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Viii. Metal Deposits: Written Sources
Viii. Metal Deposits: Written Sources
Viii. Metal Deposits: Written Sources
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are contemporary and other literary sources, for instance ancient Roman texts describing Celtic or Germanic military deposits and related behaviour. In fact,
such texts might be drawn from even wider fields, as
also demonstrated by the following.
WRITTEN SOURCES
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INSURANCE
ISOLATION
Fig. 21. Interpretative suggestions as to metal deposits (of the Bronze Age). Randsborg del.
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Fig. 22. Well-documented (common) deposits of Period II in present-day Denmark. Status of sample: 1943 with a few additions (Broholm
1943f./Vols. I-II). The Trundholm Sun-chariot is not included. A very few finds may have other dates. Finds from wet environments are
marked. Randsborg del.
ARCHAEOLOGY
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Fig. 23. Well-documented common deposits of Periods IV (page to the left) and Period V (page to the right) in present-day Denmark. Status
of sample: 1943 with a few additions (Broholm 1943f./Vols. III-IV: reduced high-quality sample as rendered in rsnes 1958). Finds from wet
environments are marked. Randsborg del
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Fig. 24. Deposits of major ritual items of Periods IV-V. Lur trumpets = Dots (open signature = Period IV (and III), closed signature = Period
V). Uncertain/undated lurs finds are in question marks. Helmets, shields, and cult-axes = Triangles (open signature = Periods IV (and III),
closed = Period V). Phaleras (Period V) = Crosses. The sample is in the main from Broholm (1943f./Vols. III-IV), but updated, except for
phaleras. Randsborg del
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Fig. 25. Deposits of major ritual items of Periods IV-V. Golden vessels = Ring (all possibly Period IV). Bronze vessels = Triangle (open
signature = Period IV, closed signature = Period V). Grave finds are not included. The sample is in the main from Broholm (1943f./Vols.
III-IV), but updated. Randsborg del.
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The golden rings or bracelets, the so-called Oathrings, largely concentrate in the same areas as the
golden cups, in particular the heavy specimens. Western Sjlland is a particular focus, while a few light
specimens come from Northern Jylland. A very few
less costly specimens are from princely graves.
Thus, as to the fine ritual artefacts, this is in fact
the end of Bronze Age society - its ideology and cosmology - even though a final and generally somewhat
poorer period follows, Period VI, parallel in time to
the early Iron Age in Central Europe. The last areas
in present-day Denmark to be touched by this obvious social and cultural break-down are, seemingly,
southern Fyn and parts of Sjlland, in particular the
southwest, and, possibly, the northeast. On Southern
Fyn is, as indicated, also the famous princely Lusehj
mound burial complex of Period V, indeed very rare
for its period (Thrane 1984).
At the end of the Late Bronze Age, deposition was
clearly in decline, except in eastern Scandinavia, a
stronghold of archaic norms, perhaps stimulated by
an import of bronze from the Baltic and other eastern
connections, including the so-called Mlar celts (Vasks
& Vijups 2004; Hjrthner-Holdar 1993, 26f.). Even
migrations of eastern units of population into small
pockets of Southern Scandinavia towards the end of
the Bronze Age are likely, as reflected by Polish
(Lausitz/Lusatian Culture) ceramics and structures at
Vistad in stergtland, Sweden and Central Polish
etc. and Scythian metalwork deposited in a small area
at Vejle, eastern Jylland (Larsson 1993; Larsson &
Hulthn 2004; Jensen 1969).
In conclusion, if the deposits, as here, are interpreted as treasures or - in the case of the exquisite one
- as dangerous items (perhaps votives, but not by
the original owner), we are left with the problem of
missing votives on the Greek model. The solution is
likely that votives in the shape of metal artefacts were
not common in Bronze Age Europe; or, perhaps,
were limited to single found objects, sometimes from
wet environments, in Central Europe often rivers.
If votives were common, one would have expected a
very wide array of objects, not merely bronzes. In addition, the major difference between Greek votives on
display at shrines and the isolated hidden one-period
metal deposits in Central Europe and Denmark still
stands out clearly.
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