Cup and Ring ?bronzes? | Forum — The Modern Antiquarian

RombaldII Jun 28, 2005 09:05:13

I was watching Time Team last night " Life on the Edge 1,000 BC" a Bronze age site near the River Witham. http://www.channel4.com/history/timeteam/thisweek.html.

They found a strange piece of stone a couple of inches across with cup and ring markings joined by a tree structure of one cup and ring per branch. Sorry no photo. They interpreted this as a mould for casting cups and rings in bronze. So they produced small reversed cups and rings. That is a bobble surrounded by a raised ring.

I have seen Viking combs with the motif but nothing in metal.

goffik Jun 28, 2005 13:01:49

Replying to RombaldII

How strange - I was just thinking of that!

It got me to wondering if there was any connection between the big rockart stuff being used as mouls of some sort... I'm sure the theory has been mentioned many times before, but just for me, does anyone know any good reason against the theory that rockart could have been used as a mould of some sort? If not for metal, then clay or something? Even just for decoration?

G x

Pilgrim Jun 28, 2005 14:27:02

Replying to RombaldII

...something to do with earth and water perhaps? Would the vertical representations have water running down or across them as the worked boulders etc have?

I must say, the mould idea doesn't really float my boat - unless it was to make a portable relief of the "place" - i.e. the location in which it was set - in clay (or something) that could be carried somewhere else as a memento / identifier? I'm thinking aloud here.....but then it wouldn't matter about the orientation of the surface, but the "hallowed nature"* of the location to whoever carried it.

* trying to get awy from the "s*cred" word here - a bit too Church-centric for my rebellious tongue!

Peace

Pilgrim