The Broddenbjerg idol is a wooden ithyphallic figure found in a bog at Broddenbjerg, near Viborg, Denmark and now in the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen. It is dated to approximately 535 - 520 BCE.
The figure was discovered in a bog in spring 1880 by someone cutting peat. It is carbon-dated to approximately 535 - 520 BCE, the later Bronze Age, making it the oldest such figure in Denmark;[1] [2] prior to testing, it had been dated later, to the Roman Iron Age.[3] [4] [5] It is made of an oak branch which was undoubtedly chosen for its shape and is approximately 88cm (35inches) high,[6] with no arms, two legs formed by the natural branches, and an erect penis approximately 28cm (11inches) long, the head of which has been marked off by scoring.[2] One leg is broken off; the other is tapered, so that the figure would presumably have been placed upright in the marshy ground.[1] [2] At the top a face has been carved, with a pointed chin which may indicate a beard;[1] this has been seen as an indication that the figure was created by a Celtic culture.[3] The right eye is much more fully indicated than the left, which is only a line; several other such carved figures also have asymmetrical faces.[7] [8] A line beneath the face may indicate a neck-ring or the top of clothing.[1] [2] Resin had been applied to the groin area and the phallus.[1] [2]
It is one of the best known from Denmark of a group of presumed cult images that have been found mainly in wetlands and peat bogs throughout northern and central Europe.[4] An altar-like arrangement with stones for grinding corn and clay vessels which may have contained food for offerings were found beside it.[1] [2] [3]