CONCLUDING REMARKS
Understanding the iconography of the Late Bronze Age razors as mythological renderings of the eternal voyage of the sun provides a glimpse of the polyvalence of belief, as the use of animal and human forms suggests that this is indeed the Sun god.
Besides frequent iconographic representations of the manifestations or helpers of the sun, the ship is prominently displayed in rock art as the solar vehicle. We can also recognize a distinct sequence of mythic elements, as the pictures show that the fish could not bring the sun to the horse, and the horse could not bring the sun to the snake. Always, the ship separates the other mythological agents of the sun on its voyage; the ship itself is a vehicle of transport symbolizing movement.The Nordic Bronze Age sources also throw light on other phenomena of religion. Among the most important are the rituals with acrobatic dancers and cult axe-bearers carrying horned helmets. Seemingly the ship also served as a movable platform or “temple”, and indeed it would appear that the rituals of the Nordic Bronze Age religion were of a coherent, regulated and codified nature, being widely shared throughout the north (Kaul 1998: 16-30; 2004b: 131-3).
SUGGESTED READING
Bradley, R. 2009. Image and Audience: Rethinking Prehistoric Art. Oxford.
Gelling, P. & H. E. Davidson 1969. The Chariot of the Sun and Other Rites and Symbols of the Northern Bronze Age. London & New York.
Goldhahn, J. 2006. Hüllhildsstudier i Norra Europa - trender och tradition under det nya millenniet (Gotarc Serie C, Arkeologiska Skrifter No, 64). Gothenburg.
Kaul, F. 1998. Ships on Bronzes: A Study in Bronze Age Religion and Iconography (Publications from the National Museum, Studies in Archaeology and History, vols 3:1 & 3:2). Copenhagen.
Kaul, F. 2005. “Bronze Age Tripartite Cosmologies”. Praehistorische Zeitschrift 80(2): 135-48.
Kaul, F. 2010. “The Sun Image from Trundholm (‘The Chariot of the Sun’): A Commented History of Research”. In Der Griff nach den Sternen. Wie Europas Eliten zu Macht und Reichtum kamen, 2 vols (Internationales Symposium in Halle (Saale), 16-21 February 2005. Tagungen des Landesmuscums für Vorgeschichte Halle (Saale) Band 5), H. Meller & F. Bertemes (eds), 521-36. Halle (Saale).
Kossack, G. 1999. Religioses Denken in dinglicher und bildlicher Überlieferung Alteuropas aus der Spätbronze-und frühen Eisenzeit (9.-6. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Geb.) (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, Neue Folge, Heft 116). Munich.