So yesterday when looking in Gallica for something else, I came across this fun image.
Before entering the Bnf it was owned by Honoré d’Albert de Luynes and is said to have been discovered in Ruvo. I wanted to know more about Ruvo and the helmet, but a quick search revealed MORE helmets said to be from the same place.
The BM has a great number of objects from Ruvo approximately 288 of which 217 came from Sir William Temple, but Alessandro Castellani liked to attribute objects to this find spot as well.
In total the BM has 5 helmets attributed to Ruvo. I gotta say Castellani’s propensity for fakes and modifications makes me suspicious of the fun sea serpent helmet.
Dan Diffendale gives us images of three in Naples again purchases not excavation finds.
Where is Ruvo? Just a little north of Bari and south of Cannae.
Here’s an article on the attempts to ascertain what remains to be preserved at the site:
Giannotta, Maria Teresa, Lara De Giorgi, Giovanni Leucci, Raffaele Persico, Loredana Matera, and Ada Riccardi. “Preventive archaeology: the emblematic case of Ruvo di Puglia, Italy.” In 2015 8th International Workshop on Advanced Ground Penetrating Radar (IWAGPR), pp. 1-4. IEEE, 2015.
As an aside the Louvre didn’t buy any helmets from Ruvo but they did buy two cuirasses and other stuff; Berlin has 4 bronzes again no helmets.
Finally the Getty bibliographies of their objects (maybe from Ruvo?) got me the reference I wanted:
Montanaro, Andrea. Ruvo di Puglia e il suo territorio: le necropoli. I corredi funerari tra la documentazione del XIX secolo e gli scavi moderni. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2007. Too bad I can’t find a copy for under 600 dollars…ffffft.
Cf. Bottini, Angelo and Setari, Elisabetta. La necropoli italica di Braida di Vaglio in Basilicata: materiali dallo scavo del 1994 (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Monumenti Antichi, volume 7 (issue 60)). Rome, 2003.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 