Trundholm Sun Chariot

The Trundholm Sun Chariot is a Nordic Bronze Age artifact from about 1400 BC and represents the sun chariot. The artifact was cast in the lost wax method.

The main features of the bronze horse are highly decorated. The horse stands on a bronze rod supported by four wheels.

The rod below the horse is connected to the large bronze disk, which is supported by two wheels. All of the wheels have four spokes. 

The disk consists of two bronze disks that are joined by an outer bronze ring, with a thin sheet of gold applied to one face only.

The disks are decorated with punches and gravers with zones of motifs of concentric circles, with bands of zig-zag decoration between borders.

The gold side has an extra outer zone which may represent rays, and also an area with concentric circles linked by looping bands. 

The two sides of the disk have been interpreted as an indication of a belief that the Sun is drawn across the heavens from East to West.

The bright golden side faces the Earth, East to West and on the return from West to East during the night, the dark side faces the Earth.

A continuation of the sun around a globe would also have the golden side progressing east to west.

It is assumed that the chariot was used during religious rituals to honor the motion of the Sun in the heavens.

The sculpture was discovered in Denmark in 1902 in a peat bog on the Trundholm moor in Odsherred in the northwestern part of Zealand, Denmark.

Sun Chariot

A “sun chariot” is a mythological representation of the Sun riding in a chariot. The concept is Indo-European, corresponding with the Indo-European expansion after the invention of the chariot in the 2nd millennium BC.

Examples of Sun Chariot include:

• In Norse mythology, the chariot of the goddess Sól, drawn by Arvak and Alsvid.
• In the Celtic Pantheon, the sky god Taranis is typically depicted with the attribute of a spoked wheel.
• In Greek mythology, the god Helios or Apollo rode in a chariot.
• In Roman mythology, Sol Invictus has been depicted riding a quadriga on the reverse of a Roman coin.
• In Indian traditions, Vedic Surya rides a chariot drawn by seven horses.
• The Rigveda also reflects the mytheme of the Sun chariot. Ther mentions of the sun god’s bride as seated on a chariot pulled by two steeds. 

The Sun itself was also compared to a wheel in Proto-Indo-European, Greek, Sanskrit, Anglo-Saxon language and culture. In Chinese culture, the sun chariot is associated with the passage of time.

Solar Barge

In the older Egyptian mythology and religion, the sun rides a Solar barge.  A “solar barge” also known as “sun boat” is a mythological representation of the sun riding in a boat.

Several “sun boat” representations have been found in Egypt dating to different pharaonic dynasties. The gods Ra and Horus have been depicted as riding in a solar barge.

In Egyptian myths of the afterlife, Ra rides in an underground channel from west to east every night so that he can rise in the east the next morning.

Also, Nordic Bronze Age petroglyphs sometimes contain barges and sun crosses in different constellations.

Trundholm Sun Chariot

• Artifact:              Trundholm Sun Chariot
• Danish:               Solvognen
• Date:                  1400 BC
• Material:             Bronze and Gold
• Culture:              Nordic Bronze Age
• Found at:            Peat bog, Trundholm moor, Odsherred, 1902
• Dimensions:       W: 54 cm × H: 35 cm × D:29 cm (21 in × 14 in × 11 in); Disk diameter: 25 cm (9.8 in)
• Type:                  Ancient Artifact
• Museums:          National Museum of Denmark

National Museum of Denmark: The Sun Chariot

Virtual Tour of Prehistoric Art and Artifacts

• Ain Sakhri Lovers
• Wolverine Pendant of Les Eyzies – Prehistoric Portable Art
• Antler Perforated Baton – Paleolithic Portable Art
• Venus of Brassempouy
• Head of a Cycladic Statue, Keros-Syros Culture
• Stargazer – Sculpture of a Female Figure
• Stargazer Figurine
• Dancing Girl (Mohenjo-Daro) from the Indus Valley Civilization
• Prehistoric Stone Hand Axe
• Great Handaxe from Furze Platt
• Clovis Weapons and Tools
• Prehistoric Petrosphere – Carved Stone Spheres and Balls
• Neolithic Chinese Painted Pottery
• Korean Neolithic Pot
• Neolithic Pottery from Ban Chiang
• Li – Chinese Tripod Jar
• Comb-Pattern Pottery
• Phaistos Disc
• Sican Funerary Mask – Peru
• Greenstone Mask, Central America
• Australian Aboriginal Rock Art – Bradshaw Rock Paintings
• Indigenous Australian Rock Art – Wandjina Style
• Australian Aboriginal Bark Paintings
• Plastered Human Skulls from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Age

The Sun Chariot (Copenhagen)

A Virtual Tour of Ancient Historical Artifact

• Prehistoric Stone Hand Axe – 2.6 Million Years Ago
• Narmer Palette  – 3100 BC
• The Stargazer (Statuette of a Woman) – 3000 BC
• Neolithic Painted Pottery – 2500 BC
• Dancing Girl (Mohenjo-Daro) – 2500 BC
• Li – Chinese Tripod Jar – 2300 BC
• Treasure from Troy – 2200 BC
• Gudea, Prince of Lagash  – 2120 BC
• Law Code of Hammurabi – 1750 BC
• Nebra Sky Disk – 1600 BC
• Mask of Agamemnon – 1500 BC
• The Sphinx of Hatshepsut – 1470 BC
• Trundholm Sun Chariot – 1400  BC
• Tutankhamun’s Mask – 1323 BC
• Relief of a Winged Genie – 880 BC
• Siloam Inscription – 700 BC
• The Lion Hunt – 640 BC
• Ishtar Gate – 575 BC
• The Curse of the Tabnit Sarcophagus – 500 BC
• Kleroterion – 470 BC
• The Parthenon Marbles – 440 BC
• The Alexander Sarcophagus – 300 BC
• The Winged Victory of Samothrace – 200 BC
• The Rosetta Stone – 196 BC
• The Pergamon Altar – 150 BC
• Antikythera Mechanism – 100 BC
• The Temple of Dendur – 10 A.D.

~~~

“Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it.”
– Volunga Saga

~~~

---

Photo Credit:1) Nationalmuseet / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)