![]() Helen Clarke and Kristina Lamm, Helgö Revisited: A New Look at the Excavated Evidence for Helgö, Central Sweden (Schleswig: Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, 2017)īo Gyllensvärd et al., Excavations at Helgö XVI: Exotic and Sacral Finds from Helgö (Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2004) Photographs of the Helgö Buddha taken from a number of angles are available through the website of the Swedish History Museum here. In any event, it is fun to wonder about the circumstances that might have brought this Buddha to rest here in Sweden, just as it will be interesting to learn more about the newly discovered Egyptian Buddha. If it is to be associated with any of the structures, it would probably be one of the two sets of rectangular foundations in Building Group 2. The metal workshop does not seem like a probable context for the Buddha. Helgö Building Groups 2 and 3 image source: adapted from Clarke and Lamm, Helgö Revisited (Schleswig, 2017), p. ![]() This group of structures was quite distant from Building Group 2: If I understand the excavation report correctly, the metal workshop was a part of Building Group 3. The figurine would undoubtedly have been of great interest to a metalworking craftsman who may have used a leather thong to hang it around his neck or on a nail.” (Gyllensvärd, “The Buddha found at Helgö,” p. “As it was unearthed near a workshop for metal casting and smithing, its owner may have been particularly attracted to this finely cast bronze object with contrasting inlays of copper and silver. The most thorough specialist study offered this possible explanation: In the absence of precise stratigraphic information, scholars have speculated about how and why the Buddha came to Sweden. Second, the back of the artifact shows signs of repairs (patches on the back of the head and left elbow), suggesting that the statuette was in use for some period of time. Helgö Buddha with remains of leather straps still attached image source: Holmqvist et al., Excavations at Helgö I: Report for 1954-1956 (Uppsala, 1961), p. The specialist report on the Buddha gives the following information: The original excavation report says little about the context of the find. Unfortunately (but understandably in these circumstances), the exact stratum to which the Buddha belongs cannot be determined, and thus, if I read the reports correctly, the Buddha cannot be confidently associated with any one of the discrete occupational phases of the site. In addition, the occupation layer was thin and compressed, so that artefacts of all dates were found together, virtually unstratified.” (Clarke and Lamm, Helgö Revisited, p. “Space was restricted, so the houses were built and rebuilt in almost exactly the same place from generation to generation, resulting in a bewildering array of post holes which are still very difficult to interpret. The site, located on a series of terraces on a hillside, was challenging to excavate and interpret: In July of 1956, excavators uncovered the Buddha in an indistinct layer outside the remains of one of the structures on the site. ![]() ![]() The excavators found evidence for occupation from the fourth century CE to the eleventh century CE. ![]() Location of Helgö in relation to Stockholm image source: adapted from Clarke and Lamm, Helgö Revisited (Schleswig, 2017), p. ![]()
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