The strange artifact was found in 1847 in a swamp in the village of Balcocre, south of Skane in Sweden. The object suggests some form of ritual use in Bronze Age religion.
A local teacher sent the find on a steamer to the Stockholm Museum of National Antiquities. There is no additional information about the circumstances of the find, and the exact location of the find is unknown.
There are different opinions regarding its original purpose. It remains unclear whether it was an ancient drum, solar altar, gong, throne, or something else. An identical bronze item was found in a two-meter sand pit at Hasfalve (then called Haschendorf) near Sopron in northern Hungary in 1913.
Both objects are the only of their kind in the world, and both objects are about 28 cm high and weigh about 4700 grams.
It is likely that they were made by the same master in the same workshop (maybe this is the first mass production), located somewhere in Central Europe, probably in the Donau region in the early Bronze Age (1500 BC) …
The artifact consists of a bronze disc about 41 cm in diameter and rests on a bronze frame, about 28 cm high.
It was found in a peat bog in the parish of Balcocre and dates from the early Bronze Age.
The object consists of a bowl-shaped disc with zigzag lines similar to the image of the sun. It is attached to an openwork frame that ends with wheel symbols to indicate movement, and the discs are interpreted as symbols of the sun.
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The frame consists of 10 parts, which are connected with rivets. Each module has lines or points. They show the place of the module in the structure.
Scandinavian archaeologists date the objects to BC. e. 1500 BC BC, while their Hungarian counterparts date them 1000-800 BC. e. The first analyzes of metal objects were made in 1985.
Metal analyzes of the Balcocre disc showed 89% copper and 10% tin, 1% silver. The disc from Hungary had similar research findings.
The uniqueness of these 2 objects lies in their size and appearance. They are a mystery because their function in the prehistoric society in which they were created is not yet known. Both items were found inverted so that the disc was underneath with the frame resting on it and the wheels facing up. It is assumed that this position was used during storage or transportation.
Many archaeologists have suggested that the Balcocre disc was the drum used in the Bronze Age Sun cult, but so far these are only speculations, and we do not know the true purpose of this mysterious object.