Museum of: Berlin
    Name of the artefact: Belt plate
   
The thin belt plate in shape of a rhombus is damaged on one edge. At the other side there is an eyelet, which was used for close the belt.
                                 
 
WHERE IS IT AND MAIN CHARACTERISTICS
  
STATE
Department:
Museum for Pre- and Early History
Preservation:
 Very good
Inventory number:
II 10765
Restauration:
 Restored
Name of the artefact:
Belt plate
Completeness:
 Complete
Object type:
Other
  
Material:
Bronze
Methof of manufacture:
Bronze casting
Decoration type:
Incision
Distinctive mark:
Depiction of ships and birds
DIMENSIONS
  
PERIOD OF USE
Length (mm):
227
Epoque:
Bronze Age
Heigth (mm):
-
Culture:
-
Diameter (mm):
-
Period:
Late Bronze Age
Width (mm):
140
Face:
-
Thickness (mm):
0.5
Absolute chronology:
9 - 8 century BC
Weight (g):
60
DISCOVERY
Date:
1875
Country:
Poland
District:
Woj. Pila
Town hall affiliation:
Trzcianka
Village:
Radolinek (Floth)
Discovery findspot:
Bank of the river Netze
Condition of discovery:
Chance Discovery
Discovery type:
Deposit
 
ANALYSES – DETERMINATIONS
 
FILLED IN BY
Type:
-
Name:
Dr. Manfred Nawroth
Laboratory:
-
Institution:
Museum for Pre- and early History
No./Code:
-
Date:
11/11/2005
 
DEEPENINGS

Morphology of the object:
The thin belt plate in shape of a rhombus is damaged on one edge. At the other side there is an eyelet, which was used for close the belt.

Decoration:
The plate is decorated with incised lines and point-fringed hemispheres.

Inscription:
-

Analogies:
The illustration of birds, ships and the sun is well known from Scandinavian and northern German Bronze Age objects like razor blades, sun discs or the famous the solar wagon from Trundholm in Denmark.

Interpretation:
The plate is decorated with incised lines and point-fringed hemispheres as symbols of the wandering sun. Some of the suns were moved by stylized birds. Along the horizontal main axis are two bended figures with narrowing ends forming animal heads (probably of birds) and are called ships with bird protomes. In the middle of each ship stands a human figure whose head is marked by a double circle. The linear body with a fish-boned chest continues in legs formed as bundles of lines. The arms are raised in a praying position. Circling the figure a sun pulled by a bird moves from sunrise past the zenith to sunset. The marginal illustration shows a ship pulled by birds. The ship is moving forward to a human figure. The body line of the human leads to a sun ball which forms the head. During the Bronze Age the sun was most likely personified and illustrated as a human and plays a central role in the religious belief.
Bibliography:
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