Celtic Bird's Head Brooch, Bronze

Celtic bird-head brooch

This Celtic brooch is inspired by a fascinating find from Pirna-Pratzschwitz in Saxony, and this unique work of art was carefully handcrafted. Unfortunately, the original was not accessible, so only photos were available for the reconstruction.

Nevertheless, the result gives a captivating impression of extraordinary quality.

Lovingly handcrafted, this brooch combines functionality and aesthetics – it makes an excellent stylish brooch that adds an extravagant touch to any sophisticated outfit. It is also ideal for educational purposes and for Celtic re-enactors who need authentic replicas for their garments.

The brooch also makes a perfect gift for history lovers and collectors who want to bring a piece of Celtic culture into their home. It comes with a certificate in an elegant jewelry box!

Bird depictions in prehistory

Birds, especially water birds, were a common motif for decorating objects in prehistory. They adorned both everyday objects such as rattles or weapons and ritual artifacts such as sun boats, which were probably intended to honor the course of the sun in the sky, similar to Egyptian mythology.

In the imagination of the Egyptians, the sun god undertook a journey that was repeated daily: during the day, he crossed the sky in his sun barque, and at night he crossed the underworld in his night barque. Bird-headed decorations are also frequently found on wagon and ship models in the Bronze Age Urnfield culture, which are referred to as sun wagons or bird barques. These representations suggest that the sun was considered an expression of divine power and cosmological order. Its regular course symbolized the rhythm of life: the change of day and night, the seasons with sowing and harvesting, as well as the eternal cycles of birth, death and the continuity of the world. Similar ideas of the mythical solar journey can also be found in the Bronze Age religions of Northern Europe.

While these symbols are often difficult for us to interpret today, they were probably clear and self-evident expressions of their belief system for the people of prehistory. Water birds, which are associated with both the sky and the water, may have been seen as mediators between the worlds – as creatures that had access to realms that remained closed to humans.

The transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age not only changed the understanding of art and material culture, but also religious beliefs. Nevertheless, highly stylized bird depictions continued to appear, for example as decorative elements on Celtic bird-head fibulae. These motifs seem to be an echo of the Bronze Age tradition of symbolism and show how deeply rooted the image of birds was in the mythological and artistic world of the time.

The discovery at Pratzschwitz

During excavations on the gravel extraction site near Pirna-Pratzschwitz, the Saxon State Office for Archaeology came across numerous traces of an early Iron Age settlement. In addition to remains of houses, rubbish pits and economic areas, the archaeologists made an extraordinary discovery in October 2018, in the last days of the excavation: a set of jewelry from the early Latène period (approx. 450 BC) was found at the edge of the excavation site. These precious objects were stored in a small ceramic vessel and came from the “Celtic world”, probably from neighboring Bohemia. Particularly noteworthy were three clothing clasps (fibulae), which are among the most outstanding examples of the arts and crafts of the time. The mask fibula with a human face and an animal head shows a masterly command of metalworking. A lavish bronze necklace is also a unique find to date. In addition to these treasures, the vessel contained 485 pearls made of amber and glass, which probably belonged to a necklace. This ensemble is reminiscent of the valuable jewelry of the Celtic upper class, as known from the prince graves of that time.

The find site of the jewelry is located in an area that was settled by the Bodenbach group during the Later Iron Age. Only about 80 meters from the Elbe River, this site marks the end of a centuries-old trade route that ran from Ústí nad Labem (Czech Republic) to Pirna.

The jewelry find raises exciting questions: Did it belong to a woman who had moved to this region from Celtic Bohemia? Is it a symbolic grave, a cultic offering, or perhaps a gift from merchants to the local population? The answers to these questions remain a mystery for the time being, but the find underscores the cultural connections and exchange between regions in the Iron Age.

Literature:

Ingo Kraft/Wolfgang Ender/Gabriele Wagner, Der Schmuckfund von Pratzschwitz. Eine keltische Prunkausstattung vom Elbübergang bei Pirna in Sachsen. Dresden 2020.

More information online:

Der Hortfund von Pratzschwitz. Zur Auffindung frühlatènezeitlicher Fibeln im Vorfeld des Kiestagebaus bei Pirna

archaeo | 3D - Vogelkopffibel