Trundholm sun chariot

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The sun chariot pulled by a horse is believed to be a sculpture illustrating an important part of Nordic Bronze Age mythology.

The left-hand side (reverse) of the sun chariot.

The sun chariot of Trundholm, called Solvogn in Danish, is a late Nordic Bronze Age artefact. It is a bronze statue of a horse and a big bronze disk, placed on two spoked wheels. It was cast in the lost wax method. The horse stands on a bronze rod connecting it to the disk and runs on four wheels, the disk itself on two. All wheels have four spokes. The "chariot" consist solely of the disk, the axle, and the wheels.

1 Site
2 Interpretation
3 Date
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Site

It was discovered in 1902 in the Trundholm moor in West Zealand County on the northwest coast of the island of Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark, in a region known as Odsherred (approx. 55°55′N 11°37′E).

[edit] Interpretation

The disk is interpreted as a depiction of the sun. It is unclear if the sun is imagined as being itself a chariot, or as riding in a chariot. A model of a horse-drawn vehicle on spoked wheels in Northern Europe at such an early time is astonishing, the earliest known actual chariots (as opposed to ox-drawn carts on solid wheels without spokes) in Europe are from the Iron Age, dating from ca. the 6th century BC (see Etruscan chariot). But Bronze Age single spoked wheels have been found in Switzerland (Corcelettes), Drenthe (Netherlands) and Stade (Germany).

The disk has a diameter of ca. 25 cm, and is gilded on only one side, the right-hand one relative to the horse. This has been interpreted as an indication of the belief that the sun is drawn across the heavens from East to West during the day, showing its bright side, and back from West to East during the night, showing its dark side.