Ukrainian-Italian Connections during the Early Iron Age and How These Are Being Destroyed by Illicit Excavations and the Art Market

Abstract

Ukrainian-Italian Connections during the Early Iron Age and How These Are Being Destroyed by Illicit Excavations and the Art Market

Several finds of bronze helmets from the south-western Ukraine indicate close connections between this region and Etruria in Italy. Unfortunately, none of these finds derive from licensed archaeological excavations. Especially in recent years an increasing number of helmets have been found by metal-detectoring in the Ukraine and offered for sale on a local, online auction platform. With the exception of two helmets now housed in local Ukrainian museums, the helmets presented here will likely soon appear on the international market. The aim of this paper is, on the one hand to present the finds and to clarify their contexts as well as to facilitate their future repatriation, on the other hand to provide an insight into the connections between the Ukraine and Italy during the Early Iron Age based upon the bronze helmets and give an overview of further illicit finds of helmets of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age from the Ukraine.