P^RT III. 



VIEWS CONCERNING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CUP-SHAPED 

 AND OTHER PRIMITIVE SCULPTURES. 



la a preceding section of this essay I have described the cupped 

 granite boulder, called the Balder Stone, near Falkoping, Sweden. As 

 stated, it was first brought into notice by Professor Nilsson, who thinks it 

 served in the worship of Baal as a sacrificial altai*, the cup-shaped cavities 

 of which were designed to receive the blood of victims. The cups on the 

 Willfara slab (Fig. 23), he believes, were excavated for the same purpose. 

 We have also seen that he ascribes the introduction of bronze in the North 

 of Europe to Baal-worshiping Phoenicians, who, according to his view, had 

 established factories or settlements in those parts, for the purpose of trading 

 with the natives. He considers the sculptured concentric circles in general 

 as emblematic of sun (or Baal)-worship, drawing at the same time atten- 

 tion to their similarity to ornaments seeli on weapons aiid other objects of 

 the bronze age and even of the early iron age. In order to show by what 

 mode of reasoning Professor Nilsson was led to these conclusions, it will 

 be necessary to devote some space to a consideration of his remarkable 

 work on the bronze age, in which his views are laid down. Yet, if I were 

 to give a re'sume of its contents, and comments thereon, I would enter 

 upon a task most ably performed by Sir John Lubbock, and I therefore 

 quote his concise observations in full : — 



"Professor Nilsson's arguments," he says, "may be reduced to seven, 

 namely, the small size of the sword-handles, bracelets, etc.; the character 

 of the ornaments on the bronze implements ; the engravings in bronze-age 

 tumuli ; the worship of Baal ; certain peculiar methods of reaping and 

 fishing ; and the use of wai-chariots. 



