Further investigation by professional archaeologists from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services discovered that the site appeared to have been used as a large-scale Iron Age shrine.

Nine years of conservation and restoration have been undertaken by experts from the British Museum, supported by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £650,000.

Although it was found shattered into thousands of pieces and is now heavily corroded, the helmet still bears evidence of its original finely decorated design.

[2] Horses and riders wore lavishly decorated clothes, armour and plumes while performing feats of horsemanship and re-enacting historical and legendary battles, such as the wars of the Greeks and Trojans.

The iconography is reminiscent of depictions of Cybele, the Magna Mater or "Great Mother" whose image was used to promote the values of the Augustan period a few decades after the helmet was deposited.

Five of the cheekpieces show equestrian scenes; one depicts the triumph of a Roman emperor on horseback, holding his arm in the air as he is crowned with a laurel wreath by the goddess Victoria (Victory).

Another less well-preserved cheekpiece depicts a possibly Middle Eastern figure holding a large cornucopia, and a Roman helmet and shield below.

[1] They had been buried at what appears to have been a pre-Roman shrine where large-scale animal slaughtering had taken place; nearly 7,000 bone fragments were also found at the site, 97 per cent of which were from pigs.

In Roman times it would have been located in the territory of the Corieltauvi, who inhabited an area of the East Midlands stretching from Northamptonshire to Lincolnshire.

[1] According to Dr Jeremy Hill of the British Museum, the first explanation is the most likely: "Here you probably have a situation where local Britons are fighting on the Roman side.

[11] He visited the site with a second-hand metal detector late one afternoon and found about 200 coins, which had been buried in a series of small pits dug into the clay.

He reported the find to Leicestershire's county archaeologist, who called in the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) to excavate the site.