Archeology Horns found in a Danish swamp tell of trade to southern Europe in the Bronze Age

SarvekkaAT bronze helmets tell of the close interaction of Mediterranean and Scandinavian cultures almost 3,000 years ago, according to a study by archaeologists at the University of Aarhus. From the research article reports, among other things scientific journal Science.

Two horned helmets were found in a Danish swamp in the 1940s. The Veksø helmets named after their location were estimated to date back to the late Bronze Age due to their material and style.

In 2019, an archaeologist Heide Wrobel Nørgaard while photographing the helmet, he noticed that there were remnants of black organic matter in the horns. The substance is thought to have been a birch pitch with decorative feathers attached to the horns. According to researchers, the helmets are also decorated with a brush that runs over the head.

For the first time, the radiocarbon timing of organic samples made it possible to ensure that helmets were buried in the swamp around the beginning of the 9th century, almost 3,000 years ago.

Helmets have not been used in battles, but have been decorative dresses with communicated status and used in religious rituals. In addition to horns resembling ox horns, the helmet has eyes and a beak.

Helmets the dating back 3,000 years confirms that they did not belong to the Vikings, whose influence in the area began about 1,500 years later.

A more accurate age classification suggests that Scandinavian cultures have been in active contact with the peoples of the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age. The helmets are reminiscent in their art style and symbols of antiquities from the Pyrenees and the island of Sardinia from the same period, depicting, among other things, horned human figures.

According to researchers, cultural influences have changed with commerce. The article suggests that the finding suggests that trade has taken place between southern Europe and Scandinavia by sea across the Atlantic in addition to the land route through the Alps. There were few metal finds in Bronze Age Scandinavia, and the metal used in the area was largely imported from elsewhere in Europe.