Helmets

[Page 628]A helmet is a type of military headgear designed to protect the wearer’s head in combat. Helmets are among the oldest forms of personal protective armor. Most contemporary militaries utilize Kevlar and other composites to create light but strong head protection for combatants. This entry discusses the development of helmets and looks at helmets in use today.

Archaeological evidence has revealed that, as early as the third millennium BCE, Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian warriors wore primitive helmets made of rawhide, bone, and/or copper into battle. By the mid-23rd century BCE, helmets constructed out of such primitive material began to fall out of use, in favor of ones made of bronze. The refinement of iron smelting in the 9th century BCE brought about the end of ...