Trundholm sun chariot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The sun chariot pulled by a horse is believed to be a sculpture illustrating an important part of Nordic Bronze Age mythology.
The sun chariot pulled by a horse is believed to be a sculpture illustrating an important part of Nordic Bronze Age mythology.
The left-hand side (reverse) of the sun chariot.
The left-hand side (reverse) of the sun chariot.

The sun chariot of Trundholm, called Solvogn in Danish, is a late Nordic Bronze Age artefact. It is a bronze statue of a horse and a big bronze disk, placed on two spoked wheels. It was cast in the lost wax method. The horse stands on a bronze rod connecting it to the disk and runs on four wheels, the disk itself on two. All wheels have four spokes. The "chariot" consist solely of the disk, the axle, and the wheels.

Contents

It was discovered in 1902 in the Trundholm moor in West Zealand County on the northwest coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark, in a region known as Odsherred (approx. 55°55′N 11°37′E).


The disk is interpreted as a depiction of the sun. It is unclear if the sun is imagined as being itself a chariot, or as riding in a chariot. A model of a horse-drawn vehicle on spoked wheels in Northern Europe at such an early time is astonishing, the earliest known actual chariots (as opposed to ox-drawn carts on solid wheels without spokes) in Europe are from the Iron Age, dating from ca. the 6th century BC (see Etruscan chariot). But Bronze Age single spoked wheels have been found in Switzerland (Corcelettes), Drenthe (Netherlands) and Stade (Germany).

The disk has a diameter of ca. 25 cm, and is gilded on only one side, the right-hand one relative to the horse. This has been interpreted as an indication of the belief that the sun is drawn across the heavens from East to West during the day, showing its bright side, and back from West to East during the night, showing its dark side.

The chariot has been dated to the 14th and the 15th centuries BC.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
 This article relating to archaeology in Europe is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
 This Danish history article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../t/r/u/Trundholm_sun_chariot.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.