Fig. 200.
SEPULCHRAL URN WITH SWASTIKA.
North Germany. Waring, “Ceramic
Art in Remote Ages,” pl. 7, fig. 94.
Germany and Austria.—[Fig. 197] represents a fragment of a ceinture of thin bronze of the Halstattien epoch of the Bronze Age from a tumulus in Alsace. It is made after the style common to that period; the work is repoussé and the design is laid off by diagonal lines which divide the field into lozenges, wherein the Swastika is represented in various forms, some turned square to the right, others to the left, while one is in spiral and is turned to the left. Other forms of the cross also appear with dots in or about the corners, which Burnouf associates with the myth of Agni and fire making, and which Zmigrodzki calls the Croix swasticale. This specimen is in the collection Nessel at Haguenau. Another ceinture was found at the same place and is displayed with it. It bears representations of the cross of different forms, one of which might be a Swastika with dotted cross lines, with the arms turned spirally to the left. [Fig. 198] represents another fragment of a bronze ceinture from the same country and belonging to the same epoch. It is from the tumulus of Metzstetten, Würtemberg, and is in the Museum of Stuttgart. It is not repoussé, but is cut in openwork of intricate pattern in which the Swastika is the principal motif. A bronze fibula ([fig. 199]) is in the museum at Mayence, the body of which has the form of the normal Swastika. The arms are turned to the right and the lower one is broken off. The hinge for the pin was attached at one side or arm of the Swastika and the retaining clasp for the point at the other. [Fig. 200] represents a prehistoric sepulchral urn with a large Swastika, the arms being indicated by three parallel lines, after the same manner as the Swastika on the clay bobbin from Bologna ([fig. 193]). It is reported by Lisch and Schröter, though the locality is not given. It is figured by Waring. The form, appearance, and decoration are of the type Villanova, thus identifying it with northern Italy.
Fig. 201.
SPEARHEAD WITH
SWASTIKA (CROIX
SWASTICALE) AND
TRISKELION.
Brandenburg, Germany.
Waring, “Ceramic Art in
Remote Ages,” pl. 44,
fig. 21, and “Viking Age,”
I, fig. 336.
The Swastika sign is on one of the three pottery vases found on Bishops Island, near Königswalde, on the right bank of the Oder, and on a vase from Reichersdorf, near Guben;[203] on a vase in the county of Lipto, Hungary,[204] and on pottery from the Cavern of Barathegy, Hungary.[205] [Fig. 201] represents a spearhead of iron from Brandenburg, North Germany. It bears the mark of the Swastika with the ends turned to the left, all being at right angles, the ends ornamented with three dots recalling Zmigrodzki’s Croix swasticale (figs. [12] and [13]). By the side of this Swastika is a triskelion, or three-armed ogee sign, with its ends also decorated with the same three dots.
What relation there is between all these marks or signs and others similar to them, but separated by great distances of both time and space, it would be mere speculation to divine.
M. E. Chantre reports his investigations in certain Halstattien cemeteries in Italy and Austria.[206] At San Margarethen, on the road between Rudolfswerth and Kronau, Bavaria, he encountered a group of tumuli. Many objects of the “bel age du bronze” were found; among others, a bronze pin ([fig. 202]) with a short stem, but large, square, flat head, was found, with a normal Swastika engraved with small dots, pointillé, such as has been seen in Italy, Austria, and Armenia.
