Trundholm sun chariot

{{short description|Late Nordic Bronze Age artifact discovered in Denmark}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox artefact | name = Trundholm sun chariot | image = Trundholm sun chariot animation.gif | image_size = | alt = | image_caption = | material = Bronze | weight = | created = Nordic Bronze Age, c. 1500-1300 BC | discovered_place = Odsherred, Denmark | discovered_coords = | discovered_date = 1902 | discovered_by = | location = National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen | registration = | map = }} The '''Trundholm sun chariot''' ({{langx|da|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 {{Coord|55|55|N|11|37|E|}}). It is now in the collection of the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.<ref name=:0>{{cite web |url= https://www.world-archaeology.com/issues/object-lesson-trundholm-sun-chariot/ |title= Trundholm Sun Chariot |date= 19 January 2017 |publisher= CWA 80 |access-date= September 5, 2022}}</ref> It is featured on the 1000-krone banknote of the 2009 series.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nationalbanken.dk/en/banknotes_and_coins/Danish_banknotes/Pages/1000-krone-banknote.aspx | title=1000-krone banknote }}</ref>

== Description == thumb|left|The gilded side of the Trundholm sun chariot 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 {{convert|54|x|35|x|29|cm|in|abbr=on}} in size (width, height, depth).<ref name="The Sun Chariot">{{cite web | title=The Sun Chariot | website=Nationalmuseet | url=https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-bronze-age/the-sun-chariot/ | language=en | access-date=2020-09-16}}</ref><ref name=:0 /> Aspects of the decoration suggest a Danubian influence in the object, although it was produced locally.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Vandkilde |first=Helle |date=April 2014 |title=Breakthrough of the Nordic Bronze Age: Transcultural Warriorhood and a Carpathian Crossroad in the Sixteenth Century BC |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272312010 |url-status=live |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=602–633 |doi=10.1179/1461957114Y.0000000064 |s2cid=162256646 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722011818/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272312010_Breakthrough_of_the_Nordic_Bronze_Age_Transcultural_Warriorhood_and_a_Carpathian_Crossroad_in_the_Sixteenth_Century_BC |archive-date=22 July 2022 |access-date=30 November 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Sun Chariot |url=https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-bronze-age/the-sun-chariot/ |access-date=2020-09-16 |website=Nationalmuseet |language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Solvognen Do 2010 1278.tif|thumb|The left side of the disk shows no traces of gilding ]] thumb|Gold disc detail The disk has a diameter of approximately {{convert|25|cm|in|abbr=on}}. It is gilded on one side only, the right-hand side (when looking at the horse from behind). 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.<ref>Sandars, 184–185</ref>

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.<ref>Sandars, 184; see also Nationalmuseet video</ref>

Two similar discs have been found in Ireland: the Lattoon gold disc<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Leonard |first=Katharine |date=2014 |title=Ritual in Late Bronze Age Ireland – Material Culture, Practices, Landscape Setting and Social Context |url=https://aran.library.nuigalway.ie/bitstream/handle/10379/4248/Ritual%20in%20Late%20Bronze%20Age%20Ireland%20%28K.%20Leonard%20PhD%20thesis%29.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |type=PhD |publisher=University of Galway|pages=95}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dy42U6rWoAUPzIz?format=jpg&name=4096x4096 |title=Photo of the Lattoon disc |website=British Archaeology Magazine |date=2019}}</ref> and the bronze Cooke disc, the latter dated to c. 1500–1300 BC. The Cooke disc has similar fittings to the Trundholm chariot, suggesting that it was also originally connected to a sun horse and mounted on wheels.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/37976183 |journal=British Archaeology |volume=164 |date=2019 |title=The Sun also Rises |last1=Mathias |first1=Florent |last2=Wilkin |first2=Neil |pages=52–57}}</ref>

== Date == The sculpture is dated to about 1400 BC,<ref name="The Sun Chariot" /> or Montellius period II (c. 1500-1300 BC).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kristiansen |first1=Kristian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=di7Dc7Y1ETYC |title=The Rise of Bronze Age Society |last2=Larsson |first2=Thomas B. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-84363-8 |pages=294}}</ref>

Evidence for horse-drawn chariots first appears in Scandinavia around 1700 BC, in the form of petroglyphs, chariot bits and whip handles.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankau |first1=Claudia |url=https://www.academia.edu/35334570 |title=Winds of Change: Archaeological Contributions in Honour of Peter Breunig |last2=Krause |first2=Rüdiger |date=2017 |publisher=Verlag Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH |isbn=978-3-7749-4074-1 |editor-last1=Rupp |editor-first1=Nicole |pages=355–371 |chapter=Chariots between Africa and China – Distribution and Development of Wagons with Two-Spoked Wheels |editor-last2=Beck |editor-first2=Christina |editor-last3=Franke |editor-first3=Gabriele |editor-last4=Wendt |editor-first4=Karl Peter |access-date=26 September 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407001011/https://www.academia.edu/35334570 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vandkilde |first=Helle |date=April 2014 |title=Breakthrough of the Nordic Bronze Age: Transcultural Warriorhood and a Carpathian Crossroad in the Sixteenth Century BC |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272312010 |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=602–633 |doi=10.1179/1461957114Y.0000000064 |s2cid=162256646 |access-date=30 November 2020 |archive-date=22 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722011818/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272312010_Breakthrough_of_the_Nordic_Bronze_Age_Transcultural_Warriorhood_and_a_Carpathian_Crossroad_in_the_Sixteenth_Century_BC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kristiansen|first1=Kristian|title=Interweaving worlds systemic interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st millennia BC|chapter=Bridging India and Scandinavia: Institutional Transmission and Elite Conquest during the Bronze Age|date=2011|pages=259|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/1133755|publisher=Oxbow Books|isbn=978-1-84217-998-7}}</ref>

== Calendar == {{See also |Nebra sky disc}}

Some authors have suggested that the decoration on the disc numerically encodes a calendar.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Hansen|first1=Rahlf|last2=Rink|first2=Christine|title=Himmelsscheibe, Sonnenwagen und Kalenderhüte – ein Versuch zur bronzezeitlichen Astronomie|date=2008|journal=Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica|volume=40|url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/apa/issue/view/5045|doi=10.11588/apa.2008.0.71501|pages=93–126}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Randsborg |first=Klavs |date=2006 |title=Calendars of the Bronze Age |url=https://worldarchaeology.org/publications/ |journal=Acta Archaeologica |volume=77 |pages=62–90|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0390.2006.00047.x |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The archaeologist Christoph Sommerfeld argues that both sides of the disc encode knowledge of the 19-year lunisolar Metonic cycle.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.academia.edu/14021967 |journal=Praehistorische Zeitschrift |volume=85 |issue=2 |date=2010 |title=… nach Jahr und Tag – Bemerkungen über die Trundholm-Scheiben |last=Sommerfel |first=Christoph |doi=10.1515/PZ.2010.01 |pages=207–242|doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 }}</ref> The Metonic cycle is also thought to be encoded on the later Berlin Gold Hat, dating from c. 1000 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/golden-ceremonial-hat-berlin-gold-hat-artist-unknown/hAGC3knXgLdPZg?hl=en |title=Golden Ceremonial Hat ("Berlin Gold Hat") |website=Neues Museum Berlin}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Menghin|first=Wilfried|title=Zahlensymbolik und digitales Rechnersystem in der Ornamentik des Berliner Goldhutes|date=2008|journal=Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica|volume=40|url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/apa/issue/view/5045|doi=10.11588/apa.2008.0.71505|pages=157–169}}</ref>

== Sun chariot in Indo-European mythology and religions == {{Main|Sun chariot}}

=== Norse mythology ===

The chariot has been interpreted as a possible Bronze Age predecessor to Skinfaxi,<ref name=LINDOW272>Lindow, John. (2001) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=KlT7tv3eMSwC Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs]'', page 272. Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0-19-515382-0}}.</ref> 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.thumb|right|Surya's chariot

=== Hindu scriptures === {{Main|Historical Vedic religion}} The Rigveda in Hindu scriptures also reflects the mention 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):

<blockquote> 10. Her spirit was the bridal car; the covering thereof was heaven: Bright were both Steeds that drew it when Surya approached her husband's home.<br /> 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,<br /> 12. Clean, as thou wentest, were thy wheels, wind was the axle fastened there. Surya, proceeding to her Lord, mounted a spirit-fashioned car.<ref>{{sourcetext|source=The Rig Veda|book=Mandala 10/Hymn 85}}</ref> </blockquote>

=== Greek mythology ===

In Greek mythology, the solar deity Helios was said to wear a radiant crown as his horse-drawn chariot raced across the sky, bringing daylight.<ref>Madanjeet Singh, Ahmad Hasan Dani (1993), ''The Sun: Symbol of Power and Life'', H.N. Abrams, p. 293, ISBN 978081093838.</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

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

== External links == {{Commons|Solvognen|Trundholm Sun Chariot}} *[http://web.comhem.se/vikingbronze/sunchariot.htm Reconstructing the Trundholm Sun Chariot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011194141/http://web.comhem.se/vikingbronze/sunchariot.htm |date=11 October 2008 }}, Anders Söderberg, Sweden, 2002. Söderberg demonstrates how part of the chariot might have been made using the lost-wax method. *{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200826/http://www2.kah-bonn.de/1/33/0.htm ''Götter und Helden in der Bronzezeit: Europa im Zeitalter des Odysseus'']}}, exhibition, Bonn. 1999. Catalogue introduction, wall panel information: {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927201252/http://www2.kah-bonn.de/pr/33/bronzezeit-pressemappe.doc (.doc format)]}}

Category:Prehistoric objects in the National Museum of Denmark Category:Archaeological discoveries in Denmark Category:2nd-millennium BC works Category:Archaeoastronomy Category:Prehistory of Denmark Category:Nordic Bronze Age Category:Germanic archaeological artifacts Category:Bronzeware Category:Bronze Age art Category:Horses in art Category:Sun in art Category:Danish Culture Canon Category:Solar chariot Category:Ancient art in metal Category:1902 archaeological discoveries