the world that shaped the future king

    Read Article
    (Veronika Pfeiffer/Alamy)
  • Letter from the Catskills May/June 2024

    Ghost Towns of the Ashokan Reservoir

    An archaeologist investigates how construction of New York City’s largest reservoir a century ago uprooted thousands of rural residents

    Read Article
    (Courtesy the New York City Department of Environmental Protection)
  • Digs & Discoveries May/June 2024

    Ancient Egyptian Caregivers

    Read Article
    (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
  • Digs & Discoveries May/June 2024

    Educational Idols

    Read Article