Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
of such intricacy would have been costly to make and
thus out of reach of all but the elite.
Helmets were also popular among those
who could afford them. The earliest,
known as Kuban helmets and dating
to the sixth century, were heavy
affairs made of cast bronze. They
fitted tightly to the head covering
the forehead to the eyebrow
line, with cheekpieces to protect
the face, and additional
neck protection. It is usually
assumed that this style of
helmet came from, or at
least derived its inspiration
from, Asia Minor,
but there are striking
parallels with helmets
in use in China from
the Shang dynasty
and later, and direct
influence from eastern
Asia, perhaps via
Mongolia and southern
Siberia, remains a possibility. From the fifth century
head protection based on scale-covered leather hoods
became more common while Greek helmets of Corinthian,
Attic, and Chalcidian type were now becoming
available. Some sixty are known from Scythian burials.
At the same time, metal greaves of Greek style were
adopted, though they were sometimes modified to
9.23 (Top) Helmet with cheekpieces covered with iron scales from
kurgan 2 at Novofedorivka in the Khersonska region.
9.24 (Bottom) Cast bronze helmet from kurgan 2 at Kelermes. Helmets
of this kind have been found in other burials in the Kuban region
but the type probably came from northern China.
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