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XI/1/2020
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Rituals, Hoards and Travellers? Archaeometry of the Iron Age
Bronze Wheel Amulets
Alžběta Danielisová
a*
, Daniel Bursák
a
, Ladislav Strnad
b
, Jakub Trubač
b
,
Hana Čižmářová
d
, David Daněček
a,c
, Kamil Smíšek
c
a
Institute of Archaeology CAS, Prague, Letenská 4, 118 01, Prague 1, Czech Republic
b
Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Albertov 6, 128 43, Prague 2, Czech Republic
c
Středočeské muzeum v Roztokách u Prahy, Zámek 1, 252 63, Roztoky, Czech Republic
d
Moravské zemské muzeum, Archeologický ústav, Zelný trh 6, 659 37, Brno, Czech Republic
1. Introduction
Wheel rings or spoked-wheel amulets are a ubiquitous and
popular part of the material culture of the La Tène period.
They occur from the 5
th
century BC onwards, from France
to Hungary, across the vast territory of the La Tène culture.
The symbolism of wheel amulets remains unexplained. They
are usually associated with Sun symbology, as chariots or
wheels represented the Sun carriage from the Bronze Age
(Green, 1984). Another common association is with other
celestial bodies or phenomena, typically thunder (Green,
1986).
In material culture, spoked wheels were most probably
used in personal jewellery, perhaps as amulets or special
symbols, as is suggested by their depiction on Celtic coins
(
e.g.
Manching,
cf.
van Endert, 1991) and evidence from
burials since the early La Tène (Werner, 1979; Hecht
et al.
,
1991; Stöckli, 1975). They were often worn as pendants on
necklaces or suspended from brooches on bronze chains (
e.g.
numerous fnds from the oppidum of Stradonice; Píč, 1903).
In central Europe, a signifcant concentration was
observed at the oppidum of Stradonice (Figure 1; Píč, 1903;
Kysela and Venclová, 2018), and at Manching (van Endert,
1991), which suggested that the amulets were typical oppida
objects; they had frst been described as such in Déchelette’s
well-known comparative table (1914). In recent years,
however, they have been observed in increasing numbers
in the countryside, largely as a result of the increased use
of metal detectors (Čižmářová, 2014; Danielisová
et al.
,
2018a). They are now known to be present at almost every
site from the middle to the late La Tène period (
i.e.
3
rd
to 1
st
century BC) with a particular profusion during the “oppida
period” (2
nd
to 1
st
century BC).
The spoked wheels difer in size, shape, and number of
spokes (Čižmářová, 2014). The basic and typologically most
homogeneous group comprises the eight-spoked wheels
Volume XI ● Issue 1/2020 ● Pages 33–45
*Corresponding author. E-mail: danielisova@arup.cas.cz
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 1
st
April 2020
Accepted: 9
th
July 2020
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2020.1.3
Key words:
Iron Age
Central Europe
amulets
coin hoards
fahlores
trace elements
lead isotopes
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to discuss the origin and signifcance of the so-called spoked-wheel amulets from the
late Iron Age (3
rd
to 1
st
century BC). The type with eight spokes, which most resembles a real chariot
wheel, was discovered to be made of a specifc alloy containing a large amount of lead and a signifcant
amount of antimony, plus traces of silver and arsenic. This combination of elements signifes the use
of a copper known as
fahlore
(tetrahedrite). Its use in Bohemia after the early Bronze Age is rarely
observed, if at all. These amulets are therefore a conspicuous exception. Research in Bavaria has
revealed other objects made from
fahlore
copper. Another connection to Bavaria may be indicated by
coin hoards accompanied by bronze closure rings of a similar alloy design. Other cases may suggest
that antimony was added as a separate component. Here we discuss the composition and provenance of
these objects from the perspective of compositional and lead isotope analysis.
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IANSA 2020 ● XI/1 ● 33–45
Alžběta Danielisová, Daniel Bursák, Ladislav Strnad, Jakub Trubač, Hana Čižmářová, David Daněček, Kamil Smíšek: Rituals, Hoards and Travellers?
Archaeometry of the Iron Age Bronze Wheel Amulets
34
which imitate chariot wheels. They are usually made entirely
from lead or from a heavily-leaded alloy (Schwab, 2011).
The eight spokes are a regular feature; sometimes there are
multiples of eight, as with the sixteen-spoked wheel depicted
on a Gundestrup cauldron (Green, 1986). Four- and six-
spoked wheels make up a larger and more heterogeneous
group. These wheels appear only to suggest rather than
imitate chariot wheels and have a simpler design that is
perhaps more decorative in the context of late La Tène art.
Archaeometric analysis of large assemblages from the La
Tène period revealed the recurrence of a particular material
composition of the eight-spoked wheels (Danielisová
et al.
,
2018b), which included a large amount of lead, unusually
large amounts of antimony, and increased amounts of arsenic
and sometimes silver. It was noteworthy that this chemical
composition was found only in these amulets and not in the
other types of object. West of Bohemia, however, particularly
in Bavaria, antimony bronzes have regularly been recorded
and associated with the alloying of
fahlore
copper (Schwab,
2011; 2014a; 2014b). It was not until we detected the same
composition in two bronze rings with a rhombic section,
used as a closure mechanism in the context of a Celtic coin
hoard from Libčice nad Vltavou (Figures 2 and 3), that the
connection with Bavaria became worth considering.
We therefore decided to give more attention to this
matter and to investigate the alloy design and provenance
of these objects and to explore the broader socio-cultural or
political implications. In addition to “ofcial” commercial