'Remarkable' ancient sun hat, possibly worn by Roman soldier, unveiled for first time

A one-of-a-kind sun hat, likely worn by a Roman soldier in Egypt, was recently unveiled for the first time - and its survival is considered miraculous.

The accessory was donated to Bolton's first museum, the Chadwick Museum, in 1911, and had been in storage for nearly 115 years - until now.

Ian Trumble, a curator of archaeology for Bolton Library & Museum Services, told Fox News Digital the hat survived thanks to Egypt's dry conditions.

"This hat was excavated from a drier area of the city, but the Faiyum is generally a wetter area, so the survival of this piece is still quite remarkable."

"Our current theory is that it was worn by a soldier, who could have adapted it for Egyptian conditions when they moved with the Roman army from Anatolia to Egypt," Trumble said.

There are only two similar hats in existence, the expert noted. One is in Manchester, while the other is in Florence.

"We believe that Bolton's example was always the more complete survival, but now that the conservation has been done, we believe it to be the best example in the world," said Trumble.

The hat is made of woolen felt, but the exact type of wool is unknown until further testing. 

"The exterior of the hat is of a cream-colored wool, whereas the interior is a dyed red wool," Trumble said. 

The hat now sits in the entrance case to the museum's Egypt galleries. It will be moved to a permanent display in September.

The hat joins more than 8,000 other individual pieces in the museum.

"The fragility of the hat was one of the reasons that it was never put on display and could only remain flat," he noted. 

"As part of the conservation, it has been cleaned and strengthened with a sympathetic support lining, allowing us to display it for the first time … We are hoping that we can conduct further research into the hat in the future to find out more about its history."