Gundestrup cauldron

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The Gundestrup cauldron is a richly-decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC, placing it into the late La Tène period.^[1] It was found in 1891 in a peat bog near the hamlet of Gundestrup, in the Aars parish in Himmerland, Denmark (56°49′N 9°33′E / 56.817°N 9.55°E / 56.817; 9.55). It is now housed at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

The Gundestrup cauldron is the largest known example of European Iron Age silver work (diameter 69 cm, height 42 cm). The style and workmanship suggest Thracian origin, while the imagery seems Celtic. This has opened room for conflicting theories of Thracian vs. Gaulish origin of the cauldron. Taylor (1991) has suggested Thracian origin with influence by Indian iconography.

Contents 1 Discovery 2 Construction 3 Origins 4 Depictions 4.1 Base Plate 4.2 Exterior Plates 4.3 Interior plates 4.3.1 Plate A: Antlered Figure 4.3.2 Plate B: Female figure with Wheels 4.3.3 Plate C: Broken Wheel 4.3.4 Plate D: Bull Hunting 4.3.5 Plate E: Warriors and Cauldron 5 Interpretation 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Discovery

The cauldron was discovered by peat cutters in a small peat-bog called Rævemose, at Gundestrup, on May 28, 1891. The Danish government paid a large reward to the finders, who subsequently quarreled bitterly amongst themselves over its division.^[2][2][3] The cauldron was found in a dismantled state, with five long rectangular plates, seven short ones, one round plate (normally termed the 'base plate') and two fragments of tubing stacked inside the curved base. Palaeobotanical investigation of the surrounding peat showed that the land had been dry when the cauldron was deposited, and the peat had since gradually grown over it. The manner of stacking suggests an attempt to make the cauldron inconspicuous and well-hidden.^[3]

[edit] Construction

The original ordering of the outer and inner rectangular plates is uncertain, although in two places a sharp object has apparently pierced through both an outer and an inner plate, which can thus be aligned with some certainty. The plates retain traces of solder, but since they seem to have been separated by 2 cm strips of metal (now missing), rather than soldered directly together, these traces do not help in matching adjacent plates. One of the eight original outer plates is missing. The circular 'base plate' originated as a phalera, or horse's bridle decoration, and it is commonly thought to have resided in the bottom of the bowl as a late addition, soldered in to repair a hole.^[2] By an alternative theory, this phalera was not initially part of the bowl, but instead formed part of the decorations of a wooden cover.^[3] The cauldron has been repaired, and possibly even dismantled and reassembled, multiple times, and the repair quality is inferior to the original craftmanship.^[2]

The silversmithing of the plates is very skilled. The bowl, 70 cm across, was beaten from a single ingot. For the relief work on the plates, the sheet-silver was annealed to allow shapes to be beaten into high repoussé; these rough shapes were then filled with pitch from the back to make them firm enough for further detailing with punches and tracers. The pitch was then melted out. Areas of pattern were gilded, and the eyes of the larger figures were probably inset with glass. The plates were probably worked in the flat and then bent into curves to solder them together.^[3]

Using scanning electron microscopy Benner Larson has identified 15 different punches used on the plates, falling into three distinct groups. No individual plate has marks from more than one of these groups, and this fits with previous attempts at stylistic attribution, which identify at least three different silversmiths.^[3]

The plates show wear and buckling, mostly consistent with having been forcibly torn apart at the seams. Some of the wear may, however, hint at an even earlier arrangement of the plates and subsequent reconstruction.^[3]

[edit] Origins

For many years scholars have interpreted the cauldron's images in terms of the Celtic pantheon. The antlered figure in plate A has been commonly identified as Cernunnos, and the figure holding the broken wheel in plate C is more tentatively thought to be Taranis. There is no consensus regarding other figures. The elephants depicted on plate B have been explained by some Celticists as a reference to Hannibal's crossing of the Alps.^[2]

The silverworking techniques used in the cauldron are unknown from the Celtic world, but are consistent with the renowned Thracian sheet-silver tradition; the scenes depicted are not distinctively Thracian, but certain elements of composition, decorative motifs and illustrated items (such as the shoelaces on the "Cernunnos" figure) identify it as Thracian work.^[3]

The silver in the cauldron cannot be tracked to an individual mine by lead isotope analysis, since the melted coins such artifacts are normally made of can originate in many mines. The variety of coin used has, however, been determined with some certainty, by careful analysis of weights: a total weight of 9445 grams was reconstructed for the entire cauldron, and 4255 grams for the bowl alone, and these were found to be nearly precise integer multiples of the weight of the Persian siglos, a coin weighing 5.67 grams. By this calculation 1,666 coins were used in total, 750 of them in the bowl. This supports an origin in Thrace, where Persian weights were in common use. The phalera base plate, added to the cauldron at a later date, also originated in Thrace.^[2]

[edit] Depictions

[edit] Base Plate

The circular base plate depicts a bull, above its back a female figure wielding a sword, and two dogs, one over the bull's head, and another under its hooves.

[edit] Exterior Plates

Each of the seven exterior plates centrally depicts a bust, probably of a deity. Plates a, b, c, and d show bearded male figures, while the remaining three are female.

• On plate a, the bearded figure holds in each hand a much smaller figure by the arm. Each of those two reach upward toward a small boar. Under the feet of the figures (on the shoulders of the god) are a dog on the left side and a winged horse on the right side.

• The god on plate b holds in each hand a sea-horse or dragon. In Celtic-origin theories, the image has been associated with the Irish sea-god Manannan.

• On plate c, a male figure raises his empty fists. On his right shoulder is a man in a "boxing" position, and on his left shoulder a leaping figure with a small horseman underneath.

• Plate d shows a bearded figure holding a stag by the hind quarters in each hand.

• The female figure on plate e is flanked by two smaller male busts.

• On plate f: the female figure holds a bird in her upraised right hand. Her left arm is horizontal, supporting a man and a dog lying on its back. She is flanked by two birds of prey on either side of her head. Her hair is being plaited by a small woman on the right.

• On plate g, the female figure has her arms crossed. On her right shoulder, a scene of a man fighting a lion is shown. On her left shoulder is a leaping figure similar to the one on plate c.

[edit] Interior plates

[edit] Plate A: Antlered Figure

Plate A centrally shows a horned male figure in a seated position. In its right hand, the figure is holding a torc, and with its left hand, it grips a horned serpent by the head. To the left is a stag with antlers very similar to the humanoid. Other animals surround the scene, canine, feline, bovine, elephant, and a human figure riding a fish or a dolphin. The scene has been compared to a similar seal found in the Indus Valley. In theories of Celtic origin, the figure is often identified as Cernunnos and occasionally as Mercury.

In his 1928 book "Buddhism in pre-Christian Britain" Donald Mackenzie proposed the figure was related to depictions of the Buddha, and of the Western Buddha-god Virupaksha.^[4]

Detail of interior plate A

The seal from Mohenjo-Daro.

[edit] Plate B: Female figure with Wheels

Plate B shows the bust of a female, flanked by two six-spoked wheels and by mythical animals: two elephant-like creatures and two griffins. Under the bust is a large hound.

[edit] Plate C: Broken Wheel

Plate C shows the bust of a bearded figure holding on to a broken wheel. A smaller leaping figure with a horned helmet also is holding the rim of the wheel. Under the leaping figure is a horned serpent. The group is surrounded by griffins and other creatures, some similar to those on plate B. The wheel's spokes are rendered asymmetrical, but judging from the lower half, the wheel may have had twelve spokes, which has been compared with with chariot burials excavated in East Yorkshire.^{[citation needed]} In theories of Celtic origin the figure has been associated with the Irish Dagda.

[edit] Plate D: Bull Hunting

Plate D shows a scene of bull-slaying. Three bulls are depicted in a row, facing right. Each bull is attacked by a man with a sword. Under the hooves of each bull is a dog running to the right, and over the back of each bull is a cat, also running to the right.

[edit] Plate E: Warriors and Cauldron

In the lower half, a line of warriors bearing spears and shields, accompanied by carnyx players march to the left. On the left side, a large figure is immersing a man in a cauldron. In the upper half, facing away from the cauldron are warriors on horseback. This has been interpreted^[who?] as an initiation scene.

[edit] Interpretation

The Gundestrup cauldron is the largest known example of European Iron Age silver work.

Despite the absence of any known tradition of sheet silver repoussé in Celtic Gaul or north-western Europe, the decorations on the walls of the cauldron have been widely identified with Celtic deities and rituals. The appearance of torques around the necks of some of the figures on the cauldron also suggest a connection with Celtic culture. Because of these, and because of the size of the vessel (diameter 69 cm, height 42 cm), it is said to have been used for initiatory or sacrificial^{[citation needed]} purposes in Celtic polytheism.

Bergquist and Taylor propose manufacture by a Thracian craftsman, possibly commissioned by the Celtic Scordisci and fallen into the hands of the Cimbri who invaded the Middle lower Danube in 120 BC. Olmsted interprets the iconography as a prototype of the Irish myth of the Táin Bó Cuailnge, associating the horned figure with Cú Chulainn rather than with Cernunnos.

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Timothy Taylor theorises that Thracian silverworkers were an itinerant class (who he compares to present-day Romani people) who were valued for magical and ritual services as well as for their metalworking (itself an important ritual occupation), and who, though living in southeastern Europe, would not have considered themselves Thracian. He suggests they may have been a feminised caste of men fulfilling functions of priesthood and seership, like the Enarees of Scythia and similar groups attested across Eurasia in the Iron Age. The figure on the cauldron typically identified with Cernunnos is unbearded, in contrast with all the other male figures, and the similar Mohenjo-Daro figure, though having male genitalia, is dressed in female clothes, his posture resembling a yogic posture for channeling sexual energy still used by a caste of Indian sorcerers.^[5] Taylor speculates that the "Cernunnos" figure, of ambiguous gender, may have been a deity of particular importance to the Thracian silverworking caste, part of a magical tradition common across Eurasia and still surviving in tantric yoga and Siberian shamanism.^[2]

[edit] References

• Kaul, F., and J. Martens, Southeast European Influences in the Early Iron Age of Southern Scandinavia. Gundestrup and the Cimbri, Acta Archaeologica, vol. 66 1995, pp. 111-161.
• Klindt-Jensen, O., The Gundestrup Bowl — a reassessment, Antiquity, vol. 33, pp. 161-9.
• Olmsted, G.S., The Gundestrup version of Táin Bó Cuailnge, Antiquity, vol. 50, pp. 95-103.
• Cunliffe, Barry (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe, NY: Oxford University Press, 1994, 400-402.
• Green, Miranda J., Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend. (NY: Thames and Hudson, 1992, 108-100.

[edit] See also

• Celtic art
• Celtic polytheism
• Druid

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gundestrup cauldron

• Celtic Art & Cultures : detailed description of the cauldron
• Gundestrup Cauldron : origins of the cauldron and its place within Celtic culture