World Archaeology argues that the importance of the Trundholm Sun Chariot lies in the fact that it is “perhaps the finest example of a crucial aspect of Scandinavian Bronze Age religion: the cosmic passage of the sun through heavenly light and the darkness of the underworld.” In other examples discovered in Scandinavia, the horse is replaced by ships or fish, amongst other creatures. ( Prachaya / Adobe Stock) The Trundholm Sun Chariot as Ritual Performance The Trundholm Sun Chariot on the 2013 Danish 1,000-krone banknote. During this archaeological dig, they unearthed 21 additional parts, which have allowed conservationists to reassemble a more complete picture of how the object must have looked originally. In 1998, almost 100 years after the artifact was first discovered in the peat bog, experts returned to the find spot of the famed Trundholm Sun Chariot with a metal detector.
One side was gilded, to give the impression of the sun during the day, while the other side was left dark as way of depicting the journey of the sun during the night. The Sun disk was decorated with spirals, a common motif in true Nordic craftsmanship. How a Viking Amulet Solved the Mystery of Thor's Hammerīelieved to have been created around 1400 BC, the artifact is over 3,400 years old and according to the National Museum of Denmark it is “one of southern Scandinavia’s earliest examples of the horse being used as a draught animal.” Experts have concluded that the Trundholm Sun Chariot was created using what is known as the lost wax method, or cire perdue.Elite Gold Pendants Unearthed in Norway Were ‘Sacrifices’ to the Gods.And a lucky thing too! The Trundholm Sun Chariot is now a Danish national treasure, and was even included on the 1,000-krone banknote. Initially he believed it was a toy, but ended up contacting the National Museum of Denmark. A farmer found it in the mud while ploughing a peat bog known as Trundholm Mose. The Norse artifact was first discovered on the coast of the southern Danish island of Zealand ( Sjælland) back in 1902. ( National Museum of Denmark ) The Unexpected Discovery of the Trundholm Sun Chariot 1700 to 500 BC), the so-called chariot consists of a bronze horse, a bronze disc with a thin sheet of gold pressed into one side, and six four-spoke wheels made also of bronze.Īrchaeologists returned to the Zealand peat bog in 1998 and found additional parts of the famed Trundholm Sun Chariot. Said to belong to the Nordic Bronze Age (c. The famous Trundholm Sun Chariot is a bronze and gold artifact pulled out of a bog in Denmark in 1902.