What is it?
This unique Nordic bronze piece was discovered in Denmark and dates to the Early Bronze Age, c.1400 BC. It illustrates the eternal journey of the sun, as depicted by a divine horse pulling an ornate golden disc, all on rotating wheels. The Sun Chariot is 54cm long, and the sun disc, which is gilded on one side, is about 25cm in diameter. It was cast using the ‘lost wax’ method, whereby an intricately detailed wax model with a clay core is completely encased in clay. On firing the entire work, the wax melts, leaving a cavity that can later be filled with molten metal. Damage on the back of the Sun Chariot’s horse reveals its inner clay core.
Where was it found, and when?
In 1902, a farmer ploughing a peat bog on the Trundholm moor on the north-west coast of the island of Zealand, southern Denmark, spotted the elegant horse lying in the mud. Thinking he had stumbled on an old toy, he brought it inside for his children. On further inspection, the National Museum of Denmark was contacted, and the Sun Chariot was properly conserved. Ninety-six years after the initial discovery, metal-detectorists returned to the original find spot, and recovered 21 additional parts of the Sun Chariot. These pieces – elements of the spokes, wheel rings, and axles – were painstakingly reassembled by museum staff.
Why does it matter?
The Sun Chariot 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. The motif appears elsewhere in Scandinavia, particularly in rock art and on small bronze objects such as razors. Other mythological forces deliver the sun, including ships, snakes, fish, and aquatic birds.
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