 Following the helmet 's discovery , the area around the findspot was investigated in a project sponsored by the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery and the Portable Antiquities Scheme . The earthworks noted earlier were found to be part of a substantial enclosure surrounded by ditches , within which buildings had once stood . The enclosure , which measures as much as 500 metres ( 1 @,@ 600 ft ) long on its southern side , combines both native British and Roman methods of fortification . A sunken area within the enclosure may possibly have served as a <unk> for horses , while the evidence for the buildings is concentrated in the enclosure 's northern portion . The remnants of Romano @-@ British field systems in the surrounding area show that the area was under cultivation and animal remains found on the site indicate that the inhabitants also raised livestock , including sheep , goats and pigs . The presence of Roman pottery suggests that the inhabitants had adopted some elements of the Roman lifestyle , but their community may well have been there long before the Romans arrived . Archaeological evidence from the enclosure indicates that the site may have been first settled as far back as the Bronze Age , at least 1 @,@ 000 years before the helmet was deposited . 
