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During the beginning of the Urnfield culture, around 1200 BC, a series of votive sickles of bronze with marks that have been interpreted as a numeral system, appeared in Central Europe.

Discovery

In 1946 a deposit with more than 250 sickles corresponding to the period 1500–1250 BC was discovered in Frankleben (in the region of Merseburg–Querfurt). This discovery was part of a series of deposits from the Urnfield culture found close to the Saale, where some 600 sickles and other objects have been retrieved. The sickles are thought to have been created and buried in deposits with ritual ends, due to the lack of signs of use.

On the sickles, a series of marks in two positions called attention: simple strokes, under the button that sticks out, near where a handle ought to be, and more complex signs, in the corner of the blade or on the base. The basic strokes have been interpreted by Christoph Sommerfeld as a numeral system.

Other objects that show these marks have been discovered, like the Ruthen stamp (from the end of the Bronze Age), which shows the symbol ////\\\\\ and the Coswig vessel (between 1200–1000 BC), which also shows the symbol ////\\\\\, accompanied by other symbols. In the case of the Coswig vessel, it gives the impression that it was made by a trained hand which wrote a complex series of signs on the fresh clay surface.

The discovered numeral system is in base five, i.e. quinary. The units digit are written with a stroke from the top-right to the bottom-left «/» and the fives place with a stroke from the top-left to the bottom-right «\». The numbers from 1 = / to 29 = ////\\\\\ have been found.

Interpretation

These embossed marks, unique in objects from the Bronze Age, were introduced in cast-iron molds and were not created on finished objects. The marks on the clay molds were done sometimes by hand, others with stamps, and corrected wrong symbols indicates an intention and a previous planning.

That numbers past 29 have not been found, when theoretically the system can be used to write unlimited numbers, has been interpreted to be because of the lunar cycle of 29.5 days. The cultures that use a lunar calendar habitually decide between 29 and 30 days for their calendar and correct the annual difference in various ways. If this interpretation is accepted, each ravine represents one day of the lunar cycle.

The shape of the sickle is similar to a crescent moon, which explains the significance of this object in the worship of the Urnfield culture.

With this, the symbol found on the Ruthen stamp and the Coswig vase has been interpreted, 29 = ////\\\\\, as a symbol of the lunar cycle. In general, it is believed that the writing encodes the lunar cycle as the agricultural cycle linked with the moon and the Sun.

Other symbols

Another series of symbols exists which appears around the sickles and still has not been interpreted. However it is clear that these symbols follow determined rules that are valid in all the influential territory.

Some of those symbols can be put in groups from one to four by what has been proposed as a type of base five numeral system.

40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49
50	51	52	53	54	55	56	57	● 58	59
60	61	62	63	64	65	66	67	●● 68	69
70	71	72	73	74	75	76	77	●●● 78	79
80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87	●●●● 88	89

References

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• Sommerfeld, Christoph (2006). "Mondsymbol »Sichel« - Sicheln mit Marken". In Meller, Harald (ed.). Der geschmiedete Himmel. Die weite Welt im Herzen Europas vor 3600 Jahren (in German). Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archeologie Sachsen-Anhalt LANDESMUSEUM FÜR VORGESCHICHTE Halle. Stuttgart: Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH. pp. 118–123. ISBN 978-3-8062-1907-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• de:Bronzehort von Frankleben Description of the Hoard of bronze found in Frankleben.

1. Christoph Sommerfeld: Gerätegeld Sichel. Studien zur monetären Struktur bronzezeitlicher Horte im nördlichen Mitteleuropa (Vorgeschichtliche Forschungen Bd. 19), Berlin/New York 1994 ISBN 3-11-012928-0

External links

• Image of the Frankleben sickles.
• Image of the Coswig vase.

See also

• prehistoric numerals

• Bronze Age Europe
• European archaeology
• Numerals