Fig. 176.ATTIC VASE FOR PERFUME,WITH CROIX SWASTICALE ANDTWO FORMS OF SWASTIKAS.Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc.d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888,p. 673, fig. 4.
The design shown infig. 178he describes as representing two birds in the attitude of adoration before a Swastika, all being figured on a Greek cup of the style Dipylon.[184]
Fig. 177.DETAIL OF CYPRIAN VASE.Swastikas with palm tree, sacred toApollo. Citium, Cyprus.Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc.d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 673, fig. 3.
Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter adds:
On the vases of Dipylon the Swastikas are generally transformed into other ornaments, mostly meanders. But this is not the rule in Cyprus. The Swastika disappeared from there as it came, in its sacred form, with the Phenician influence, with the Phenician inscriptions on the vases, with the concentric circles without central points or tangents.
He says[185]that the Swastika as well as the “Croix cantonnée” (with points or dots), while possibly not always the equivalent of the solar disk, zigzag lightning, or the double hatchet, yet are employed together and are given the same signification, and frequently replace each other. It is his opinion[186]that the Swastika in Cyprus had nearlyalways a signification more or less religious, although it may have been used as an ornament to fill empty spaces. His interpretation of the Swastika in Cyprus is that it will signifytour à tourthe storm, the lightning, the sun, the light, the seasons—sometimes one, sometimes another of these significations—and that its form lends itself easily (facilement) to the solar disk, to the fire wheel, and to the sun chariot. In support of this, he cites a figure (fig. 179) taken from Cesnola,[187]in which the wheels of the chariot are decorated with four Swastikas displayed in each of the four quarters. The chief personage on the car he identifies as the god of Apollo-Resef, and the decoration on his shield represents the solar disk. He is at once the god of war and also the god of light, which identifies him with Helios. The other personage is Herakles-Mecquars, the right hand of Apollo, both of them heroes of the sun.
Fig. 178.CYPRIAN VASE WITH FIGURES OFBIRDS AND SWASTIKA IN PANEL.Musée St. Germain. Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull.Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris, 1888, p. 674, fig. 6.
Fig. 179.CHARIOT OF APOLLO-RESEF.Sun symbol(?) on shield and four Swastikas (tworight and two left) on quadrants of chariot wheels.Cesnola, “Salaminia,” p. 240, fig. 226, andOhnefalsch-Richter, Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris,1888, p. 675, fig. 7.
The supreme goddess of the Isle of Cyprus was Aphrodite-Astarte,[188]whose presence with a preponderating Phenician influence can be traced back to the period of the age of iron, her images bearing signs of the Swastika, being, according to Dr. Ohnefalsch-Richter, found in Cyprus. Infig. 180the statue of this goddess is shown, which he says was found by himself in 1884 at Curium. It bears four Swastikas, two on the shoulders and two on the forearms.Fig. 181represents a centaur found by him at the same time, on the right arm of which is a Swastika painted in black, as in the foregoing statue.
Fig. 180.TERRA-COTTA STATUEOF THE GODDESSAPHRODITE-ASTARTEWITH FOURSWASTIKAS.[189]Curium, Cyprus.Ohnefalsch-Richter,Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop.,Paris, 1888, p. 676,fig. 8.
Fig. 181.CYPRIAN CENTAUR WITHONE SWASTIKA.Cesnola, “Salaminia,” p. 243,fig. 230; Ohnefalsch-Richter,Bull. Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris,1888, p. 676, fig. 9.
We have found, in the course of this paper, many statues of human figures bearing the mark of the Swastika on some portion of their garments. M. Ohnefalsch-Richter, on page 677, gives the following explanation thereof:
It appears to me that the priests and priestesses, also the boys who performed the services in the sacred places, were in the habit of burning or tattooing Swastikas upon their arms. * * * In 1885, among the votive offerings found in one of the sacred places dedicated to Aphrodite-Astoret, near Idalium, was a stone statuette, representing the young Adonis Kinyras in a squatting posture, with the Swastika tattooed or painted in red color upon his naked arm.
And, says Richter, when, later on, the custom of tattooing had disappeared, they placed the Swastika on the sacerdotal garments. He has found in a Greek tomb in 1885, near Polistis Chrysokon, two statuettes representing female dancers in the service of Aphrodite-Ariadne, one of which (fig. 182) bore six or more Swastikas. In other cases, says he (p. 678), theCroix cantonnée(theCroix swasticaleof Zmigrodzki) replaced the Swastika on the garments, and he cites the statue of Hercules strangling the lion in the presence of Athena, whose robe is ornamented with theCroix cantonnée. He repeats that the two signs of the cross represent the idea of light, sun, sacrifice, rain, storm, and the seasons.
Fig. 182.GREEK STATUE OFAPHRODITE-ARIADNE.Six Swastikas (four rightand two left). PolistisChrysokon.Ohnefalsch-Richter, Bull.Soc. d’Anthrop., Paris,1888, p. 677, fig. 10.
EUROPE.
BRONZE AGE.
Prehistoric archæologists claim that bronze was introduced into Europe in prehistoric times from the extreme Orient. The tin mines of the peninsula of Burma and Siam, with their extension into China on the north, Malacca and the islands of the archipelago on the south, are known to have been worked in extremely ancient times and are believed to have furnished the tin for the first making of bronze. The latter may not be susceptible of proof, but everything is consistent therewith. After it became known that copper and tin would make bronze, the discovery of tin would be greatly extended, and in the course of time the tin mines of Spain, Britain, and Germany might be opened. A hundred and more prehistoric bronze foundries have been discovered in western Europe and tens of thousands of prehistoric bronze implements. If bronze came originally from the extreme Orient, and the Swastika belonged there also, and as objects of bronze belonging to prehistoric times and showing connection with the Orient, like the tintinnabulum (fig. 29) have been found in the Swiss lake dwellings of prehistoric times, it is a fair inference that the Swastikamark found on the same objects came also from the Orient. This inference is strengthened by the manufacture and continuous use of the Swastika on both bronze and pottery, until it practically covered, and is to be found over, all Europe wherever the culture of bronze prevailed. Nearly all varieties of the Swastika came into use during the Bronze Age. The objects on which it was placed may have been different in different localities, and so also another variety of form may have prevailed in a given locality; but, subject to these exceptions, the Swastika came into general use throughout the countries wherein the Bronze Age prevailed. As we have seen, on the hill of Hissarlik the Swastika is found principally on the spindle-whorl; in Greece and Cyprus, on the pottery vases; in Germany, on the ceintures of bronze; in Scandinavia, on weapons and on toilet and dress ornaments. In Scotland and Ireland it was mostly on sculptured stones, which are many times themselves ancient Celtic crosses. In England, France, and Etruria, the Swastika appears on small bronze ornaments, principally fibulæ. Different forms of the Swastika, i. e., those to the right, left, square, ogee, curved, spiral and meander, triskelion and tetraskelion, have been found on the same object, thereby showing their inter-relationship. No distinction is apparent between the arms bent to the right or to the left. This difference, noted by Prof. Max Müller, seems to fail altogether.
Greg says:[190]
About 500 to 600 B. C., the fylfot, (Swastika) curiously enough begins to disappear as a favorite device of early Greek art, and is rarely, if ever, seen on the regular Etruscan vase.
This indicates that the period of the use of the Swastika during the Bronze Age in Europe lay back of the period of its disappearance in the time of early Greek art, and that it was of higher antiquity than would otherwise be suspected.
Dr. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter says:[191]
The Swastika makes absolute default in Cyprus during all the age of bronze and in all its separate divisions according as the vases were decorated with intaglio or relief, or were painted.
Etruria and Italy.—The Etruscans were a prehistoric people. The country was occupied during the two ages of stone, Paleolithic and Neolithic, and during the Bronze Age. The Etruscans were probably the descendants of the Bronze Age people. The longest continued geographical discussion the world has heard was as towho werethe Etruscans, andwhenceorby whatroute did they come to their country? It was opened by Herodotus and Dionysius Halicarnassus in the fourth century B. C.; while Dr. Brinton and the late President Welling have made the latest contributions thereto. The culture of the Etruscanswas somewhat similar to that of the Bronze Age peoples, and many of the implements had great resemblance, but with sufficient divergence to mark the difference between them. There were different stages of culture among the Etruscans, as can be easily and certainly determined from their tombs, modes of burial, pottery, etc.
The Swastika appears to have been employed in all these epochs or stages. It was undoubtedly used during the Bronze Age, and in Italy it continued throughout the Etruscan and into the Roman and Christian periods.
Fig. 183.HUT URN IN THE VATICAN MUSEUM.“Burning altar” mark associated withSwastikas. Etruria (Bronze Age).
While it may be doubtful if any specimen of Swastika can be identified as having belonged to the Neolithic Age in Europe, there can be no doubt that it was in common use during the Bronze Age. Professor Goodyear gives it as his opinion, and in this he may be correct, that the earliest specimens of Swastika of which identification can be made are on the hut urns of central Italy. These have been considered as belonging definitely to the Bronze Age in that country.Fig. 183is a representation of one of these hut urns. It shows upon its roof several specimens of Swastika, as will be apparent from examination. There are other figures, incised and in relief. One of them is the celebrated “burning altar” mark of Dr. Schliemann. This specimen was found in the Via Appia near Rome, and is exhibited in the Vatican Museum. Similar specimens have been found in other parts of Etruria. The author saw in the Municipal Museum at Corneto many of them, which had been excavated from the neighboring cemetery of the prehistoric city of Corneto-Tarquinii. They were of pottery, but made as if to represent rude huts of skin, stretched on cross poles, in general appearance not unlike the cane and rush conical cabins used to this day by the peasants around Rome. They belonged to the Bronze Age, and antedated the Etruscan civilization. This was demonstrated by the finds at Corneto-Tarquinii. Tombs to the number of about 300, containing them, were found, mostly in 1880-81, at a lower level than, and were superseded by, the Etruscan tombs. They contained the weapons, tools, and ornaments peculiar to the Bronze Age—swords, hatchets, pins, fibulæ, bronze and pottery vases, etc., the characteristics of whichwere different from Etruscan objects of similar purpose, so they could be satisfactorily identified and segregated. The hut urns were receptacles for the ashes of the cremated dead, which, undisturbed, are to be seen in the museum. The vases forming part of this grave furniture bore the Swastika mark; three have two Swastikas, one three, one four, and another no less than eight.
Dennis figures a hut urn from Alba Longa,[192]and another from the Alban Mount.[193]He says (note 1):
These remarkable urns were first found in 1817 at Montecucco, near Marino, and at Monte Crescenzio, near the Lago de Castello, beneath a stratum ofpeperino(tufa) 18 inches thick. They were embedded in a yellowish volcanic ash and rested on a lower and earlier stratum ofpeperino.[194]
Curiously enough, the three or four pronged mark, called “burning altar” by Dr. Schliemann, is on both hut urns in Dennis’s “Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria.” Dr. Schliemann argues strongly in favor of the relationship between Swastika and the “burning altar” sign, but assigns no other reason than the similarity of the marks on the two objects. He appears unable, in “Ilios,” to cite any instance of the Swastika being found on the hut urns in connection with the “burning altar” sign, but he mentions the Swastika five times repeated on one of the hut urns in the Etruscan collection in the museum of the Vatican at Rome.[195]The photograph of the hut urn from the Vatican (fig. 183) supplies the missing link in Schliemann’s evidence. The roof of the hut urn bears the “burning altar” mark (if it be a burning altar, as claimed), which is in high relief (as it is in the Dennis specimens), and was wrought in the clay by the molder when the hut was made. Such of the other portions of the roof as are in sight show sundry incised lines which, being deciphered, are found to be Swastikas or parts of them. The parallelogram in the front contains a cross and has the appearance of a labyrinth, but it is not. The other signs or marks, however, represent Swastikas, either in whole or in part. This specimen completes the proof cited by Schliemann, and associates the Swastika with the “burning altar” sign in the Etruscan country, as well as on the hill of Hissarlik and in other localities.
Dennis supposes the earliest Etruscan vases, called by many different names, to date from the twelfth century B. C. to 540 B. C.,[196]the latter being the epoch of Theodoros of Samos, whose improvements marked an epoch in the culture of the country. He says:
These vases were adorned with annular bands, zigzag, waves, meanders, concentric circles, hatched lines, Swastikas, and other geometric patterns.
Fig. 184.FRAGMENT OF ARCHAIC GREEKPOTTERY WITH THREE SWASTIKAS.Cumæ, Italy. Waring, “Ceramic Artin Remote Ages,” pl. 42, fig. 1.
A fragment of Archaic Greek pottery is reported by Rochette from the necropolis of Cumæ, in the campagna of Italy, and is shown infig. 184. Rochette reports it as an example of a very early period, believed by him to have been Phenician. When we consider the rarity of Phenician pottery in Italy compared with the great amount of Greek pottery found there, and that the Phenicians are not known to have employed the Swastika, this, combined with the difficulty of determining the place of origin of such a fragment, renders it more likely to have been Greek than Phenician. A reason apparently moving Rochette to this decision was the zigzag ornamentation, which he translated to be a Phenician sign for water; but this pattern was used many times and in many places without having any such meaning, and is no proof of his proposition.
Fig. 185.CINERARY URN WITHSWASTIKAS IN PANELS.San Marino, near Albano,Italy. Vatican Museum.
Fig. 186.CINERARY URN WITHSWASTIKAS INCLOSED BYINCISED LINES IN INTAGLIO.Cervetri, Italy. “Conestabiledue Dischi in Bronzo,” pl.5, fig. 2. ⅙ natural size.
Figs.185and186represent the one-handled cinerary urns peculiar to the Bronze Age in Italy. They are believed to have been contemporaneous with or immediately succeeding the hut urns just shown. The cinerary urn shown infig. 185was found at Marino, near Albano, in the same locality and under the same condition as the hut urns. The original is in the Vatican Museum and was figured by Pigorini in “Archæologia,” 1869.Fig. 186shows a one-handled urn of pottery with Swastika (left) in intaglio, placed in a band of incised squares around the body of the vessel below the shoulder. A small though good example of Etruscan work is shown in the gold fibula (fig. 187). It is ornamented on the outside with the fine gold filigree work peculiarto the best Etruscan art. On the inside are two Swastikas. It is in the Vatican Museum of Etruscan antiquities.Fig. 188represents another specimen of Etruscan gold filigree work with a circle and Swastika. It is a “bulla,” an ornament said to indicate the rank of the wearer among the Etruscan people. It is decorated with a circle and Swastika inside. The figure is taken from “L’Art pour Tous,” and is reproduced by Waring.
Fig. 187.GOLD FIBULA WITH SWASTIKAS (LEFT).Etruscan Museum, Vatican. Catalogueof the Etruscan Museum, part 1,pl. 26, fig. 6. ½ natural size.
Fig. 188.ETRUSCAN GOLD BULLAWITH SWASTIKAON BOTTOM.Waring, “Ceramic Artin Remote Ages,”pl. 42, fig. 4a.
Fig. 189.ORNAMENTAL SWASTIKAON ETRUSCAN SILVER BOWL.Cervetri (Cære), Etruria.Waring, “Ceramic Art inRemote Ages,” pl. 41, fig. 13.
An ornamental Swastika (fig. 189) is found on a silver bowl from Cervetri (Cære), Etruria. It is furnished by Grifi, and reproduced by Waring. This specimen is to be remarked as having a small outward flourish from the extreme end of each arm, somewhat similar to that made by the Jains (fig. 33), or on the “Tablet of honor” of Chinese porcelain (fig. 31).Fig. 190shows an Etruscan bronze fibula with two Swastikas and two Maltese crosses in the pin shield. It is in the Museum of Copenhagen, and is taken from the report of the Congrés Internationale d’Anthropologie et d’Archæologie Préhistorique, Copenhagen, 1875, page 486. This specimen, by its rays or crotchets around the junction of the pin with the shield, furnishes the basis of the argument by Goblet d’Alviella[197]that the Swastika was evolved from the circle and was a symbol of the sun or sun-god. (Seep. 785.)
Fig. 190.BRONZE FIBULA WITHTWO SWASTIKAS ANDSUPPOSED RAYS Of SUN.[198]Etruria. Copenhagen Museum.Goblet d’Alviella, fig. 19a,De Mortillet, “MuséePréhistorique,” fig. 1263.¼ natural size.
Bologna was the site of the Roman city Bononia, and is supposed to have been that of Etruscan Felsina. Its Etruscan cemetery is extensive. Different names have been given to the excavations, sometimes from the owner of the land and at other times from the names of excavators. The first cemetery opened was called Villanova. The culture was different from that of the other parts of Etruria. By some it is believed to be older, by others younger, than the rest of Etruria. The Swastika is found throughout the entireVillanova epoch.Fig. 191shows a pottery vase from the excavation Arnoaldi. It is peculiar in shape and decoration, but is typical of that epoch. The decoration was by stamps in the clay (intaglio) of a given subject repeated in the narrow bands around the body of the vase. Two of these bands were of small Swastikas with the ends all turned to the right.Fig. 192shows a fragment of pottery from the Felsina necropolis, Bologna, ornamented with a row of Swastikas stamped into the clay in a manner peculiar to the locality.
Fig. 191.POTTERY URN ORNAMENTED WITHSUCCESSIVE BANDS IN INTAGLIO, TWO OFWHICH ARE COMPOSED OF SWASTIKAS.Necropolis Arnoaldi, Bologna. Museumof Bologna. Gozzadini, “ScaviArchæologici,” etc., pl. 4, fig. 8.
Fig. 192.FRAGMENT OF POTTERY WITHROW OF SWASTIKAS IN INTAGLIO.Necropole Felsinea, Italy. MuseoBologna. Gozzadini, “Due Sepolcri,”etc., p. 7. ½ natural size.
Fig. 193.SWASTIKA SIGN ONCLAY BOBBIN.Type Villanova, Bologna.De Mortillet, “MuséePréhistorique,” fig. 1239.
Fig. 193shows the end view of one of the bobbins from Bologna, Italy, in the possession of Count Gozzadini by whom it was collected. The decoration on the end, as shown by the figure, is the Swastika. The main arms are made up of three parallel lines, which intersect each other at right angles, and which all turn to the right at right angles. The lines are not incised, as is usual, but, like much of the decoration belonging to this culture, are made by little points consecutively placed, so as to give the appearance of a continuous line.
Swastikas turning both ways are on one or both extremities of many terra-cotta cylinders found in the terramare at Coazze, province of Verona, deposited in the National (Kircheriano) Museum at Rome. (See figs. 380 and 381 for similar bobbins.)
The museum at Este, Italy, contains an elegant pottery vase of large dimensions, represented infig. 194, the decoration of which is the Greek fret around the neck and the Swastika around the body, done with small nail heads or similar disks inserted in the clay in the forms indicated. This association of the Swastika and the Greek fret on the same object is satisfactory evidence of their contemporaneous existence, and is thus far evidence that the one was not derived from the other, especially as the authorities who claim this derivation are at variance as to which was parent and which, child. (Seefig. 133.)
A Swastika of the curious half-spiral form turned to the left, suchas has been found in Scandinavia and also among the Pueblo Indians of the United States, is in the museum at Este.
When in the early centuries of the Christian era the Huns made their irruption into Europe, they apparently possessed a knowledge of the Swastika. They settled in certain towns of northern Italy, drove off the inhabitants, and occupied the territory for themselves. On the death of Attila and the repulse of the Huns and their general return to their native country, many small tribes remained and gradually became assimilated with the population. They have remained in northern Italy under the title of Longobards. In this Longobardian civilization or barbarism, whichever we may call it, and in their style of architecture and ornament, the Swastika found a prominent place, and is spoken of as Longobardian.
It is needless to multiply citations of the Swastika in Roman and Christian times. It would appear as though the sign had descended from the Etruscans and Samnites along the coast and had continued in use during Roman times. Schliemann says[199]that it is found frequently in the wall paintings at Pompeii; even more than a hundred times in a house in the recently excavated street of Vesuvius. It may have contested with the Latin cross for the honor of being the Christian cross, for we know that the St. Andrew’s cross in connection with the Greek letter P (fig. 6) did so, and for a long time stood as the monogram of Christ and was the Labarum of Constantine. All three of these are on the base of the Archiepiscopal chair in the cathedral at Milan.[200]
Fig. 196.STAMP FOR MAKING SWASTIKA SIGN ON POTTERY.Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget, Savoy.Musée de Chambéry.Chantre, “Age du Bronze,” figs. 53, 55,and Keller, “Lake Dwellings of Europe,” pl. 161, fig. 3.
Swiss lake dwellings.—Figs.195and196are interesting as giving an insight into the method of making the sign of the Swastika.Fig. 195shows a fragment of pottery bearing a stamped intaglio Swastika (right), whilefig. 196represents the stamp, also in pottery, with which the imprint was made. They are figured by Keller,[201]and are described on page 339, and by Chantre.[202]They were found in the Swiss lake dwelling of Bourget (Savoy) by the Duc de Chaulnes, and are credited to his Museum of Chambéry.
Fig. 197.FRAGMENT OF CEINTURE FROM A TUMULUS IN ALSACE.Thin bronze repoussé with Swastikas of various kinds. Bronze Age, Halstattien epoch.De Mortillet, “Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1255.
Fig. 198.FRAGMENT OF A CEINTURE FROM THETUMULUS OF METZSTETTEN, WÜRTEMBERG.Thin bronze open-work with intricateSwastikas. Halstattien epoch. De Mortillet,“Musée Préhistorique,” fig. 1257, andChantre, “Le Caucase,” II, p. 50, fig. 25.
Fig. 199.BRONZE FIBULA, THEBODY OF WHICHFORMS A SWASTIKA.Museum of Mayence.De Mortillet, “MuséePréhistorique,” fig. 1266.
Fig. 200.SEPULCHRAL URN WITH SWASTIKA.North Germany. Waring, “CeramicArt in Remote Ages,” pl. 7, fig. 94.
Germany and Austria.—Fig. 197represents 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 theCroix 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. 198represents 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. 200represents 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 fromBologna (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 WITHSWASTIKA (CROIXSWASTICALE) ANDTRISKELION.Brandenburg, Germany.Waring, “Ceramic Art inRemote 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. 201represents 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’sCroix swasticale(figs.12and13). 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.
Fig. 202.BRONZE PIN WITH SWASTIKA, POINTILLÉ,FROM MOUND IN BAVARIA.Chantre, Matériaux pour l’Histoire Primitiveet Naturelle de l’Homme, 1854, pp. 14, 120.
Belgium.—The Museum of Namur, Belgium, possesses a small object of bone, both points of which havebeen broken; its use is somewhat indeterminable, but it is believed by the curator of that museum and others to have been an arrowhead or spearhead. In form it belongs to Class A of stemmed implements, is lozenge-shaped, without shoulder or barb. It is a little more than two inches long, five-eighths of an inch wide, is flat and thin. On one side it bears two oblique or St. Andrew’s crosses scratched in the bone; on the other, a figure resembling the Swastika. It is not the normal Swastika, but a variation therefrom. It is a cross about three-eighths of an inch square. The main stem lines cross each other at right angles; the ends of each of these arms are joined by two incised lines, which gives it the appearance of two turns to the right, but the junction is not well made, for the lines of the cross extend in every case slightly farther than the bent end. The variation from the normal Swastika consists of the variation produced by this second line. This object was lately found by M. Dupont, of Brussels, in the prehistoric cavern of Sinsin, near Namur. Most, or many, of these caverns belong to Paleolithic times, and one, the Grotte de Spy, has furnished the most celebrated specimens of the skeletons of Paleolithic man. But the cavern of Sinsin was determined, from the objects found therein, to belong to the Bronze Age.
Scandinavia.—The evidences of prehistoric culture have great resemblance throughout Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; so it is believed that during the prehistoric ages their peoples had the same culture, and the countries have been classed together as Scandinavia.
Fig. 203.RUNIC INSCRIPTION CONTAINING A SWASTIKA.Inlaid with silver on a bronze sword.Saebo, Norway.
Fig. 205.REDDING COMB WITH SWASTIKA.Scandinavia.
A bronze sword is reported by Mr. George Stephens[207]as having been found at Sæbo, Norway, with runes and a Swastika inlaid with silver. This specimen (fig. 203) was the subject of discussion before the International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archæology,[208]at Budapest, 1876. Its runes were translated by Stephens, and being read from right to left, “OH THURMUTH,” or “owns me Thurmuth.” But on the same page he gives another sign for Thu and renders[S]as Odin or (W)oden. In the discussion before the congress it seems to have been agreed that the sign[S]stood for “blessing,” “good luck,” or some beneficent charm or benediction. A spearhead has been foryears displayed in the museum at Torcello, near Venice, Italy, with a Swastika sign (fig. 204a) prominent as an engraved sign.[209]Associated with it, but not a part of it, was an inscription (fig. 204b), which has always been attributed to the Etruscans. Mr. I. Undset, an archæologist in the museum of Christiania, made an extended visit through Italy in 1883, and on seeing this spearhead recognized the inscription as runic and belonging to Scandinavia. The arms of the Swastika turned to the left, and the ends were finished with three dots of the same style as those described employed in theCroix swasticale(fig. 12). Figs.205and206represent articles of dress or toilet, and bear the Swastika. The first shows a redding comb, the Swastika on which turns to the right. It was probably of bone or horn, as are those of modern times.Fig. 206shows a brooch, the interior decoration of which is a combination of Swastikas more or less interlaced. It is of bronze and was used as a dress ornament.Fig. 207shows a large brooch, the bodies and bar of which are almost covered with the tetraskelion style of Swastika. There are six of the four-armed Swastikas, four of which turn to the left and two to the right. Another is a triskelion, the arms of which turn to the right.
Fig. 206.BRONZE BROOCH OR FIBULA WITH COMBINATION OF SWASTIKAS.Scandinavia.
Fig. 207.BRONZE BROOCHWITH SWASTIKAS.Tetraskelions (right and left),triskelion (left). Scandinavia.
Fig. 208.PLACQUE FOR CEINTURE, WITH BUCKLE.Two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions).
In Scandinavia more than in other countries the Swastika took the form of a rectangular body with arms projecting from each corner and bending in a spiral form, sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left.These are found more frequently on fibulæ or brooches and on swords and scabbards. Infig. 208is shown a placque for a ceinture or belt, with a buckle to receive the thong. It contains two ogee Swastikas (tetraskelions). In this andfig. 207the border and accessory decoration consist largely of ogee curves, which, here represented separate, would, if placed together as a cross, form the same style of Swastika as those mentioned. Figs.209and210show sword scabbards, with Swastikas turned both ways.Fig. 211shows two triskelions.Fig. 212represents a gold brooch from a grave at Fyen, reported by Worsaae and figured by Waring.[210]The brooch with ogee Swastika bears internal evidence of Scandinavian workmanship. There are other Swastikas of the same general form and style in distant localities, and this specimen serves to emphasize the extent of possible communication between distant peoples in prehistoric times.Fig. 213represents a piece of horse-gear of bronze, silver plated and ornamented with Swastikas. Two of these are normal, the ends bent at right angles to the left, while the other is fancifully made, the only specimen yet found of that pattern.[211]It is not seen that these fanciful additions serve any purpose other than decoration. They do not appear to have changed the symbolic meaning of the Swastika.Fig. 214represents a sword scabbard belonging to the Vimose find, with a normal Swastika. Ludwig Müller reproduces a Swastika cross from a runic stonein Sweden. In an ancient church in Denmark, the baptismal font is decorated with Swastikas, showing its use in early Christian times. (Seep. 878for continuation of Swastika on Scandinavian or Danish gold bracteates.)