The Balkåkra Ritual Object is an item from the Bronze Age found in Balkåkra,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1847. Its use and purpose remain unknown.

History

The object was found in a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

in Balkåkra

socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

close to

Ystad Ystad () is a town and the seat of Ystad Municipality, in Scania County, Sweden. Ystad had 18,350 inhabitants in 2010. The settlement dates from the 11th century and has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre, and tourist attracti ...

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, Sweden in 1847. It has been dated to 1500 – 1300 BC, i.e. early

Nordic Bronze Age The Nordic Bronze Age (also Northern Bronze Age, or Scandinavian Bronze Age) is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from . The Nordic Bronze Age culture emerged about 1750 BC as a continuation of the Late Neolithic Dagger period, which is root ...

. A later date in the Urnfield period has also been suggested by other authors. A similar item was discovered in 1913 in Haschendorf/Hasfalva in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, not far from

Sopron Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely. When ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It has been suggested that the object found in Balkåkra may have been imported from the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

region or

northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

and not produced locally. A similar miniature object of

Nuragic The nuraghe, or nurhag, is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice found in Sardinia, Italy, developed during the Nuragic Age between 1900 and 730 BC. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture known a ...

origin was found in

Vulci Vulci or Volci ( Etruscan: ''Velch'' or ''Velx'', depending on the romanization used) was a rich Etruscan city in what is now northern Lazio, central Italy. As George Dennis wrote, "Vulci is a city whose very name... was scarcely remembered, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, together with a Nuragic 'priest' (or priestess) figurine wearing a conical hat. The Vulci find has been dated to the 9th century BC but the objects may be significantly older.

Description

The item consists of a round frame made of

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

perforated with holes and carried by ten wheels. A flat and loose bronze disc placed on top of it. The disc is decorated with concentric zig-zag patterns. The diameter of the disc is and is slightly concave. The inside of the Haschendorf ritual object is marked with two sets of engraved lines indicating numbers or simple

numerals A numeral is a figure (symbol), word, or group of figures (symbols) or words denoting a number. It may refer to: * Numeral system used in mathematics * Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English ...

from I to IIIII (I, II, III, IIII, IIIII). The same numbers appear on the Balkåkra object where they are marked with dots instead of lines. These are thought to represent instructions for assembly of the objects. The repeated use of numbers 10, 20 and 30 in the construction of the Balkåkra and Haschendorf objects suggests the use of a ten-digit system (10 side pieces with 10 'wheels', held together by 20 nails with large conical heads, and a ribbon at the top with 10 similar nails and 30 large bosses for decoration, with 30 large circular openings in the side panel).

Interpretation

It is not known what purpose the item served, but it has been assumed that it had a ritual use. Suggestions have been made that it could have been a

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

, a

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

, a

throne A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign (or viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory ...

or a

burning glass A burning glass or burning lens is a large convex lens that can concentrate the Sun's rays onto a small area, heating up the area and thus resulting in ignition of the exposed surface. Burning mirrors achieve a similar effect by using reflecting ...

. The concentric zig-zag lines on both discs are thought to represent the rays of the sun. They have also been interpreted as encoding a

solar calendar A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicates the season or almost equivalently the apparent position of the Sun relative to the stars. The Gregorian calendar, widely accepted as a standard in the world, is an example of a solar calendar ...

. The four-spoked wheel was also a common

solar symbol A solar symbol is a symbol representing the Sun. Common solar symbols include circles (with or without rays), crosses, and spirals. In religious iconography, personifications of the Sun or solar attributes are often indicated by means of a halo ( ...

in the

European Bronze Age The European Bronze Age is characterized by bronze artifacts and the use of bronze implements. The regional Bronze Age succeeds the Neolithic and Copper Age and is followed by the Iron Age. It starts with the Aegean Bronze Age in 3200 BC and span ...

. The finding of a similar miniature object together with a Nuragic figurine is of particular interest. Nuragic 'priest' figurines, often depicted with tall conical hats, have been compared to the conical

Golden Hats Golden hats (or gold hats) (, singular: ) are a very specific and rare type of archaeological artifact from Bronze Age Europe. So far, four such objects ("cone-shaped gold hats of the Schifferstadt type") are known. The objects are made of thin ...

from central Europe, dating from the

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

and

Late Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

, which are thought to have been worn by priests, and possibly 'astronomer-priests' or 'priest-kings'. The symbols on the

Berlin Gold Hat The Berlin Gold Hat or Berlin Golden Hat ( German: ''Berliner Goldhut'') is a Late Bronze Age artefact made of thin gold leaf. It served as the external covering on a long conical brimmed headdress, probably of an organic material. It is now in ...

have been interpreted as a

luni-solar calendar A lunisolar calendar is a calendar in many cultures, that combines monthly lunar cycles with the solar year. As with all calendars which divide the year into months, there is an additional requirement that the year have a whole number of months ...

based on the

Metonic cycle The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from , from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The recurrence is not perfect, and by precise obser ...

. Both the Nuragic figurines and golden hats have also been compared to petroglyphs and figurines from the

, such as petroglyphs in the Kivik Kings' Grave in Sweden. File:Sacerdote di produzione sarda, dalla tomba dei bronzetti sardi nella necropoli di cavalupo, 850-825 ac ca.jpg, Nuragic figurine from

, Italy File:Kivik grave 1.jpg, Petroglyphs in the Kivik King's Grave, Sweden

References

External links

Detailed photos from the Swedish History Museum on Flickr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkakra Ritual Object Nordic Bronze Age 1847 archaeological discoveries Archaeological discoveries in Sweden 14th-century BC works Collection of the Swedish History Museum Ystad Municipality