ancientpeoples: Gold Beaker, ca. 2000–1550 B.C.Central Europe, Early Bronze AgeGold alloy This

ancientpeoples:Gold Beaker, ca. 2000–1550 B.C.Central Europe, Early Bronze AgeGold alloyThis gold beaker is at once simple, elegant, and mysterious, transcending time and space. Raised from a single sheet of natural gold, the vessel is seamless and has a rounded base. It is decorated with five horizontal bands of different abstract patterns that range from sawtooth stippled designs punched into the sheet to lozenge shapes and angled rills. Whether these patterns have any special significance is not known. The shape of the vessel and some of the patterns evolve from the distinctive pottery of the Beaker Culture of Late Neolithic western Europe. This is one of only six such gold beakers to survive from the Early European Bronze Age. That others are known to have been found in the south of England, along the Rhine Valley, and in central Europe suggests that they were widely exchanged or traded. With its rounded base, this beaker does not stand on its own. As it was necessary to consume the contents before setting it down, it may have been created for ritual use. Some of the related beakers were found in graves thought to be of persons of high rank.Information and Photo from Met Museum -- source link

More pics about