Book contents
- Birds in the Bronze Age
- Dedication
- Birds in the Bronze Age
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Plates
- Figures
- Tables
- Lines of Flight: A Foreword
- Some Notes to the Reader
- Prologue
- Part I Lift-Off
- Part II Birdscapes
- Four Bronze Birds
- Five Birds for the Living
- Six Birds for the Dead
- Seven Birds on the Rocks
- Part III Intra-Actions
- Epilogue
- Book part
- References
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Four - Bronze Birds
from Part II - Birdscapes
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 October 2019
- Birds in the Bronze Age
- Dedication
- Birds in the Bronze Age
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Plates
- Figures
- Tables
- Lines of Flight: A Foreword
- Some Notes to the Reader
- Prologue
- Part I Lift-Off
- Part II Birdscapes
- Four Bronze Birds
- Five Birds for the Living
- Six Birds for the Dead
- Seven Birds on the Rocks
- Part III Intra-Actions
- Epilogue
- Book part
- References
- Index
- Plate Section (PDF Only)
Summary
In North Europe, animal depictions first appear in bronze during MBA I but do not become common until MBA II.2 Some of the earliest depictions are fish-like figures found on bronze weapons, such as the subtly decorated spearhead found in the renowned Valsømagle interment, dated to MBA I.3 Horse motifs first appeared in MBA II, and in a recent study Flemming Kaul advocated that they were introduced through long-distance contacts with the palace cultures in the eastern Mediterranean.4 Based on current evidence, horse depictions seem to appear simultaneously in the rock and bronze media. In bronze, the horse appears both as figurines and as sculptured handles on razors in MBA II. The most famous is the adorned horse figurine from the Trundholm moor from Zealand in Denmark, which appears to pull an elaborate sun disk on a string (Plate 2).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Birds in the Bronze AgeA North European Perspective, pp. 97 - 134Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019