ABSTRACT
Indo-European battle lords stood out for their bronze or gold helmets. The Vedic Marut warband wore such helmets, Scythian leaders of the fourth century BC strutted in golden open-work headgear, and Celtic chieftains likewise wore gold-gleaming helmets.1 From Denmark’s Bronze Age warriors, forebears of the Germanic, come the splendid ceremonial helmets of Viksø with their cast-on crossbands that make them forerunners of the helmets discussed in this chapter.2
