The York Helmet: Biography of an iconic object
Speaker: Dr Sonia O'Connor

The York Helmet, courtesy Yorkshire Museum Trust

• Friday 14 June 2013, 2.00PM
• Museum entry £7.50, concessions £6.50, under-16s and York Card Holders free.
• Yorkshire Museum, Museum Gardens, YO1 7FR (view map)

Event details

The York helmet is perhaps York’s most well-known Anglian object, but what do we really know about it? This talk uncovers how, through its examination and conservation, the fascinating story of the helmet, from its manufacture in the 8th century to its discovery in 1982, was pieced together.

Speaker biography

Dr Sonia O’Connor trained in archaeological conservation, working at the National Maritime Museum, London and University College Cardiff before joining the York Archaeological Trust in 1981. Her work on the York helmet gave her the opportunity to study at first-hand other helmets of this period in the UK, Norway and Sweden and to explore the manufacturing techniques of early iron mail. In 1995, Sonia left York to pursue her varied research interests at the Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford. She is currently a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at Bradford and a Research Associate at the Department of Archaeology, University of York. Sonia is also a member of the Research Project Advisory Panel for the Staffordshire Hoard.