In this lively and extensively
researched essay, senior Finnish archaeologist Unto Salo recounts the
captivating story of the Gundestrup Cauldron as seen through his
fascinated eyes. Dr. Salo's passion is indeed contagious as he takes us
on a journey through millennia and across continents in search of
answers to the mysteries of the Cauldron.
Though the magnificent silver Gundestrup
Cauldron was found in a peat
bog in Himmerland, Denmark, it has been established that it was
actually made in Thrace or Dacia probably for a Celtic chieftain over
2000 years ago. However, Salo notes that scholars remain somewhat
baffled in their attempt to interpret the finely executed high-relief
images that decorate the exterior and interior of this huge sacral
bowl. Some of the captivating figures portrayed on the friezes have
been identified as Celtic and Germanic, but Salo demonstrates in great
detail how others come from Greek or even matriarchal Minoan antiquity.
According to Salo, much of the Cauldron's
imagery predominantly owe
their origin to the beliefs of the earliest undivided
proto-Indo-European peoples, while at the same time he amazes readers
by the extent of the cultural diversity he sees in the Cauldron, from
the Northern Baltic countries to Egypt. He argues that the most
important theme portrayed on the Cauldron is that of the killing of a
mythical great bull. He reveals how this was an integral part of early
Germanic mythic beliefs, of the ancient Myceanean culture as evidenced
by their bull jumpers and architectural horn decorations, and possibly
stretching back in the Middle east as far as the Mesopotamian Gilgamesh
epic of the 3rd millennium BC.
Unto Salo's valuable interpretation of
the images that have fascinated
archaeologists for the over a hundred years since this precious
artifact was brought to light is accompanied by over 75 illustrations.
Prologue; The Cauldron; About the find and
its background General features and research results, Was the
Cauldron a kettle?, Time, From the point of view of metallurgy; Common features of the Cauldron images;
About the images of the outer frieze
The split-beard god, The bird goddess, The seahorse god, The god
holding two deer, The goddess of Heracles, The triangle drama, The god
of the fist fight, Discussion; About
the inner plates of the Cauldron General points about the
iconography, The Taranis composition, The goddess composition, The
Cernunnos composition; The warrior
composition; Windows into Europe The Cimbrians and the Teutons,
The thunder god Thor and the divine ruler Odin; Fighting the bull Three bulls, three
swordsmen?, The killing of the bull in the bottom plate; The big bull in Sweden; The big bull in
Finland and the East Baltic lands In Finland, In Estonia and
Livonia; The celestial bull in Rome;
The bull in Cretan culture The earliest bull symbol, The horn
symbols on the buildings, The worldview?, Other interpretations in
Minoan culture; The Hagia Triada
sarcophagus and the Cauldron The sarcophagus, Possible symbolism
of the spirals, The matriarchs driving chariots; About even older bull beliefs Animal
beliefs and the taming of the meat, The celestial bull in the Near
East; The elk as a wind animal?
The oldest wind animal in the North?; The
Cauldron in relation to cultural history Perspectives on the
Gundestrup Cauldron; Epilogue;
Closing words (“The end of the song”); Bibliography