 The circumstances in which the Crosby <unk> helmet was buried are still unclear , but the discoveries made by the post @-@ discovery Tullie House / PAS excavations have provided much more detail about its context . It was clearly deposited within an artificial feature that had been specially constructed ; Stuart Noon of the Museum of Lancashire suggests that the feature may have been intended as a memorial of some sort . It was not buried in an isolated spot but within a long @-@ occupied Romano @-@ British farming settlement that had clearly adopted aspects of Roman culture . Given the settlement 's proximity to Roman military locations , it is very possible that some of its inhabitants served with the Roman army , which often recruited mounted <unk> from among native peoples . The helmet may well already have been a valuable antique at the time of its burial ; if the coins found nearby reflect when it was buried , it could have been over a century old by the time it was deposited . It was deliberately broken before being buried in what may have been intended as a ritual sacrifice . The identity of its owner will never be known , but it could have been that a local inhabitant who had formerly served with the Roman cavalry was responsible for the helmet 's deposition . 
