To find a similar arrangement, we have to look at another facemask that was previously found at the Roman fort of Vetchen in the Netherlands. This is displayed in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden Leiden. It is a silvered bronze mask that also has four extra holes, these being at the upper corners and in the lower cheek areas. The cross-hinge arrangement is still present on this piece, though it has rotted away with time or may have become defunct in Roman times. The late Russell Robinson gave some careful thought to just why this mask needed four extra holes in it. He came to the conclusion that it may have been fitted to something else or possibly fitted to someone else in a different fashion.
But to return to the Kalkriese piece and the fibreglass copy I mentioned earlier. I began to experiment with this, and I made a discovery. When you tie two cords between the top holes and the bottom cheek holes on either side, the mask can be worn very easily by looping the cords behind the ears. Could this have been an alternative way of wearing such a mask, both in the case of the Vetchen model and the Kalkriese? Could this in fact be the second phase for the mask, much earlier than A. D. 9? Though that is only one theory, it is a valid one from experimental point of view. The two dull rectangular areas on the brow of the Kalkriese mask suggest that it did have a hinge mechanism that was later removed. The very face on the original suggests that when the iron mask was tinned, such metal blocks were present. That is obvious from the evidence of their removal. It even shows on the fibreglass copy. This was made with a paint-on silicone mould, and this kind of material renders every aspect of an original. The copy shows a very slight depression on the left area of the brow, which indicates that the surface of the original was very slightly crushed by the block fitment.
We now come to the next phase of this facemask, in which plans were made to really enhance it with a sheet of silver. We have to remember, of course, that the mask already had six holes in it. When the sheet of silver was applied, it was necessary to devise a way of wearing it. That was why yet another set of three holes was made in it. The silver sheet would have been applied by producing a very simple pitch mould, which would be made on the front of the mask. With the silver sheet being gently warmed, it could then be rubbed into the solid pitch mould to shape it, so that it could be applied to the mask more easily. Then it would need to have the edging fitted. This was made from a single piece of bronze strip, folded by heating previous to its fitment. It would have been wrapped around, beginning at the chin area. At the top of the mask, it was cut at both corners with 45-degree angles to fold over at 90-degrees. This has to be the correct procedure, because there are no rivets holding the edging at the corners. However, the two ends of the edging strip do not meet in the centre of the brow - there is a gap of about 5 - 6 mm. This gap allows for a type of metal hook, so that the mask can be detachable. It would simply have been clipped on to the brow-band of a helmet. The final three holes held such a hook in place. They would have been punched through both the silver sheet and the centre brow of the mask.
So that is my theory on why there are so many holes in this mask. The silver sheet of course conceals the six earlier ones. But what of the assumption that the mask had previously been looted? If that was the case, all the holes can tend to confuse the situation we see today. In my view, the nine holes were made at different times and for different purposes. On the subject of the hook on this mask, I wonder whether this fixing arrangement was perhaps even made from solid silver. It is not present today, so could it also have been looted?.
