The Pioneer Helmet is a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet dating from the late seventh century. During a March 1997 excavation, it was found in Wollaston, Northamptonshire, in a young man's grave, probably the burial mound of a high-status warrior, along with a hanging bowl and a pattern welded sword. The sparsely decorated helmet is one of only six Anglo- Saxon helmets yet discovered, joined by finds from Benty Grange, Sutton Hoo, York, Shorwell and Staffordshire. Like most of these, it is one of the crested helmets that flourished in England and Scandinavia from the sixth through the eleventh centuries. Boar-crested helmets are a staple of Anglo-Saxon imagery, evidence of a Germanic tradition in which the boar invoked the protection of the gods. In the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, such helmets are mentioned five times. Unveiled at the New Walk Museum in Leicester, the helmet is on display at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Helmet

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1495:

An entry in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland made the first recorded mention of Scotch whisky (bottle pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky

1813:

War of 1812: Mortally wounded during a battle against the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon, American commander James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake ordered his crew "Don't give up the ship!", today a popular battle cry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_USS_Chesapeake

1916:

Louis Brandeis became the first Jew to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis

1943:

Eight German Junkers Ju 88s shot down British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 777 over the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain and France, killing actor Leslie Howard and several other notable passengers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_777

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

boardwalk:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boardwalk

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The mind is formed by the knowledge and the direction of ideas it receives and the guidance it is given. Great things alone can make a great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects them as completely alien.   --Carl von Clausewitz https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz