How were the golden bowls made?
The golden bowls of the Bronze Age were probably made using an ancient technique. In this process the hammering up of a single piece of gold takes place using a hammer with a rounded striking surface against a hard underlay. The goldsmith starts from the middle and works outward in a close spiral around the plate. The hammering stretches the gold plate upward and in the end the object becomes bowl-shaped. Once the plate has been hammered thin it must be heated to prevent cracking. The beautiful decorations of the bowls – spirals, lines and circles – were made by stamping them on the inner surfaces of the vessels.
![Bowls from Borgbjerg. How were the golden bowls made?](/typo3temp/assets/images/csm_Skaale_fra_Borgbjerg__f.I_11799eb235_29baa646d7.png)
![Gold bowl from Midskov, near Odense. The bottom of the bowl is decorated with a cross-shaped pattern and concentric circles. How were the golden bowls made?](/typo3temp/assets/images/csm_Guldskaal-konccirkler_03_6c92d8aa1d_0a9a4a76b2.png)