Early Scythian helmets from the collection of the State Historical Museum and the formation of helmets of the Kuban type

The article discusses two bronze cast helmets of the Early Scythian period stored in the collection of the State Historical Museum (SHM) in Moscow. The helmets belong to the Kuban type, the locations of their discovery are not known. These items of protective armor have long been known; however, their detailed characteristics have not been provided in publications. The paper provides a detailed description and dimensions of the helmets and considers them against the background of all known similar finds from Eastern Europe. As a result of the typological analysis, specimens were identified that make up the morphological “core” of the Kuban type, to which one of the helmets from the SHM belongs. The second helmet, as well as some other finds from Eastern Europe were identified as variants of the Kuban type, which find some analogies among similar helmets from Central and Eastern Asia. The author comes to the conclusion that the process of creating a single form of helmets of the Kuban type was disrupted due to a change in priorities in the complex of the Early Scythian weaponry.