Amphora Calendars, 950-800 BC

A calendar from the Bronze Age

"It is an archaeological sensation that experts compare with the discovery of the Nebra Sky Disk: two Prignitzer amphorae from the royal tomb Seddin and from a site in Herzberg (OPR) probably come from the same workshop and maybe even from the same master hand. They had a calendar function. Yesterday, scientists informed about this discovery in the Archeological State Museum in Brandenburg on the Havel.

The two large bronze amphorae appeared in Seddin and Herzberg in 1899 and 1991, less than 70 kilometers apart. In terms of age, they date back to the Bronze Age (around 950-800 BC). Both vessels carry a characteristic humpback decor. "There are only eleven comparable specimens in the whole of Europe," says Dr. Christof Krauskopf, press spokesman at the Landesmuseum. It's all the more amazing that there are two in Prignitz.

Experts call them calendars. The reason is their decors. The simple hump is interpreted as a sign for a 24-hour day. The sums of humps from the rows and sections result in natural periods of time such as a lunar year of 354 days or a solar year of 365 days. All this the researchers read out of the Seddiner decor. "The ring humps, as higher-level units, cover larger periods of time and serve as operating instructions as well as for the quick readability of the calendar system," explains Dr. med. Krauskopf. The decors can therefore only conclude: they show materialization, visualization and mastery of time. "This represented an extraordinary cultural achievement," says Krauskopf.

Only now completed laser scan investigation of the Herzberg amphora in the Saxon State Office of Archeology allowed these findings. The Herzberger vessel is heavily damaged unlike the Seddiner. The attempt of the reconstruction with the calculations and comparisons to the humpback decoration helped to this breakthrough, to the discovery of the calendars.

The laser and strip light scans produce highly accurate, three-dimensional images that can be rotated and superimposed in any direction. This allowed a precise comparison of the two vessels. The result is an "extremely high degree of correspondence between Seddin and Herzberg". Both vessels are absolutely identical in the heights, that is, upper, lower parts and feet are exactly the same height, which the archaeologists had not expected. Also, the position of the rows with the humps on the upper and lower parts is exactly the same on both amphorae and the embossing technique and the distances of the humps to each other are also identical on both vessels. They vary only in their widths.

"Both amphorae could only be made in their height-related coincidences if the blacksmith owned, or at least knew exactly, a model, an original, or the counterpart," says Dr. Christof Krauskopf. Therefore, the scientists conclude that probably both vessels come from a workshop, possibly made by the same master. In all likelihood, this workshop was located in Prignitz.

From the point of view of the archaeologists, three questions remain unanswered: Were other comparable vessels also made in the Prignitz? Can individual blacksmiths be identified by special manuscripts? Are the blacksmith and the designer of the decor identical?


https://www.svz.de/lokales/prignitz/ein-kalender-aus-der-bronzezeit-id4017501.html



Rorbaek amphora:

Gevelinghausen amphora:

Seddin artefacts:

Seddin burial mound and excavation: