Roman sun hat: A ‘very rare’ 1,600-year-old brimmed cap that may have protected a Roman soldier from Egyptian sandstorms

This sun hat was made from different colors of felted wool in Egypt during the early Christian or Coptic period. It is one of only three such hats that has survived the ages and the best preserved of them. The sun hat was donated to the Chadwick Museum in Bolton, England — later called the Bolton Museum — by Sir Flinders Petrie, the English Egyptologist who found it in 1911.

Petrie discovered the hat at the site of Lahun (also called Illahun), a town and pyramid complex in Egypt’s Fayum region, along with numerous other garments that showcased stunning Coptic textile work.

According to the Bolton Museum, where the artifact is housed, the conical hat was stitched together from four quarters, with a knob in the center. Most of the hat, which measures roughly 15.5 inches (39.5 centimeters) in diameter, was made from brown felt, with a wide brim of red felt. Green woolen cloth was used to bind the edges, which were finished in a blue woolen fabric, and the hat was lined in white felt. The hat seams were slip-stitched with decorative chain stitches on the outer edges.

According to a statement by the local government of Bolton Council, experts think the hat may have been made for a member of the Roman military’s occupying force, since it looks similar to earlier, third-century Roman hats. However, it may have been adapted from a Roman design to better shield its wearer from the harsh Egyptian sun and sandstorms.

Egypt’s Coptic period began around A.D. 395, when the Roman Empire broke up. Emperor Constantine had already been promoting Christianity throughout the empire, and in the mid-fourth century, the Egyptian-inspired Coptic language emerged among the Christians of Roman Egypt. Coptic textiles discovered in early Christian burials in the Fayum area are marked by their colorful yarn, intricate woven patterns, and a mix of iconography, including the Egyptian ankh (a cross with a loop at the top that symbolized life), Roman gods and Christian saints.

In August 2025, the Bolton Museum put the sun hat on display for the first time following conservation. Jacqui Hyman, the expert textile conservator who worked on this “very rare felt hat,” said in a statement that moths had damaged the felted wool, but she stabilized the hat with hand-dyed fabric and re-created the hat’s original shape.

“This hat was made to be worn,” Hyman said, “but if only it could talk and tell us who made it and who wore it.”

For more stunning archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archives.