XPI In the name of our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God; and to all we say Amen / Oshere / Christ An alternative interpretation suggests the following translation: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Spirit of God, let us offer up Oshere to All Saints. Amen. Oshere is a male Anglian name and XPI are the first three letters of the word Christos (khristos) in Greek. The brass crest terminates in a decorative animal head at the base of the nasal. The brass eyebrow decorations that flank the nasal also terminate in animal heads. The decoration of the nasal consists of two intertwined beasts, whose bodies and limbs degenerate into interlace ornament. Typology Like many other helmets of Germanic Western and Northern Europe in the Early Middle Ages the construction of the Coppergate helmet is derivative of Late Roman helmet types. Discovery The helmet was discovered on 12 May 1982 during excavations for the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, North Yorkshire. The York Archaeological Trust had previously excavated 1000 m2 in the area from 1976 to 1981, finding evidence of Roman occupation in the area but very little indication of Anglo-Saxon settlement. In 1981 and 1982 an area five times the size of the initial excavation was developed, including for the construction of the Coppergate Shopping Centre and the Jorvik Viking Centre. As most of the land had not been subject to the earlier archaeological excavations, a watching brief was maintained during the construction. At approximately 2:40 pm an excavator, using a flat scraper bucket to remove the natural clay a few centimetres at a time, struck an object. The foreman stopped work to check on the object's size, thinking it was a stone. His fingers wiped away the dust and exposed the golden band at the top of the helmet, after which he alerted the archaeologists on site. Their investigation showed a wood-lined pit, approximately 1.4m long on each side, and deep; nineteenth-century construction of a factory had removed the upper portion, and had come within a few centimetres of the helmet. Within the remaining portion were found a seemingly random collection of several pieces of wood and twigs, a sword-beater with textile impressions, a churn dasher, a fragment of a crucible, an antler beam, a rubbing stone, a fragment of glass, a fragment of hearth lining, seven fragments of slag, and