The Bourke armor helmet (Courtesy Bleed et al., used with permission)
The gorget of the Bourke armor consists of cotton twill backing covered in iron scales. The wooden crosspiece was added by Capt. Bourke so he could mount it on the wall as a conversation piece. (Photo courtesy Bleed et al., used with permission)
A rear view of the gorget shows the cotton twill backing. (Photo courtesy Bleed et al., used with permission)
Might fit on a child’s head.
Plains Indians were known to have acquired armor, so it could have been taken from a Spanish soldier or traded for, and ended up far from any Spanish outpost. There was, I believe, a Kiowa chief named Iron Jacket because he wore either some kind of Spanish half-armor or chain mail.
Interesting that the helmet is open at the top. To let the heat escape, I presume.
Kardashians?
Ancient aliens! Knights Templar! Vikings! Make up your own story. That stuff looks to be in pretty good shape for having lain in the dirt for centuries.
John Bourke who wrote,,
On the Border with Crook
Cool.
They’re wrong. They’re much older than a few hundred years. These artifacts are from the battles Joseph Smith talked about. He just missed the location by a few thousand miles. /s
Send it over to the Jeffersonian. Dr. Hodgins will probably be able to tell you exactly where the iron ore came from that was used to make it.
That happens a lot to OOPARTS (OutOfPlaceParts) when they don't conform to the prevailing theories. Too many professors/scientists have made a career out of supporting the status quo and when something disproving it pops up, it is either called "a religious object" and dismissed or "an anomaly" and hidden away in the museum basement.
I was a virtual pen pal with a gal up in Canada, who had a college friend aspiring to be an archaeologist. She who went on a dig, found an Oopart and excitedly brought it to the project leader. He told her that if she ever wanted a career in that discipline, to just shut up about her find. I never found out what the "thing" was.
Back in the 1960s, I read that some scale armor like this had been found east of Aztec NM and was in a bank vault at THE CITIZENS BANK there.
Looks similar to Spanish crossbowman armor.
Some early Spanish expeditions into the Trans Pecos area of Texas such as that of Coronado had officers and probably some soldiers who wore armor. Before that, the Spanish found the Aztecs wearing quilted cotton armor so it wouldn’t be a big step from combining the coolness of cotton to the scale metal armor.
All this is so well known that I’m surprised it wasn’t mentioned in the article.
I remember listening to the Bruce Williams show early in the 90’s.
A guy called in and said he had found a bunch of Spanish treasure somewhere in the SW United States.
He asked Bruce for guidance on what to do about it.
The caller seemed genuine; always wonder what happened to the caller; or if it was real.
This sounds like a good Louis L’Amour Sackett novel.
Aztec Indians used cotton armor and the Spanish adopted it.
Could it have belonged to Yosemite Sam?
Imagine wearing that in Texas during the summer.
