casco de leiro (13. 327)

With hammered decorations and repeating repouseé work, the register of patterns similar to other headgear of the era, like the hats of Schifferstadt, the so called Helmet of Leiro is a ritual golden cap dating to the Late Bronze Age (circa 1000 BC) was discovered by chance on this day in 1976 on a rocky point above the beach at the comarca (a subdivision, like a county, used in Galicia) of O Ribeiro by fisherman called José Vicente Somoza. The view from the outcropping is a commanding one of the bay and would have made an inspiring location for rites as well as a reference point for navigation, the waterways receding landward from the estuary the optimal route to the nearby site of Santiago de Compostela and according to legend the same path chosen by St James. Retrieving what he appeared to be a crude earthenware bowl (artefact is suspected to have a dual use as a basin), the outer layer broke away upon handling it, revealing a gold object, which the discoverer immediately reported to local archaeological authorities.