Congruity in Iron Age Art

The European Iron Age is a sub-period that marks the transition from prehistoric time to historic time. Ironwork is believed to have been introduced to Europe from Caucasian settlers during the late 11^th century B.C. This is important to note, because it is the same group of nomads who also migrated south into the Mesopotamian region and southeast into the Indian subcontinent. As a result, artifacts from the Iron Age share similar iconography and motifs. The Gundestrup Cauldron, found in northern Denmark, is a common reference piece used to demonstrate a possible connection between early European, Near Eastern, and Indian cultures. The artistic congruity between the Gundestrup Cauldron and other contemporary artifacts suggests that these cultures were engaged in frequent contact and shared similar worldviews.

The Gundestrup Cauldron (5 B.C., http://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-early-iron-age/the-gundestrup-cauldron/)  was discovered dismantled by peat farmers in 1891 who then sold the artifact to the Danish government. Scientists and art historians then spent years trying to reassemble the silver cauldron in its correct form. The cauldron is composed of a base plate, seven exterior plates, and five rectangular interior plates. But it is the iconography that is of most interest to anthropologists and art historians, for there exists motifs that are eerily similar to other contemporary pieces. For example, the detail on interior Plate A (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gundestrupkedlen-_00054_(cropped).jpg) shows a seated man in a yogic position wearing a horned helmet. This is a common character in Indus Valley Civilization artifacts, famously portrayed on the Pasupati Seal (2500-2400 B.C., http://www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.in/prodCollections.asp?pid=42&id=1&lk=dp1). The figure’s importance is still debated today, but many believe the figure is related to a divine spiritual entity; suggesting a shared belief system between the two cultures.

The Gundestrup Cauldron also shares similar zoomorphic imagery with Near Eastern cultures. In one Achaemenid seal (5 B.C., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cylinder_Seal,_Achaemenid,_modern_impression_05.jpg) a Persian king wrestles with two beasts as a large winged bird protects over him. On exterior Plate F of the cauldron, the same winged creature flanks the principal character (5 B.C., https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Detail_2_from_Gundestrupkarret.jpg). This bird-like creature must have been associated with divine defense, an association held by both the La Tene and Achaemenid civilizations. Interior plate C also depicts three griffins, a mythological monster found on a lot of Grecian tableware (“Wine Cup with Apollo Riding a Griffin,” 380 B.C., http://www.ipernity.com/doc/laurieannie/24072905). The fact that these animals are mythical furthers the proof that Iron Age cultures had frequent contact with each other; if the animals did not exist in nature, then the very idea of them must have been shared.

The Gundestrup Cauldron is an important artifact for the theory that Iron Age civilizations were not isolated from one another. The idea is already strengthened by linguistic similarities between the regions, but the Gundestrup Cauldron and similar artifacts provide archaeologic evidence through artistic congruity.