Caergwrle Bowl: A 3,300-year-old stone-and-tin bowl with gold oars and 'protective eyes'

a fragmentary dark teal colored bowl has accents of gold lines, circles and zigzags — The Caergwrle Bowl is thought to represent an ancient ship with oars and talismans that protected the sailors.

(Image credit: By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales / CC BY-SA 4.0)

QUICK FACTS

Name: Caergwrle Bowl

What it is: A shale bowl with gold and tin decorations

Where it is from: Caergwrle Castle, in Wales

When it was made: Circa 1300 to 1150 B.C.

Rather than seeing the concentric circles on the gold rim as shields, researchers argued that the closest parallel can be found in Bronze Age sun symbolism, such as the Nebra Sky Disc — which may also depict a boat — and the Nordic "Sun Chariot." And instead of the zigzag lines representing waves, the lines could depict the boat's wooden frame showing through the skins that were stretched over it.

Regardless of the exact meaning of the designs on the Caergwrle Bowl, its discovery in a boggy field near the River Alun, which flows toward the Irish Sea, strongly suggests it was created as a representation of a boat, according to Museum Wales. And considering many Bronze Age sun artifacts have been found in bogs as offerings to the gods, the Caergwrle Bowl was likely meant to be an ancient votive offering, perhaps by sailors seeking a safe sea journey.

TOPICS

Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.