Braak Bog Figures (Type 2) found in Northern Germany and dated to approximately 2nd to early 4th centuries BCE.
AnthropomorphicIron Age wooden cult figures, sometimes calledpole gods, have been found at manyarchaeological sites inCentral andNorthern Europe. They are generally interpreted ascult images, in some cases presumably depicting deities, sometimes with either avotive or anapotropaic (protective) function. Many have been preserved inpeat bogs. The majority are crudely worked poles or forked sticks; some take the form of carved planks.
The oldest of the figures is the Mesolithic find fromWillemstad, North Brabant in the Netherlands and the latest is 13th-century, but most date from between c. 500BCE and 500CE. They are found as far west as Ireland (although at least one found in Britain, theStrata Florida figure from Wales, was imported[citation needed]) and as far east as Gorbunovo Moor in Russia. By far the majority were preserved in wetlands of some sort; however, only one figure—from the lateBronze Age settlement atWasserburg Buchau, nearBad Buchau inBaden-Württemberg, Germany—has been found in thelake village culture of the Alps.[1]
Locations of anthropomorphic pole gods/ancestral sculptures made of wood (discovered in modern times or location described by credible sources (see Cape Arkona Temple))
Broddenbjerg idol, a figure made from a forked stick (Type 2) and dated to approximately 535–520BCE
Locations of anthropomorphic idols are spread across the entire northwestern to eastern European region and represent a pan-European phenomenon across cultural boundaries. The documented sites shown on the map can be considered as a small subset of the true number of pole idols. It is plausible that numerous finds are still waiting in the soil of the extensive, former swamp landscapes of Europe (Baltic Sea neighbors, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, etc.), if they have not been destroyed during peat mining (see destruction of boardwalks in Wittemoor) etc. .
The earliest evidence of anthropomorphic wooden cult figures in areas that would later have Germanic-speaking inhabitants is from theBronze Age. TheBroddenbjerg idol, anithyphallic forked-stick figure found in a peat bog nearViborg, Denmark, iscarbon-dated to approximately 535–520BCE.[2] TheBraak Bog Figures, a male and female forked-stick pair found in a peat bog atBraak, Schleswig-Holstein, have been dated to the 2nd to 3rd centuries BCE but also as early as the 4th century.[3][4] In areas with Germanic-speakers, figures have been found in an area extending from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany toNorrland in Sweden,[5] but the vast majority have been preserved in bogs or other moist environments, so it is impossible to know how widespread the practice actually was. One figure has been found on dry land, in a ditch complex on a hillside atBad Doberan,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.[6] The great majority of the figurines are markedly more abstract than other artistic artefacts of their time. The 5th-6th century seated figure from the Rude-Eskilstrup bog inMunke Bjergby parish,Zealand, Denmark, is unusually detailed: it has a triple neck-ring or collar, a kirtle and a pronounced chin or beard, and resembles a bronze figure found atBregneburg onFunen.[7][8][9] It has been suggested that this figure may have stood in aheathen temple and beenplaced in the bog at theconversion.[10] Furthermore, post holes have been identified such as that which forms the focal point of the "grandstand" at the 6th to 7th-century Anglo-Saxon royal hall site ofYeavering. With a side length of 56 centimetres (22 in) and a depth of approximately 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in), it indicates a pillar of considerable size, presumably a cult pillar of some sort.[11][12][13]
TheOld Norse term for a godáss (the singular ofÆsir; derived from theCommon Germanic root *ans, *ansuz and also recorded forGothic as the Latin pluralAnses byJordanes) has a homonym meaning "pole" or "beam".Jacob Grimm proposed that as the origin of the "god word" and the etymology was accepted by some scholars;[14][15] it would suggest that the word is derived from god-images in pole form, but relating it to the Indianasuras as a term ofIndo-European origins is equally plausible.[16] Some of the wooden figures take the form of a simple pole or post, sometimes set up in a heap of stones.[17]
Tacitus states inGermania that while the Germanic peoples had idols, they did not consider it fitting to anthropomorphize them. One example he describes is the annual parading of an image of the goddessNerthus.[18] Later Germanic peoples do not seem to have had this aversion, such as the more complex figures made of carved forked sticks that recall the "wooden people" or "tree-men" of theEddic poem "Hávamál":
Other more or less contemporary texts also attest to wooden cult figurines inScandinavian paganism. Christian missionary writings refer disparagingly to wooden "idols", such as the figure of the godFreyr inGunnars þáttr helmings.[17] TheSaga of Ragnar Lothbrok describes a god onSamsø in the form of a 40 feet wooden pole shaped to look like a man that tells that it was set up by the sons ofRagnar Lothbrok in order to performsacrifices for victory.[20] InIbn Fadlan's early 10th-century account of theVolga Vikings, he writes that as soon as they come into harbour, they leave their ships with food and alcoholic drink and offer them at a tall piece of wood with the face of a man carved in it, which is surrounded by smaller similar figures.[21] Such an arrangement has been found at sites such as the Oberdorla sacrificial bog.[citation needed]
The mentions inIcelandic sagas ofÖndvegissúlur carved with the images of gods, in particularThor andFreyr, and of other idols, may be related but have been influenced by Christian concepts since the sagas were written down in the 12th to 14th centuries, centuries after the heathen period.
Günter Behm-Blancke classified the anthropomorphic figurines into four groups based on the finds at Oberdorla:
Type 1. Poles or posts, sometimes equipped with aphallus, as at Oberdorla; a variant form from Possendorf,Weimar, (now lost)[22] has a carved head and attached raised arms.[23]
Type 2. Formed from a forked stick, with a head carved out at the top. Those found at Oberdorla are all female; in North Germany and Scandinavia,ithyphallic male figures are also found, such as theBroddenbjerg idol from nearViborg, Denmark and the more artistically developed male and femaleBraak Bog Figures fromSchleswig-Holstein.[9] Sizes range from approximately 1 to 3 metres (3 ft 3 in to 9 ft 10 in).[24]
Type 3. Carved from a broad plank cut in silhouette with blank faces, males with rectangular bodies, females with breasts or shoulders indicated by a slanted cut, broad hips andvulva. Found at Oberdorla and at theWittemoor timber trackway (corduroy road) inBerne,Lower Saxony, these are thought to have had anapotropaic (protective) purpose.[25][26]
Type 4. Carved from a squared piece of timber with an inclined head and a base, similar to aherm. One of this type was found at Oberdorla, in a lateLa Tène context.[25]
Most of the figures which have been preserved are ofoak, which was probably preferred for its endurance in the mostly wet locations where they were deposited.
It is impossible to determine the exact purpose of the figurines, or their relationship to the named Germanic gods and goddesses, with whose worship they overlap; examples are found dating to as late as theViking Age. We cannot determine how typical those which have happened to survive and be found, or their locations, are; and our surviving written sources of information onGermanic paganism are likewise incomplete.[27] They have been interpreted, in particular by Behm-Blancke, as the site of fertility sacrifices, based on the indications of male and female sexual characteristics and the frequent association with potsherds and the bones of animals and, at Oberdorla, of humans. They may originate in a phallus cult, although there are few indications of such a cult in Germanic paganism. Alternatively, since the veneration of pillars extends beyond the Germanic cultural area, they may originate in the belief in theworld pillar (as seen in the SaxonIrminsul and the Old NorseYggdrasill) and thus derive froman archaic tree cult.[17]
Heiko Steuer has suggested that in the case of the male and female Wittemoor figures, which stood on either side of a plank causeway through a marsh, there may have been a secular decorative motive in addition to the spiritual luck-bringing and warding (apotropaic) functions.[28]
Relatively few figurines have been found in areas ofCeltic-speaking settlement, and because of overlap with Germanic-speaking settlement, particularly in theNorth Sea region,[29] it is sometimes difficult to assign a figure to one or the other group of people.
A fragment of an anthropomorphic figurine made of oak dating to the 2nd century BCE was found in a possibly sacrificial shaft inside aViereckschanze enclosure in the Schmiden section ofFellbach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It originally depicted a person, apparently seated, between two rams, with hands around their rumps; only the hands survive from the human figure.[30][31][32]
Lucan'sPharsalia refers to a sacred grove near Massilia (Marseille) which was a location of human sacrifice and had stone altars and rough-hewn wooden idols.[33]
In a stone replica of axoanon found atEuffigneix inHaute-Marne, France, called thegod of Euffigneix, the sculptor has reproduced the knot-holes as eye-like openings on the sides. Two maple-wood columns withtorcs found in the cultic enclosure ofLibenice nearKolín, inCentral Bohemia, date to the Roman period. A 3-metre (9.8 ft) oak sculpture of a "guardian deity" wearing acowl was found in the old harbour basin ofGeneva, Switzerland.[34][35] And primitively carved woodenstelae have been found at sites of worship of goddesses of water-sources, such as the so-calledPforzheimSirona.[36][37] An oak statue belonging to the La Tène culture was found at the mouth of the RiverRhone inLake Geneva, nearVilleneuve, Vaud, Switzerland. It is 1.25 metres (4 ft 1 in) tall and clothed in a tunic. It was dated by means of three Celtic silver coins of the 2nd century BCE which were in a fissure in the statue, and is thought to depict a late 2nd to mid-1st century Celtic deity, apparently associated with the river or the lake.[34][35][38] Finally, a wooden figure 58 centimetres (23 in) was found inMontbouy, west ofOrléans in central France. It is presumed to be male and the location of the find, in the well of a Roman temple, suggests it served a devotional purpose; the style of the figure resembles that of pre-Roman figures from North Germany.[39]
To date twenty three anthropomorphic figures are known from Ireland, dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age. The figures come from eleven wetland sites across Ireland. They include two figures known only from paper records: one from theGolden Bog of Cullen,County Tipperary, found in the late-late eighteenth century, and a second fromBallybritain,County Londonderry, found in the 1790s.[40] In 1930,Adolf Mahr published the discovery of a prehistoric anthropomorphic figure found during turf cutting in a bog atRalaghan,County Cavan, Ireland, calledRalaghan Man. It has a genital opening containing a piece of white quartz, which may represent a vulva or may have been an attachment point for a penis.[41]
In 1934, the first archaeologically excavated figure was identified during excavations at Lagore crannog,County Meath byHugh O'Neill Hencken. The figure is one of two explicitly anthropomorphic figures in the corpus, the remainder being more stylized. It is 0.47 m tall and consists of a heart-shaped face, a square torso without arms, and two simple legs ending in feet. A slight bump in the pubic area is interpreted as indicating male genitals.[42] The Lagore figure is the earliest to have been found in Ireland and dates to 2135–1944 cal. BC.
The latest is theGortnacrannagh Figure dating to cal. AD 252–413 (1715±28 BP; UBA-43937), from a fen flanking theOwenur River inCounty Roscommon.[43]
In 1880, theBallachulish figure, an almost lifesize female figure carved out of an oak log was found nearBallachulish in Scotland. The genitalia are emphasised and pieces of quartz have been inserted as eyes. The figure had been deposited in a ritual context with other objects, within an enclosure marked off with woven branches, similar to cultic finds on the continent. It has been carbon-dated to between 700 and 500 BCE.[44][45]
Slavic figure of a god, c. 5th century CE, from Altfriesack,Fehrbellin, Brandenburg, Germany
The several wooden anthropomorphic figures found in theWest Slavic settlement areas around theElbe, for example the temple finds from Groß Raden (now part ofSternberg) andRalswiek and those fromNeubrandenburg, all in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Altfriesack (now part ofFehrbellin,Brandenburg)[46] possibly depict deities.Saxo Grammaticus describes theTemple at Arkona as containing a great four-headed idol, far taller than a man.[47] However, Slavic anthropomorphic figures do not occur until the 10th century, presumably under the influence of neighbouring cultures.[48]
Sebastian Brather distinguishes between idols in plank and pole form. He regards the former as primarilyvotive in purpose,[citation needed] like those described by Saxo and by others includingThietmar of Merseburg, but their identification with specific deities can only be speculation. Also, as with Celtic and Germanic, Slavic paganism was not universally standardised but included decentralised, local cult centres and practices, of which the wooden images would have formed a part.[49]
Leszek Słupecki considers the figure fromFischerinsel near Neubrandenburg one of the most significant Slavic idols. Dated to the 11th–12th century, it takes the form of a two-headed male bust mounted on a column of hewn oak, and is 178 centimetres (5 ft 10 in) high. The beard, eyes, and nose are emphasised.[50] It is the only multi-headed sculpture extant from a Slavic region, but the location of the find does not indicate any sort of temple or shrine.[51]
^Miranda J. Aldhouse Green,An Archaeology of Images: Iconology and Cosmology in Iron Age and Roman Europe, London: Routledge, 2004,ISBN9780415252539,p, 60Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine.
^Michael Müller-Wille,Opferkulte der Germanen und Slawen,Archäologie in Deutschland, Sonderheft, Stuttgart: Theiss, 1999,ISBN9783806214437,p. 28Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Bente Magnus,Men, Gods and Masks—in Nordic Iron Age Art, Ten thousand years of folk art in the North; Nordic iron age art 1, Cologne: König, 2006,ISBN9783883759852, Plate 55.
^H. R. Ellis Davidson,Pagan Scandinavia, Ancient Peoples and Places 58, London: Thames and Hudson, 1967,OCLC247529956, Plate 31, p. 78 (described on p. 197 as Plate 32).
^abJohannes Maringer, "Das Wasser in Kult und Glauben der vorgeschichtlichen Menschen",Anthropos 68.5/6, 1973, pp. 705–76,p. 745Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Charlotte Fabech, "Centrality in Old Norse mental landscapes: A dialogue between arranged and natural places?", inOld Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions, ed. Anders Andrén, Kristina Jennbert and Catharina Raudvere, Vägar till Midgård 8, Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2006,ISBN9789189116818, pp. 26–32,p. 30Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine.
^Max Adams,The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria, New York: Head of Zeus, 2013,ISBN9781781854174,n.p.Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine suggests a Frankishstaffolus.
^Jan de Vries,Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte, 2 vols., Volume 2Die Götter – Vorstellungen über den Kosmos – Der Untergang des Heidentums, Grundriß der germanischen Philologie 12.2, 2nd ed. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1957, repr. as 3rd ed. 1970,OCLC769214225 p. 9, note 1(in German) has a bibliography of that and rival etymologies.
^"Æsir",Rudolf Simek,Dictionary of Northern Mythology, tr. Angela Hall, Woodbridge, Suffolk: Brewer, 1993,ISBN9780859915137, repr. 2000 p. 3.
^abc"Pole gods", Simek,Dictionary of Northern Mythology, p. 258.
^Tacitus,Germania 9.6:Ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magnitudine caelestium arbitrantur - "The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance."Germania 40:mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur - "Afterwards the car, the vestments, and, if you like to believe it, the divinity herself, are purified in a secret lake." Trans. Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb,The Agricola and Germany of Tacitus, London: Macmillan, 1868,OCLC776555615
^"Hávamál" verse 49,Ursula Dronke,The Poetic Edda, Volume IIIMythological Poems II, Oxford: Oxford University, 2011,ISBN978-0-19-811182-5, p. 12.
^Crawford, Jackson (2017).The Saga of the Volsungs : with the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. Indianapolis. pp. 132–133.ISBN978-1624666339.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^James E. Montgomery,"Ibn Faḍlān and the Rūsiyyah"Archived 2013-10-01 at theWayback Machine,Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 3, 2000: "This piece of wood has a face like the face of a man and is surrounded by small figurines behind which are long pieces of wood set up in the ground."
^The Possendorf figure was about 90 centimetres (35 in) tall and probably from the 2nd century BCE. Wijnand van der Sanden, tr. Susan J. Mellor,Through Nature to Eternity: The Bog Bodies of Northwest Europe, Amsterdam: Batavian Lion, 1996,ISBN9789067074186, p. 104.
^Günter Behm-Blancke, "Materielle und geistige Kultur. Stammesgebiete im 1. und 2. Jahrhundert: Kult und Ideologie", in Bruno Krüger,et al., ed.,Die Germanen: Geschichte und Kultur der germanischen Stämme in Mitteleuropa. Ein Handbuch in zwei Bänden, Volume 1Von den Anfängen bis zum 2. Jahrhundert unserer Zeitrechnung, Veröffentlichungen des Zentralinstituts für Alte Geschichte und Archäologie der Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR 4, Berlin: Akademie, 1976,OCLC256529450, pp. 351–71, p. 369(in German)
^Heiko Steuer, "Über anthropomorphe Moorpfähle der vorrömischen Eisenzeit", inStudien zur Lebenswelt der Eisenzeit: Festschrift für Rosemarie Müller, ed. Wolf-Rüdiger Teegen, Rosemarie Müller, Rosemarie Cordie, Olaf Dörrer and Heiko Steuer,Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Ergänzungsband 53, Berlin / New York: de Gruyter, 2006,ISBN978-3-11-019010-6(in German)
^Günther Wielandet al.,Die keltischen Viereckschanzen von Fellbach-Schmiden (Rems-Murr-Kreis) und Ehningen (Kreis Böblingen), Forschungen und Berichte zur Vor- und Frühgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg 80, Stuttgart: Theiss, 1999,ISBN9783806214819,p. 38Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Nico Roymans,Tribal Societies in Northern Gaul: An Anthropological Perspective, Cingula 12, Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, Albert Egges van Giffen Instituut voor Prae- en Protohistorie, 1990,ISBN9789070319137,p. 62Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine.
^abAndres Furger and Felix Müller, with Maria Angelica Borrelloet al., tr. Joseph Raftery,Helvetian Gold: Celtic Treasures from Switzerland, Exhibition catalogue, Swiss National Museum, Zurich: Eidolon, 1991,OCLC26452989,p. 78Archived 2024-06-01 at theWayback Machine.
^abO.-H. Frey, "Keltische Großplastik", inReallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, 2nd ed., Volume 16, Berlin / New York: de Gruyter, 2000,ISBN9783110167825, pp. 395–407,p. 404Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Klaus Kortüm,Portus—Pforzheim: Untersuchungen zur Archäologie und Geschichte in römischer Zeit, Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Stadt Pforzheim 3, Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1995,OCLC35252688,p. 202Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Maier,p. 151Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine; see R. Wyss, "La statue celte de Villeneuve",Helvetia Archeologica 10 (1979) 58–67(in French)
^Torsten Capelle, "Anthropomorphe Holzidole in Mittel- und Nordeuropa". In: Scripta minora. Kungl. Humanistiska Vetenskapssamfundet i Lund, 1 (1995–96), Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell, 1995,ISBN91-22-01705-4, pp. 1–68,pp. 25, 27Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Waddell, John (1998).The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland. Galway: Galway University Press. pp. 360–361.ISBN1-901421-10-4.OCLC39155773.
^Sebastian Brather,Archäologie der westlichen Slawen: Siedlung, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft im früh- und hochmittelalterlichen Ostmitteleuropa, 2nd ed.,Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Ergänzungsband 61, Berlin / New York: de Gruyter, 2008,ISBN9783110206098,p. 325Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine(in German)
^Leszek Słupecki, "The temple in Rhetra-Riedegost: West Slavic pagan ritual as described at the beginning of eleventh century", inOld Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives, pp. 224–28,p. 224Archived 2023-09-14 at theWayback Machine.
^Leszek Paweł Słupecki, tr. Izabela Szymańska,Slavonic Pagan Sanctuaries, Warsaw: Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1994,ISBN9788385463276, p. 205.
