For a long time, people have prayed, and water has always been the center of sacred worship. Even the sight of water can evoke wonder, terror, and joy depending on whether it is a bubbling stream, a destructive ocean, or a purifying waterfall. So it’s no surprise that the ancients personified water and created a series of water deities to focus their spiritual attention.
During the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, from the 12th to the 6th centuries BC, the dominant Western and Central European culture was that of the Hallstatt people. Currently, archaeologists in Germany have discovered a rare clay statue. Dating from the 12th to 6th centuries BC, this figure is believed to have been a prehistoric water god. The clay statue of a water goddess was discovered in Unkenbach, in the western German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and dates from the Iron Age, between the 8th and 5th centuries BC.
The clay water god was discovered in Unkenbach, Germany. ( Bavaria State Monuments Conservation Office )
The German god has a metal hood
Mönchstockheim is located within the municipality of Sulzheim in the Lower Franconian district of Schweinfurt. The rare clay water god was found in a small forest trench while workers were building the new Mönchstockheim bypass. According to BLFD, this is a “religious artifact” and it was discovered along with a collection of tools made from bone and clay as well as pieces of glass and pottery.
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Missing its legs and front upper body, this clay statue is 19 cm (6.29 in) tall. Five perforated holes decorate each side of the head from eyelid to chin. An article in Heritage Daily speculates that the holes may represent a hood decorated with metal rings.
Dr. Stefanie Berg, from the Bavarian State Office for the Conservation of Monuments, explains that although the Hallstatt-era clay figure has been studied in detail, researchers have not found any evidence of wear and tear. wear caused by hydraulic impact. This led the group of scientists to believe that the collection of artifacts was “intentionally deposited into the gutter as an offering.”
The clay fragments were discovered before the construction of the new Mönchstockheim bypass in Germany. ( Bavaria State Monuments Conservation Office )
Weighing the Water Spirit
Dating from the 5th millennium BC, the team of Bavarian archaeologists said similar clay figurines have been found around the western Black Sea region. However, it is suspected that this statue was created much earlier than most of the Black Sea artifacts. It was concluded that the gutter was a sacred place where rituals were performed with water and that the local people of Hallstatt probably worshiped this statue “as a water goddess”.
From the initial worship of clay images such as this water god, believed to represent natural forces and resources, later Germanic and Norse gods emerged. Ægir was the personification of the sea, Freyr was the god of rain, Nehalennia was the goddess of the North Sea and Nerthus was associated with lakes, streams and holy water.
While later Norse pantheons linked male and female gods and demons together, it is unclear why archaeologists in Germany classified this clay artifact as a “goddess.” female. There is no indication of the character’s gender and this is pure speculation.
Näcken och Ägirs döttrar, by Nils Blommér, depicts the water god Ægir and his nine wave daughters. (Public domain)
Pray for luck in a world full of water
Water deities are often worshiped at streams or holy wells. In one example, the early Celtic water god Celtic Sulis was venerated at the hot springs of Bath, England. In Hinduism, the Ganges River is personified as a river goddess and in modern Christian theology, Jesus’ baptism is an important ritual moment celebrated in Western Christianity as the Epiphany. Epiphany and in the East is Epiphany on January 6.
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What this clay figure represents is an ancient local Germanic water god that was worshiped long before the appearance of Brahma or Jesus. And although we may never know its name, it represents a major stage in our efforts to seek divine help in avoiding floods and droughts, and helping to keep for the fjords, rivers and ponds are always full of fish.
