Giacobbe Giusti, Mesolithic

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Mesolithic

Roca dels Moros, Spain, The Dance of Cogul, tracing by Henri Breuil

Giacobbe Giusti, Mesolithic

The Shigir Idol

Giacobbe Giusti, Mesolithic

Reconstruction of a « temporary » house in Ireland; waterside sites offered good food resources.

The Mesolithic This box: view talk edit
↑ Upper Paleolithic
Mesolithic Europe Fosna–Hensbacka culture Komsa culture Maglemosian culture Lepenski Vir culture Kunda culture Narva culture Komornica culture Swiderian culture Epipaleolithic Transylvania Mesolithic Transylvania Tardenoisian Schela Cladovei culture Mesolithic Southeastern Europe Epipaleolithic (Levant) Levantine corridor Natufian Khiamian Caucasus Trialetian Zagros Zarzian culture
↓ Neolithic

In Old World archaeology, Mesolithic(Greek: μέσος, mesos « middle »; λίθος, lithos« stone ») is the period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levantand Caucasus. The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherercultures in Europe and West Asia, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution. In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 BP, in Southwest Asia (the Epipalaeolithic Near East) roughly 20,000 to 8,000 BP. The term is less used of areas further east, and not all beyond Eurasia and North Africa.

The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favour of a broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than the heavy chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into the Neolithic. The more permanent settlements tend to be close to the sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; grandiose burial mounds are another mark of the Neolithic.

Terminology

 Three-age_system § Stone_Age_subdivisions

Giacobbe Giusti, Mesolithic

Mesolithic microliths

The terms « Paleolithic » and « Neolithic » were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865. The additional « Mesolithic » category was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866. Westropp’s suggestion was immediately controversial. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate: the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later.

Edouard Piette claimed to have filled the gap with his naming of the Azilian Culture. Knut Stjerna offered an alternative in the « Epipaleolithic », suggesting a final phase of the Paleolithic rather than an intermediate age in its own right inserted between the Paleolithic and Neolithic.

By the time of Vere Gordon Childe‘s work, The Dawn of Europe (1947), which affirms the Mesolithic, sufficient data had been collected to determine that a transitional period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic was indeed a useful concept.^[1]However, the terms « Mesolithic » and « Epipalaeolitic » remain in competition, with varying conventions of usage. In the archaeology of Northern Europe, for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia, the term « Mesolithic » is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas, the term « Epipaleolithic » may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each. In the New World, neither term is used (except provisionally in the Arctic).

« Epipaleolithic » is sometimes also used alongside « Mesolithic » for the final end of the Upper Paleolithic immediately followed by the Mesolithic.^[2] As « Mesolithic » suggests an intermediate period, followed by the Neolithic, some authors prefer the term « Epipaleolithic » for hunter-gatherer cultures who are not succeeded by agricultural traditions, reserving « Mesolithic » for cultures who are clearly succeeded by the Neolithic Revolution, such as the Natufian culture. Other authors use « Mesolithic » as a generic term for post-LGM hunter-gatherer cultures, whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not. In addition, terminology appears to differ between archaeological sub-disciplines, with « Mesolithic » being widely used in European archaeology, while « Epipalaeolithic » is more common in Near Eastern archaeology.

Europe

The Shigir Idol

Two skeletons of women aged between 25 and 35 years, dated between 6740 and 5680 BP, both of whom died a violent death. Found at Téviec, France in 1938.

Further information: Prehistoric_Europe § Mesolithic

The Mesolithic began with the Holocene warm period around 11,660 BP and ended with the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia.^[3] In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 5000–4000 BCE in northern Europe.

Animated image showing the sequence of engravings on a pendant excavated from the Mesolithic archaeological site of Starr Carr in 2015^[4]

The type of stone toolkit remains one of the most diagnostic features: the Mesolithic used a microlithic technology – composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools (microliths), while the Paleolithic had utilized Modes I–IV. In some areas, however, such as Ireland, parts of Portugal, the Isle of Man and the Tyrrhenian Islands, a macrolithic technology was used in the Mesolithic.^[5] In the Neolithic, the microlithic technology was replaced by a macrolithic technology, with an increased use of polished stone tools such as stone axes.

There is some evidence for the beginning of construction at sites with a ritual or astronomical significance, including Stonehenge, with a short row of large post holes aligned east-west, and a possible « lunar calendar » at Warren Field in Scotland, with pits of post holes of varying sizes, thought to reflect the lunar phases. Both are dated to around 8,000 BCE.^[6]

As the « Neolithic package » (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations such as sedentism, population size and use of plant foods are cited as evidence of the transition to agriculture.^[7] In one sample from the Blätterhöhle in Hagen, it seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies in the area;^[8] such societies may be called « Subneolithic« . In north-Eastern Europe, the hunting and fishing lifestyle continued into the Medieval period in regions less suited to agriculture, and in Scandinavia no Mesolithic period may be accepted, with the locally preferred « Older Stone Age » moving into the « Younger Stone Age ».^[9]

Art

Roca dels Moros, Spain, The Dance of Cogul, tracing by Henri Breuil

Compared to the preceding Upper Paleolithic and the following Neolithic, there is rather less surviving art from the Mesolithic. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, which probably spreads across from the Upper Paleolithic, is a widespread phenomenon, much less well known than the cave-paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, with which it makes an interesting contrast. The sites are now mostly cliff faces in the open air, and the subjects are now mostly human rather than animal, with large groups of small figures; there are 45 figures at Roca dels Moros. Clothing is shown, and scenes of dancing, fighting, hunting and food-gathering. The figures are much smaller than the animals of Paleolithic art, and depicted much more schematically, though often in energetic poses.^[10] A few small engraved pendants with suspension holes and simple engraved designs are known, some from northern Europe in amber, and one from Starr Carr in Britain in shale.^[11] The Elk’s Head of Huittinen is a rare Mesolithic animal carving in soapstone from Finland.

The rock art in the Urals appears to show similar changes after the Paleolithic, and the wooden Shigir Idol is a rare survival of what may well have been a very common material for sculpture. It is a plank of larch carved with geometric motifs, but topped with a human head. Now in fragments, it would apparently have been over 5 metres tall when made.^[12] The Ain Sakhri Lovers from modern Israel, are a Natufian carving in calcite.

Ceramic Mesolithic

In North-Eastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a « ceramic Mesolithic » can be distinguished between 7000-3850 BCE. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin.^{[13][citation needed]} The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Elshan or Yelshanka or Samara culture on the Volga in Russia c. 7000 BCE,^[14][15] and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries.^[16]

^[17]

Cultures

Geographical range	Periodization	Culture	Temporal range	Notable sites
Southeastern Europe (Greece, Aegean)	Balkan Mesolithic		15,000–7,000 BP	Franchthi, Theopetra[18]
Southeastern Europe(Romania/Serbia)	Balkan Mesolithic	Iron Gates culture	13,000–5,000 BP	Lepenski Vir[19]
Western Europe	Early Mesolithic	Azilian	14,000–10,000 BP
Northern Europe (Norway)		Fosna-Hensbacka culture	12,000–10,500 BP
Northern Europe (Norway)	Early Mesolithic	Komsa culture	12,000–10,000 BP
Central Asia (Middle Urals)			12,000–5,000 BP	Shigir Idol, Vtoraya Beregovaya[20]
Northeastern Europe (Balticsand Russia)	Middle Mesolithic	Kunda culture	10,500–7,000 BP	Lammasmägi, Pulli settlement
Northern Europe		Maglemosian culture	11,000–8,000 BP
Western and Central Europe		Sauveterrian culture	10,500–8,500 BP
Western Europe (Great Britain)	British Mesolithic		11,000–5,500 BP	Star Carr, Howick house, Gough’s Cave, Cramond, Aveline’s Hole
Western Europe (Ireland)	Irish Mesolithic		11,000–5,500 BP	Mount Sandel
Western Europe (Belgium and France)		Tardenoisian culture	10,000–5,000 BP
Eastern Europe (Belarus, Lithuania and Poland)	Late Mesolithic	Neman culture	9,000–5,000 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)		Nøstvet and Lihult cultures	8,200-5,200 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)		Kongemose culture	8,000–7,200 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)	Late Mesolithic	Ertebølle	7,300– 5,900 BP
Western Europe (Netherlands)	Late Mesolithic	Swifterbant	7,300–5,400 BP

Near East

Main article: Epipaleolithic Near East

Further information: Zarzian culture

The first period, known as Mesolithic 1 (Kebarian culture; from 20,000–18,000 BCE until 12,150 BCE), followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic periods throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts. This period is more properly called Epipaleolithic.

By 20,000–18,000 BCE the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became more arid and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by steppe. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. New types of settlements and new stone industries developed.

The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, burins and end-scrapers were found. A few bone tools and some ground stone have also been found. These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic and the archeological remains are very poor. The second period, Mesolithic 2, is also called the Natufian culture. The change from Mesolithic 1 to Natufian culture can be dated more closely. The latest date from a Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant is 12,150 BCE. The earliest date from a Natufian site is 11,140 BCE.^{[citation needed]} This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture that would later emerge into the Neolithic period. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BCE, just before the end of the Pleistocene.^[21] This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture.^[22] The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Sudan known as Cemetery 117.

Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800 BCE) (Christopher Delage gives c. 13,000–11,500 BP uncalibrated, equivalent to c. 13,700–11,500 BCE)^[23] and Late Natufian (10,800–9500 BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. The following period is often called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic; in the Levant, unlike elsewhere, « Mesolithic pottery » is not talked of.

Geographical range	Periodization	Culture	Temporal range	Notable sites
North Africa (Morocco)	Late Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic	Iberomaurusian culture	24,000–10,000 BP
Southwest Asia(Caucasus, Iran)	Late Upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic	Zarzian culture	20,000–10,000 BP
Levant	Early Epipaleolithic	Kebaran	19,000–14,500 BP
Caucasus	Epipaleolithic	Trialetian	16,000–8,000 BP
Levant	Late Epipaleolithic	Natufian culture	14,500–11,500 BP
Levant (Israel)	Late Epipaleolithic	Harifian culture(Late Natufian)	10,800–10,000 BP
North Africa		Capsian culture	12,000–8,000 BP

« Mesolithic » outside of Western Eurasia

While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in the archaeology of China, and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as « Early Neolithic ».^[24]

In the archaeology of India, the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains a concept in use.^[25]

In the archaeology of the Americas, an Archaic or Meso-Indian period, following the Lithic stage, somewhat equates to the Mesolithic.

Geographical range	Periodization	Culture	Temporal range	Notable sites
North Africa (Morocco)	Late Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic	Iberomaurusian culture	24,000–10,000 BP
North Africa		Capsian culture	12,000–8,000 BP
Central Asia (Middle Urals)			12,000–5,000 BP	Shigir Idol, Vtoraya Beregovaya[26]
East Asia (Japan)	Jōmon cultures		16,000–1,350 BP
East Asia (Korea)	Jeulmun pottery period		10,000–3,500 BP
South Asia (India)	South Asian Stone Age		12,000–4000 BP[27]	Bhimbetka rock shelters

Mesolithic.

• Holocene
• Hunter-gatherer
• Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer
• Western Hunter-Gatherer
• List of Stone Age art
• Younger Dryas
• Mammoth extinction
• History_of_archery#Prehistory

References

1. Jump up^ Linder, F. (1997). Social differentiering i mesolitiska jägar-samlarsamhällen. Uppsala.: Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet.
2. Jump up^ « final Upper Paleolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the Mesolithic » Bahn, Paul, ed. (2002). The Penguin archaeology guide. London: Penguin Books. ISBN0-14-051448-1.
3. Jump up^ Conneller, Chantal; Bayliss, Alex; Milner, Nicky; Taylor, Barry (2016). « The Resettlement of the British Landscape: Towards a chronology of Early Mesolithic lithic assemblage types ». Internet Archaeology. 42. doi:10.11141/ia.42.12.
4. Jump up^ Morgan, C.; Scholma-Mason, N. (2017). « Animated GIFs as Expressive Visual Narratives and Expository Devices in Archaeology ». Internet Archaeology (44). doi:10.11141/ia.44.11.
5. Jump up^ Driscoll, Killian (2006). The early prehistory in the west of Ireland: Investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland.
6. Jump up^ V. Gaffney; et al. « Time and a Place: A luni-solar ‘time-reckoner’ from 8th millennium BC Scotland ». Internet Archaeology. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
7. Jump up^ Price, Douglas, ed. (2000). Europe’s first farmers. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN0521665728.
8. Jump up^ Bollongino, R.; Nehlich, O.; Richards, M. P.; Orschiedt, J.; Thomas, M. G.; Sell, C.; Fajkosova, Z.; Powell, A.; Burger, J. (2013). « 2000 Years of Parallel Societies in Stone Age Central Europe » (PDF). Science. 342 (6157): 479–481. doi:10.1126/science.1245049.
9. Jump up^ Bailey, Geoff and Spikins, Penny, Mesolithic Europe, p. 4, 2008, Cambridge University Press, ISBN0521855039, 9780521855037
10. Jump up^ Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), pp. 87-96, 1968 (nb 1st edn.)
11. Jump up^ « 11,000 year old pendant is earliest known Mesolithic art in Britain », University of York
12. Jump up^ Geggel, Laura (25 April 2018). « This Eerie, Human-Like Figure Is Twice As Old As Egypt’s Pyramids ». Live Science. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
13. Jump up^ De Roevers, p.162-163
14. Jump up^ Anthony, D.W. (2007). « Pontic-Caspian Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies at the time of the Black Sea Flood: a small audience and small effects ». In Yanko-Hombach, V.; Gilbert, A.A.; Panin, N.; Dolukhanov, P. M. The Black Sea Flood Question: changes in coastline, climate and human settlement. pp. 245–370. ISBN978-9402404654.
15. Jump up^ Anthony, David W. (2010). The horse, the wheel, and language : how Bronze-Age riders from the Eurasian steppes shaped the modern world. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN9780691148182.
16. Jump up^ Gronenborn, Detlef (2007). « Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe ». Proceedings of the British Academy. 144: 73–98.
17. Jump up^ Detlef Gronenborn, Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe, Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 144 (2007), pp. 73-98 (87).
18. Jump up^ Sarah Gibbens, Face of 9,000-Year-Old Teenager Reconstructed, National Geographic, 19 January 2018.
19. Jump up^ Srejovic, Dragoslav (1972). Europe’s First Monumental Sculpture: New Discoveries at Lepenski Vir. ISBN0-500-39009-6.
20. Jump up^ Central Asia does not enter the Neolithic, but transitions from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the fourth millennium BC (metmuseum.org). The early onset of the Mesolithic in Central Asia and its importance for later European mesolithic cultures was understood only after 2015, with the radiocarbon dating of the Shigor idol to 11,500 years old. N.E. Zaretskaya et al., « Radiocarbon chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo archaeological bog sites, Middle Urals, Russia », Proceedings of the 6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology Symposium, (E Boaretto and N R Rebollo Franco eds.), RADIOCARBON Vol 54, Nr 3–4, 2012, 783–794.
21. Jump up^ Munro, Natalie D. (2003). « Small game, the Younger Dryas, and the transition to agriculture in the southern Levant » (PDF). Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte. 12: 47–71.
22. Jump up^ Bar-Yosef, Ofer (1998). « The Natufian Culture in the Levant, Threshold to the Origins of Agriculture » (PDF). Evolutionary Anthropology. 6 (5): 159–177. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6505(1998)6:5<159::AID-EVAN4>3.0.CO;2-7.
23. Jump up^ Delage, Christophe, ed. (2004). The last hunter-gatherers in the Near East. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 1320. ISBN978-1-84171-389-2.
24. Jump up^ Zhang, Chi, The Mesolithic and the Neolithic in China (PDF), 1999, Documenta Praehistorica. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleolitika, neolotika in eneolitika v Sloveniji. Neolitske študije = Neolithic studies, [Zv.] 26 (1999), pp. 1-13 dLib
25. Jump up^ Sailendra Nath Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization, p. 23, 1999, New Age International, ISBN8122411983, 9788122411980
26. Jump up^ Central Asia does not enter the Neolithic, but transitions from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the fourth millennium BC (metmuseum.org). The early onset of the Mesolithic in Central Asia and its importance for later European mesolithic cultures was understood only after 2015, with the radiocarbon dating of the Shigor idol to 11,500 years old. N.E. Zaretskaya et al., « Radiocarbon chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo archaeological bog sites, Middle Urals, Russia », Proceedings of the 6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology Symposium, (E Boaretto and N R Rebollo Franco eds.), RADIOCARBON Vol 54, Nr 3–4, 2012, 783–794.
27. Jump up^ The term « Mesolithic » is not a useful term for the periodization of the South Asian Stone Age, as certain tribes in the interior of the Indian subcontinent retained a mesolithic culture into the modern period, and there is no consistent usage of the term . The range 12,000–4000 BP is based on the combination of the ranges given by Agrawal et al. (1978) and by Sen (1999), and overlaps with the early Neolithic at Mehrgarh. D. P. Agrawal et al., « Chronology of Indian prehistory from the Mesolithic period to the Iron Age », Journal of Human Evolution Volume 7, Issue 1, January 1978, 37-44: « A total time bracket of c. 6000-2000 B.C. will cover the dated Mesolithic sites, e.g. Langhnaj, Bagor, Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, Lekhahia, etc. » (p. 38) S. N. Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization, 1999: « The Mesolithic period roughly ranges between 10,000 and 6,000 B.C. » (p. 23).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesolithic

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Gold shoe plaques from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany, c. 530 BC

Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany. About 530 BC The Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave is a richly-furnished burial chamber. Regarded as the « Tutankamon of the Celts », it was discovered in 1977 near Hochdorf an der Enz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany). A man of 40 years old, 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) tall was laid out on a bronze couch. He had been buried with a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, and most notably, thin embossed gold plaques were on his now-disintigrated shoes. At the foot of the couch was a large cauldron decorated with three lions around the brim. The east side of the tomb contained a four-wheeled wagon holding a set of bronze dishes – enough to serve nine people. Kunst der Kelten, Historisches Museum Bern. Art of the Celts, Historic Museum of Bern.

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

 

Bronze ceremonial axe, 800 . 750 BC, Hallstatt,

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

The Strettweg Cult Wagon, one of the most elaborate objects from the period

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Bull from Býčí skála Cave, Czech Republic, Ha D, c. 600^[18]

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Gold bracelets, Burgundy

Bracelets provenant de la tombe à char, lieu dit « La Butte » à Sainte-Colombe-sur Seine, (Côte-d’Or) – Or, Hallstatt, VIe siècle av. J.C. – Musée des Antiquités Nationales (MAN) Saint-Germain-en-Laye

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Geographical range	Europe
Period	Iron Age Europe
Dates	circa 800 BC — circa 500 BC
Type site	Hallstatt
Preceded by	Urnfield culture
Followed by	La Tène culture

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

Watercolour commissioned by Johann G. Ramsauer documenting one of his cemetery digs at Hallstatt; unknown local artist.

The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Westernand Central Europeanculture of Early Iron Age Europe from the 8th to 6th centuries BC, developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC (Late Bronze Age) and followed in much of its area by the La Tène culture. It is commonly associated with Proto-Celtic and Celticpopulations in the Western Hallstatt zone and with (pre-)Illyrians in the eastern Hallstatt zone.^[1]

It is named for its type site, Hallstatt, a lakeside village in the AustrianSalzkammergut southeast of Salzburg, where there was a rich salt mine, and some 1,300 burials are known, many with fine artefacts. Material from Hallstatt has been classed into 4 periods, numbered « Hallstatt A » to « D ». Hallstatt A and B are regarded as Late Bronze Age and the terms used for wider areas, such as « Hallstatt culture », or « period », « style » and so on, relate to the Iron Age Hallstatt C and D.

By the 6th century BC, it had expanded to include wide territories, falling into two zones, east and west, between them covering much of western and central Europe down to the Alps, and extending into northern Italy. Parts of Britain and Iberia are included in the ultimate expansion of the culture.

The culture was based on farming, but metal-working was considerably advanced, and by the end of the period long-range trade within the area and with Mediterranean cultures was economically significant. Social distinctions became increasingly important, with emerging elite classes of chieftains and warriors, and perhaps those with other skills. Society was organized on a tribal basis, though very little is known about this. Only a few of the largest settlements, like Heuneburg in the south of Germany, were towns rather than villages by modern standards.

Hallstatt type site

In 1846, Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795–1874) discovered a large prehistoriccemetery near Hallstatt, Austria, which he excavated during the second half of the 19th century. Eventually the excavation would yield 1,045 burials, although no settlement has yet been found. This may be covered by the later village, which has long occupied the whole narrow strip between the steep hillsides and the lake. Some 1,300 burials have been found, including around 2,000 individuals, with women and children but few infants.^[2] Nor is there a « princely » burial, as often found near large settlements. Instead, there are a large number of burials varying considerably in the number and richness of the grave goods, but with a high proportion containing goods suggesting a life well above subsistence level.

The community at Hallstatt was untypical of the wider, mainly agricultural, culture, as its booming economy exploited the salt mines in the area. These had been worked from time to time since the Neolithic period, and in this period were extensively mined with a peak from the 8th to 5th centuries BC. The style and decoration of the grave goods found in the cemetery are very distinctive, and artifacts made in this style are widespread in Europe. In the mine workings themselves, the salt has preserved many organic materials such as textiles, wood and leather, and many abandoned artefacts such as shoes, pieces of cloth, and tools including miner’s backpacks, have survived in good condition.^[3]

Finds at Hallstatt extend from about 1200 BC until around 500 BC, and are divided by archaeologists into four phases:

date BC
HaA	1200-1000
HaB	1000-800
HaC	800-650
HaD	650-475

« Antenna hilt » Hallstatt ‘D’ swords, from Hallstatt

Ha C axehead, Hallstatt

Section of the Hallstatt salt mine

Model of a Hallstatt barrow grave

Hallstatt A-B are part of the Bronze AgeUrnfield culture. In this period, people were cremated and buried in simple graves. In phase B, tumulus (barrow or kurgan) burial becomes common, and cremationpredominates. The « Hallstatt period » proper is restricted to HaC and HaD (8th to 5th centuries BC), corresponding to the early European Iron Age. Hallstatt lies in the area where the western and eastern zones of the Hallstatt culture meet, which is reflected in the finds from there.^[4]Hallstatt D is succeeded by the La Tène culture.

Hallstatt C is characterized by the first appearance of iron swords mixed amongst the bronze ones. Inhumation and cremation co-occur. For the final phase, Hallstatt D, daggers, almost to the exclusion of swords, are found in western zone graves ranging from c. 600–500 BC.^[5] There are also differences in the pottery and brooches. Burials were mostly inhumations. Halstatt D has been further divided into the sub-phases D1-D3, relating only to the western zone, and mainly based on the form of brooches.^[5]

Major activity at the site appears to have finished about 500 BC, for reasons that are unclear. Many Hallstatt graves were robbed, probably at this time. There was widespread disruption throughout the western Hallstatt zone, and the salt workings had by then become very deep.^[6] By then the focus of salt mining had shifted to the nearby Hallein Salt Mine, with graves at Dürrnbergnearby where there are significant finds from the late Hallstatt and early La Tène periods.

Much of the material from early excavations was dispersed,^[2] and is now found in many collections, especially German and Austrian museums, but the Hallstatt Museum in the town has the largest collection.

Finds from the Hallstatt site

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

• 

  Bronze vessel with cow and calf, Hallstatt

   

• 

  Wood and leather carrying pack from the mine

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

• 

  Bronze container with stand, Hallstatt Ha C

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

• 

  Textile fragment from the salt mine

Culture and trade

Further information: Greeks in pre-Roman Gaul

It is probable^[7][8][9] that some if not all of this diffusion took place in a Celtic-speaking context.^[10] In northern Italy the Golasecca culturedeveloped with continuity from the Canegrate culture.^[11][12] Canegrate represented a completely new cultural dynamic to the area expressed in pottery and bronzework making it a typical western example of the western Hallstatt culture.^[11][12]

The Lepontic Celtic language inscriptions of the area show the language of the Golasecca culture was clearly Celtic making it probable that the 13th-century BC precursor language of at least the western Hallstatt was also Celtic or a precursor to it.^[11][12] Lepontic inscriptions have also been found in Umbria,^[13] in the area which saw the emergence of the Terni culture, which had strong similarities with the Celtic cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène.^[14] The Umbrian necropolis of Terni, which dates back to the 10th century BC, was identical under every aspect, to the Celtic necropolis of the Golasecca culture.^[15]

Trade with Greece is attested by finds of Atticblack-figure pottery in the elite graves of the late Hallstatt period. It was probably imported via Massilia (Marseilles).^[16] Other imported luxuries include amber, ivory (Gräfenbühl) and probably wine. Recent analyses have shown that the reputed silk in the barrow at Hohmichele was misidentified. Red kermes dye was imported from the south as well; it was found at Hochdorf.

The settlements were mostly fortified, situated on hilltops, and frequently included the workshops of bronze-, silver-, and goldsmiths. Typical sites are the Heuneburg on the upper Danube surrounded by nine very large grave tumuli, Mont Lassois in eastern France near Châtillon-sur-Seine with, at its foot, the very rich grave at Vix,^[17] and the hill fort at Molpír in Slovakia. Tumuli graves had a chamber, rather large in some cases, lined with timber and with the body and grave goods set about the room.

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

The Strettweg Cult Wagon, one of the most elaborate objects from the period

In the central Hallstatt regions toward the end of the period (Ha D), very rich graves of high-status individuals under large tumuli are found near the remains of fortified hilltop settlements. There are some chariot burials, including (possibly) Býčí Skála,^[18]Vix and Hochdorf.^[19] A model of a chariot made from lead has been found in Frögg, Carinthia, and clay models of horses with riders are also found. Wooden « funerary carts », presumably used as hearses and then buried, are sometimes found in the grandest graves. Pottery and bronze vessels, weapons, elaborate jewellery made of bronze and gold, as well as a few stone stelae (especially the famous Warrior of Hirschlanden) are found at such burials.^[20] The daggers that largely replaced swords in chief’s graves in the west were probably not serious weapons, but badges of rank, and used at the table.^[5]

The material culture of Western Hallstatt culture was apparently sufficient to provide a stable social and economic equilibrium. The founding of Marseille and the penetration by Greek and Etruscan culture after ca 600 BC, resulted in long-range trade relationships up the Rhone valley which triggered social and cultural transformations in the Hallstatt settlements north of the Alps. Powerful local chiefdoms emerged which controlled the redistribution of luxury goods from the Mediterranean world that is characteristic of the La Tène culture.

Iron swords appear in the later periods, from the 8th century, with tools coming rather later.^[21]Initially iron was rather exotic and expensive, and sometimes used as a prestige material for jewellery. The potter’s wheel appears right at the end of the period.^[22]

The apparently largely peaceful and prosperous life of Hallstatt D culture was disrupted, perhaps even collapsed, right at the end of the period. There has been much speculation as to the causes of this, which remain uncertain. Large settlements such as Heuneburg and the Burgstallkogel were destroyed or abandoned, rich tumulus burials ended, and old ones were looted. There was probably a significant movement of population westwards, and the succeeding La Tène culture developed new centres to the west and north, their growth perhaps overlapping with the final years of the Hallstatt culture.^[6]

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

• 

  Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

   

Giacobbe Giusti, Hallstatt culture

• 

  Bronze Hallstatt culture tool, possibly an early razor, the three circular holes on the handle and the blade body indicate the possibility they could be used for fasteners in a spear head as well.

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

• 

  Ambernecklace

   

• 

  Gold bracelets, Burgundy

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

• 

  Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

   

Pottery from Heuneburg, Germany

• 

  Dagger with « antenna hilt »

   

 

• 

  Ha D style dagger found in Berkshire, England

   

Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

• 

  Muscle cuirasses & double ridge helmet, Kleinklein, Ha D eastern zone.^[23]

Art

Hallstatt ‘C’ swords in Wels Museum, Upper Austria.

Bull from Býčí skála Cave, Czech Republic, Ha D, c. 600^[18]

Typical decoration on a belt-plate

At least the later periods of Hallstatt art from the western zone are generally agreed to form the early period of Celtic art.^[24]Decoration is mostly geometric and linear, and best seen on fine metalwork finds from graves (see above). Styles differ, especially between the west and east, with more human figures and some narrative elements in the latter. Animals, with waterfowl a particular favourite, are often included as part of other objects, more often than humans, and in the west there is almost no narrative content such as scenes of combat depicted. These characteristics were continued into the succeeding La Tène style.^[25]

Imported luxury art is sometimes found in rich elite graves in the later phases, and certainly had some influence on local styles. The most spectacular objects, such as the Strettweg Cult Wagon,^[26] the Warrior of Hirschlanden and the bronze couch supported by « unicyclists » from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave are one of a kind in finds from the Hallstatt period, though they can be related to objects from other periods.^[27]

More common objects include weapons, in Ha D often with hilts terminating in curving forks (« antenna hilts »).^[5] Jewellery in metal includes fibulae, often with a row of disks hanging down on chains, armlets and some torcs. This is mostly in bronze, but « princely » burials include items in gold.

The origin of the narrative scenes of the eastern zone, from Hallstatt C onwards, is generally traced to influence from the Situla art of northern Italy and the northern Adriatic, where these bronze buckets began to be decorated in bands with figures in provincial Etruscan centres influenced by Etruscan and Greek art. The fashion for decorated situlae spread north across neighbouring cultures including the eastern Hallstatt zone, beginning around 600 BC and surviving until about 400 BC; the Vače situla is a Slovenian example from near the final period. The style is also found on bronze belt plates, and some of the vocabulary of motifs spread to influence the emerging La Tène style.^[28]

According to Ruth and Vincent Megaw, « Situla art depicts life as seen from a masculine viewpoint, in which women are servants or sex objects; most of the scenes which include humans are of the feasts in which the situlae themselves figure, of the hunt or of war ».^[29] Similar scenes are found on other vessel shapes, as well as bronze belt-plaques.^[30] The processions of animals, typical of earlier examples, or humans derive from the Near East and Mediterranean, and Nancy Sandars finds the style shows « a gaucherie that betrays the artist working in a way that is uncongenial, too much at variance with the temper of the craftsmen and the craft ». Compared to earlier styles that arose organically in Europe « situla art is weak and sometimes quaint », and « in essence not of Europe ».^[31]

Except for the Italian Benvenuti Situla, men are hairless, with « funny hats, dumpy bodies and big heads », though often shown looking cheerful in an engaging way. The Benevenuti Situla is also unusual in that it seems to show a specific story.^[32]

• 

  Late Halstatt gold collar from Austria, c. 550 BC

   

• 

  Gold shoe plaques from the Hochdorf Chieftain’s Grave, Germany, c.

  530 BC

   

 

• 

  Fibula brooch with hanging disks and animal figures, Hallstatt

   

• 

  Replica of the Warrior of Hirschlanden

   

• 

  Armband with engraved decoration

   

• 

  The imported Greek Vix Krater, found in the Vix Grave, France, on the border of the Hallstatt and La Tène periods.

   

• 

  Detail from the Vače situla, Slovenia

   

• 

  Belt-plate, Slovenia, 600-400 BC

Geography

Sword hilt, Hallstatt Ha C (grave 573), 7th century. Western zone style, inlaid with African ivory and Baltic amber.^[33]

Decorated pottery of the eastern zone, 7th century, from the Sophrongroup.^[34]

Reconstructed « funerary wagon »

Two culturally distinct areas, an eastern and a western zone are generally recognised.^[35] There are distinctions in burial rites, the types of grave goods, and in artistic style. In the western zone, members of the elite were buried with sword (HaC) or dagger (HaD), in the eastern zone with an axe.^[24] The western zone has chariot burials. In the eastern zone, warriors are frequently buried with helmet and a plate armour breastplate.^[23] Artistic subjects with a narrative component are only found in the east, in both pottery and metalwork.^[36] In the east the settlements and cemeteries can be larger than in the west.^[24]

The approximate division line between the two subcultures runs from north to south through central Bohemia and Lower Austria at about 14 to 15 degrees eastern longitude, and then traces the eastern and southern rim of the Alps to Eastern and Southern Tyrol.^{[citation needed]}

Western Hallstatt zone

Taken at its most generous extent, the western Hallstatt zone includes:

• northeastern France: Champagne-Ardenne, Lorraine, Alsace
• northern Switzerland: Swiss plateau
• Southern Germany: much of Swabia and Bavaria
• western Czech Republic: Bohemia
• western Austria: Vorarlberg, Tyrol, Salzkammergut

More peripheral areas were:

• Central and North Italy: Po valley, Liguria, Venetia, Marche, Abruzzo, Friuli
• northern and central Spain: Galicia, Asturias, Castile, Cantabria
• northern and north-central Portugal: Minho, Douro, Tras-os-Montes, Beira Alta

While Hallstatt is regarded as the dominant settlement of the western zone, a settlement at the Burgstallkogel in the central Sulm valley(southern Styria, west of Leibnitz, Austria) was a major centre during the Hallstatt C period. Parts of the huge necropolis (which originally consisted of more than 1,100 tumuli) surrounding this settlement can be seen today near Gleinstätten, and the chieftain’s mounds were on the other side of the hill, near Kleinklein. The finds are mostly in the Landesmuseum Joanneum at Graz, which also holds the Strettweg Cult Wagon.

Eastern Hallstatt zone

The eastern Hallstatt zone includes:

• eastern Austria: Lower Austria, Upper Styria
• eastern Czech Republic: Moravia
• southwestern Slovakia: Danubian Lowland
• western Hungary: Little Hungarian Plain
• eastern Slovenia: Hallstatt Archaeological Site in Vače (at the border between Lower Styriaand Lower Carniola regions), Novo Mesto
• northern Croatia: Hrvatsko Zagorje, Istria
• northern and central Serbia
• parts of southwestern Poland

Trade, cultural diffusion, and some population movements spread the Hallstatt cultural complex (western form) into Britain, and Ireland.

• Celtic Studies portal

Basarabi culture Bronze- and Iron-Age Poland Celtic warfare

Iron Age sword Irschen

Noric steel Prehistoric France Zollfeld

Notes

1. Jump up^ Nationalism, Politics and the Practice of Archaeology by Philip L. Kohl,ISBN 0521558395, 1996, Page 134: « … in the 1940s. They were emphatically developed by S.P. Tolstov (1946; 1947b), whose original contribution was to include the Thracian- Illyrian population (the Hallstatt culture) … »; and Geschichte der Vorgeschichtsforschung by Herbert Kuhn, Page 455,ISBN 3110059185,1976, « … of the Middle Danube Urnfield group persisted in the eastern Alpine and the north and east Adriatic area where the Illyrian Hallstatt culture arose in the following centuries best known through its celebrated Hallstatt cemetery and the situla art. … »
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 26
3. Jump up^ McIntosh, 88
4. Jump up^ Koch
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c d Megaw, 40
6. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 48-49
7. Jump up^ Chadwick, Nora (1970). The Celts. p. 30.
8. Jump up^ Kruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 89–102.
9. Jump up^ Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages – Addenda. p. 25.
10. Jump up^ Alfons Semler, Überlingen: Bilder aus der Geschichte einer kleinen Reichsstadt,Oberbadische Verlag, Singen, 1949, pp. 11–17, specifically 15.
11. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Kruta, Venceslas (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 93–100.
12. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages (PDF). p. 24.
13. Jump up^ Percivaldi, Elena (2003). I Celti: una civiltà europea. Giunti Editore. p. 82.
14. Jump up^ Leonelli, Valentina. La necropoli delle Acciaierie di Terni: contributi per una edizione critica (Cestres ed.). p. 33.
15. Jump up^ Farinacci, Manlio. Carsulae svelata e Terni sotterranea. Associazione Culturale UMRU – Terni.
16. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-41
17. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-43
18. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 28
19. Jump up^ Megaw, 41-43, 45-47
20. Jump up^ Megaw, 25-30; 39-47
21. Jump up^ Sandars, 209
22. Jump up^ Megaw, 43-44
23. ^ Jump up to:^a b Megaw, 34
24. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Megaw, 30
25. Jump up^ Megaw, Chapter 1; Laing, chapter 2
26. Jump up^ Megaw, 33-34
27. Jump up^ Megaw, 39-45
28. Jump up^ Megaw, 34-39; Sandars, 223-225
29. Jump up^ Megaw, 37
30. Jump up^ Sandars, 223-224
31. Jump up^ Sandars, 225, quoted
32. Jump up^ Sandars, 224
33. Jump up^ Megaw 25, 29
34. Jump up^ Megaw, 30-32
35. Jump up^ Koch; Kossack (1959); N. Müller-Scheeßel, Die Hallstattkultur und ihre räumliche Differenzierung. Der West- und Osthallstattkreis aus forschungsgeschichtlicher Sicht (2000)
36. Jump up^ Megaw, 30-39

References

• Barth, F.E., J. Biel, et al. Vierrädrige Wagen der Hallstattzeit (« The Hallstatt four-wheeled wagons » at Mainz). Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum; 1987. ISBN3-88467-016-6
• Koch, John T (2006), « the Hallstat culture », in ., Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 1-85109-440-7, retrieved 10 October 2011 e-book ISBN 1-85109-445-8
• Laing, Lloyd and Jenifer. Art of the Celts, Thames and Hudson, London 1992 ISBN0-500-20256-7
• McIntosh, Jane, Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe, 2009, Oxford University Press (USA), ISBN9780195384765
• Megaw, Ruth and Vincent, Celtic Art, 2001, Thames and Hudson, ISBN0-500-28265-X
• Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.)

• Kristinsson, Axel (2010), Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe since the Bronze Age, Reykjavík: Reykjavíkur Akademían, ISBN 9979-9922-1-2, retrieved 10 October 2011

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt_culture

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

 

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

Rotating image

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot.

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

The left side of the disk shows no traces of gilding.

The Trundholm sun chariot(Danish: Solvognen), is a Nordic Bronze Age artifact discovered in Denmark. It is a representation of the sun chariot, a bronze statue of a horse and a large bronze disk, which are placed on a device with spoked wheels.

The sculpture was discovered with no accompanying objects in 1902 in a peat bog on the Trundholm moor in Odsherred in the northwestern part of Zealand, (approximately 55°55′N 11°37′E). It is now in the collection of the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Description

The horse stands on a bronze rod supported by four wheels. The rod below the horse is connected to the disk, which is supported by two wheels. All of the wheels have four spokes. The artifact was cast in the lost wax method.

The whole object is approximately 54 cm × 35 cm × 29 cm (21 in × 14 in × 11 in) in size (width, height, depth).^[1]

The disk has a diameter of approximately 25 cm (9.8 in). It is gilded on one side only, the right-hand side (when looking in the direction of the horse). It consists of two bronze disks that are joined by an outer bronze ring, with a thin sheet of gold applied to one face. The disks were then decorated with punches and gravers with zones of motifs of concentric circles, with bands of zig-zag decoration between borders. The gold side has an extra outer zone which may represent rays, and also a zone with concentric circles linked by looping bands that « instead of flowing in one direction, progress like the steps of the dance, twice forward and once back ». The main features of the horse are also highly decorated.^[2]

The two sides of the disk have been interpreted as an indication of a belief that the sun is drawn across the heavens from East to West during the day, presenting its bright side to the Earth and returns from West to East during the night, when the dark side is being presented to the Earth. A continuation around a globe would have the same result. It is thought that the chariot was pulled around during religious rituals to demonstrate the motion of the sun in the heavens.^[3]

Date

The sculpture is dated by the National Museum to about 1400 BC,^[4] though other dates have been suggested. Unfortunately it was found before pollen-dating was developed, which would have enabled a more confident dating.

A model of a horse-drawn vehicle on spoked wheels in Northern Europe at such an early time is surprising; they would not be expected to appear until the end of the Late Bronze Age, which ranges from 1100 BC to 550 BC. This and aspects of the decoration may suggest a Danubian origin or influence in the object, although the Nationalmuseet is confident it is of Nordic origin.^[5]

Possible function as a calendar

Giacobbe Giusti, Trundholm sun chariot

Rotating image

Klaus Randsborg, professor of archeology at the University of Copenhagen, has pointed out that the sum of an addition of the number of spirals in each circle of the disk, multiplied by the number of the circles in which they are found, counted from the middle (1×1 + 2×8 + 3×20 + 4×25), results in a total of 177, which comes very close to the number of days in six synodic months, only 44 min 2.8 s shorter each.

The synodic cycle is the time that elapses between two successive conjunctions of an object in the sky, such as a specific star, with the sun. It is the time that elapses before the object will reappear at the same point in the sky when observed from the Earth, so it is the apparent orbital period observed from Earth.

He asserts his belief that this demonstrates that the disk was designed by a person with some measure of astronomic knowledge and that the sculpture may have functioned as a calendar.

Sun chariot in Indo-European mythology

Sun chariot

Norse mythology

The chariot has been interpreted as a possible Bronze Age predecessor to Skinfaxi,^[6] the horse that pulled Dagr, the personification of day, across the sky.

Celtic Pantheon

The sky god Taranis is typically depicted with the attribute of a spoked wheel.

Rigveda

Surya’s chariot

Main article: Historical Vedic religion

The Rigveda also reflects the mytheme of the Sun chariot. RV 10.85 mentions the sun god’s bride as seated on a chariot pulled by two steeds. The relevant verses are the following (trans. Griffith):

10. Her spirit was the bridal car; the covering thereof was heaven: Bright were both Steeds that drew it when Suryaapproached her husband’s home.
11. Thy Steeds were steady, kept in place by holy verse and Sama-hymn: All car were thy two chariot wheels: thy path was tremulous in the sky,
12. Clean, as thou wentest, were thy wheels wind, was the axle fastened there. Surya, proceeding to her Lord, mounted a spirit-fashioned car.^[7]

• Egtved Girl
• Golden hat
• Håga Kurgan
• Nebra skydisk
• Nordic Bronze Age
• Phaëton
• Sól (sun)
• Sun worship
• The King’s Grave
• Urnfield culture
• Cult Wagon of Strettweg

Notes

1. Jump up^ Nationalmuseet
2. Jump up^ Sandars, 184-185
3. Jump up^ Sandars, 184; see also Nationalmuseet video
4. Jump up^ http://natmus.dk/historisk-viden/danmark/oldtid-indtil-aar-1050/bronzealderen-1700-fkr-500-fkr/solvognen/
5. Jump up^ Nationalmuseet video; Sandars, 183-185 favours Danubian influence, and a date at the end of the 13th century.
6. Jump up^ Lindow, John. (2001) Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs, page 272. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-515382-0.
7. Jump up^ Mandala 10/Hymn 85

References

• Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), 1968 (nb 1st edn.)

Trundholm Sun Chariot.

• Reconstructing the Trundholm Sun Chariot, Anders Söderberg, Sweden, 2002. Söderberg demonstrates how part of the chariot might have been made using the lost-wax method.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trundholm_sun_chariot

http://www.giacobbegiusti.com