Sun Cross pendant Norse Viking jewelry

Sun Cross - silver pendantMade in Norway The original was cast in lead. Craftsmen in Kaupang probably made it since it was never finished. The pattern is well known on the continent. The continental pattern indicates that craftsmen at Kaupang had close contact with Europe. What the finished piece was meant to be is not quite certain, possibly jewelry or a buckle. History of the Sun CrossThe sun cross, a cross inside a circle, is one of the oldest and most universal religious symbols, and a popular neopagan solar symbol. It is also known as the suncross, solar cross, sun wheel, sunwheel, sun disc. The Neolithic symbol combining cross and circle is the simplest conceivable representation of the union of opposed polarities in the Western world. Crossed circles scratched on stones have been recovered from Paleolithic cave sites in the Pyrenees. At the most famous megalithic site in Scotland, Callanish, crossing avenues of standing stones extend from a circle. Scratched into stone or painte