Читать книгу The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2) - Paul B. Du Chaillu - Страница 12

Table of Contents

Prehistoric ages of man—Use of metal unknown—First traces of man—Weapons of flint, bone, &c.—Graves of the Stone Age—Introduction of domestic animals—The cromlech or dolmen always near the sea—Gallery or passage graves—The passage grave of Karleby—Stone coffin graves—Sepulchral chambers—Objects of the Stone Age.

We have now given accounts of the literature which contains the earliest records of the people of the North. Let us pause and study for a while its archæology, which will throw considerable light also on its inhabitants and their customs.

It is now generally recognised by archæologists that all people who have advanced to a certain degree of civilisation have passed through three periods of development, which according to the material of which their implements, weapons, and utensils were made, have been named the stone, the bronze, and the iron age. We have very abundant evidence that the people of the North passed through these three stages, and indeed had reached the iron age before they came within the ken of history. Beginning with the stone age, let us see what we can learn of the civilisation of the North from the various articles which were in use during the three stages.

The finds in the North have been classified under the name “grave,” “bog,” and “earth” finds; that is, objects found in graves, bogs, or in the ground. In the latter case they are often hidden under stones, in obedience to the injunctions of Odin. Those of the iron age are found as far as 69° North latitude.

The custom of burying different objects with the dead, and also that of throwing objects and weapons into springs or bogs, or of hiding them in the ground, has helped in a most remarkable manner to give us an idea of the industries and daily life of the people there at a remote period.

In the earliest age the use of metal was unknown, the weapons were made of stone, horn, and bone,¹¹⁰ and towards the close of this age pottery was made.

The first traces of man in some parts of the present Scandinavia are the kjökkenmöddinger (kitchen refuse heaps), consisting of oyster and mussel shells, bones of fish, birds, and mammals, such as the deer, bear, boar, beaver, seal, ure-ox, wolf, fox, &c., &c., with remains of clay vessels. Among and near these heaps of refuse are found a great number of rude implements and weapons made of flint, bone, horn, and broken flint chips, also fireplaces made of a few stones roughly put together, thus showing that the inhabitants lived in a very primitive state.

No graves of the earliest period of the stone age have thus far been found in the North. Towards the latter part of this age we see a great improvement in the making of weapons and tools; the latter were beautifully polished, and graceful in form. Domestic animals had also been introduced, as shown by the bones of cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and dogs, that have been found in the graves. Beads of amber and bone were worn as ornaments. The graves of the stone age discovered in the present Scandinavia and on the islands and shores of the Baltic may be classified in four groups: the cromlech or dolmen; the passage or gallery graves; the free-standing stone coffins; and the stone coffins covered by a mound.¹¹¹

The cromlechs consist of from three to five large stones standing upright, and so placed as to form a ring, with a large block or boulder on the top. These were intended for a single body, buried in a sitting position, with flint implements and weapons. The walls of the chamber were made by large stones, smooth inside, and the floor consisted of sand or gravel. Certain marks on the tops of stones seem to indicate that sacrifices to the dead were prevalent; holes about 2 inches in width are found on the roofs of some cromlechs and passage graves. These cromlechs always occur near the sea, seldom more than seven miles from the coast. The other graves of the stone age are often found far inland, but they are almost always near a lake or river having connection with the sea.

Fig. 2.—Cromlech near Haga, Bohuslän.

Fig. 3.—Cromlech (stendös) with concave recesses on the roof-stone, near Fasmorup, in Skåne.

The cromlechs which appear to be the latest graves of this age have a much wider distribution than the other forms; they are found in nearly all the provinces where the older forms of graves occur. Most of them were in or on the top of a mound, which almost always had the roof, and in most cases part of the wall, uncovered. The mound, which is generally round, sometimes oblong, is surrounded at its base by stones often very large; when this was oblong, the grave was nearer the one end than the other.

Fig. 4.—One of three oblong cromlechs, distance between each about 120 feet, length 52 feet, and width 20 feet, position north and south, Lille Rorbœk, Zeeland. The central one had two stone-built chambers, both with the entrance from the east. The southern burial chamber is now destroyed, while the northern is completely preserved. It is 5½ feet long, and 3 feet wide, and has four walls of stone, three of which support a stone roof.

Fig. 5.—Sepulchral chamber covered with a mound, Kallundborg, Zeeland; height about 16 feet. In levelling the mound the earth was found to contain articles which tend to show the existence of a “kjókkenmödding.”

Fig. 6.—Passage grave on Axvalla heath, near Lake Venern, Vestergötland, Sweden, situated on a hill overlooking a flat country. Numerous graves belonging to that period are found in the neighbourhood.

The walls are made by large slabs, those in the passage being lower than the slabs of the quadrangle. The roof is of flat slabs of granite, 5 to 6 feet above the floor, a similar one serving as a door, closing the outer end of the passage, which is 20 feet long, and 2½ to 3 feet broad, and 3 feet high. The mortuary itself (the quadrangle) is 32 feet long by 9 feet broad.

The dead sit along the walls, young and old, men and women, the chin resting in both hands, with their legs drawn up. Thin slabs form the cells round each skeleton, and are about 3 feet high, consequently do not reach the roof. Arrow points, knives, etc., of flintstone, are found with the men, pieces of amber with the women. Numbers of similar graves are found in Sweden and Denmark, a single grave sometimes containing nearly one hundred bodies.

Fig. 7.—Plan of above grave.

Gallery or passage graves consisted of a chamber and a narrow gallery leading into it, the whole being covered by a mound, the base of which was generally surrounded by a circle of larger or smaller stones.

Fig. 8.—Passage grave near Karleby—front view; length of the main gallery, covered by nine large stones, 52 feet; width, 7 feet; length of passage, 40 feet; height, 6 feet.

The chamber in a passage grave is either oblong, square, oval, or nearly round; the walls are formed by large upright blocks, not quite smooth, though even on the inside; the interstices are generally carefully filled up with gravel or fragments of stone, and birch bark is sometimes found between the blocks. The roof was formed by immense flat slabs or blocks, smooth on the under side, but rough on the top, the interstices being closed in the same manner as those in the walls. The floor is sometimes covered with small flat stones, but usually with earth. On the long side of the chamber there is an opening, from which a passage was built in the same manner as the chamber, only longer and narrower. This passage, or more precisely its inner part, was covered with blocks resembling the roof blocks of the chamber, but smaller; near the inner opening of the passage, and the outer end of its covered part a kind of door setting has been often found, consisting of a stone threshold and two narrow doorposts.

Fig. 9.—Side view of passage grave near Karleby.

Fig. 10.—Ground-plan of passage grave near Karleby.

The irregular lines show the position of the slabs covering the grave.

The passage graves vary much in size. The length of the chamber is generally from 11½ to 23 feet, its width from 5 to 10 feet; height from 3½ to 4½ feet. The passage is often as long as the chamber, or even longer, and its width is from 2 to 4 feet, and height from 3 to 5 feet. But some are much larger, and are called giants’ graves. One of the largest of these graves is that of Karleby, near Falköping, Vestergötland, in Sweden, where a great number of the graves of the stone age have been found.

Fig. 11.—Stone coffin (hällkista) near Skattened, in Södra Ryrs parish, Vestergötland, 21¼ feet in length. Graves of this type are very numerous in Bohuslan also, and in Dal and south-western Vermland.

This grave¹¹² was found under a large but not very deep mound, and is divided into a large chamber and two smaller ones, separated by stone slabs.

In it were remains of sixty skeletons, and by their side a large number of poniards, spear-points, arrow-heads, and other objects of flint and stone, showing that the grave belonged to the period when stone implements were still in use; but among the skeletons in the lower part of the grave a couple of bronze beads and a bronze spear-point were found.

Fig. 12.

Fig. 13.—Plan of above Mound.

Mound, Broholm. Sepulchral chamber made of boulders, with short passage leading to it. Stones from 4 feet 15 inches to 4 feet high, and 2½ to 4 feet wide; inside of the chamber 9 feet wide. Only four stones remain of the passage leading to the chamber, which is about 2 feet wide, and turns south-west. The space between the boulders is filled with small stones. In the chamber were charcoal and different things. To the left of the entrance lay remains of two skulls close to each other; and spread in every direction were daggers, blades, and points of spears, points of arrows, numerous amber beads, a necklace of amber, four clay vessels, and fragments of others, &c.

Fig. 14.—Entrance to passage grave at Uby, Holbæk amt, Denmark. Diameter 100 feet, height 14 feet. The length of the chamber is 13½ feet, width 7½ feet, height 7½ feet. Entrance towards the south passage is 18 feet long, 2½ feet wide, and 5½ feet high. There were found in the passage many human bones and several flint implements and three small clay urns.

The isolated stone coffins were formed of flat upright stones, and were four-sided, though the two longer sides were not parallel, thus making the coffin narrower at one end than at the other. Most of them were probably covered with one or more stones; and although these have in many places long ago been destroyed or removed, they are sometimes still found in their place. The direction of these coffins is almost always from north to south, and they are generally surrounded by a mound of stones of more or less stone-mixed earth. This form of grave was probably the outcome of the omission of the passage. Several intermediate forms have been found, showing how the passage was gradually lessened until it can only be traced in the opening which narrows at the south end of the coffin.

Fig. 15.—Interior of the passage grave at Uby. The spaces between the large stones filled with pebbles. The roof is formed by two large stones which have been cut from a large block.

The length of the stone coffin was generally from 8 to 13½ feet, width from 3 to 5 feet, height from 2½ to 5 feet. A few, especially in Vestergötland, are from 19½ to 31 feet in length, one of the longest graves of this kind in Sweden being one on Stora Lundskulla, in Vestergötland, with a length of 34 feet, and width of 8 feet. Nearly all other stone coffins found are, like the gallery graves, without a stone at the southern end. This cannot be accidental.

Besides the stone coffin above described, several have been found covered with a mound. The chambers are generally formed of upright flat stones, and roofed also with stones. They are generally smaller than the stone coffins, being from 6 to 10 feet long, and closed on all four sides; sometimes, however, there is found in the southern end an opening as previously mentioned.

POTTERY.

Fig. 16.—Clay urn—Stone age—⅓ real size. In passage grave, Stege, island of Möen, Baltic, found with remains of some skeletons. Two stone axes, a flint saw, 2 arrow-points, 3 spear-heads, fragments of clay vessels with covers, pieces of a wooden tub, 2 awls of bone, a chisel of bone, 3 flint wedges, 2 flat scrapers of flint, and 17 amber beads for necklace were also found in the grave. The same mound was afterwards used for burials belonging to the bronze age, with cinerary urns with burned bones, on the top of which was a double-edged bronze knife, &c.

Fig. 17.—Amber-beads forming a necklace found in the grave with the clay urn.

The same mound was afterwards used for burial belonging to the bronze age; near the top, and entirely separate from the burial-chambers, there was discovered a very small stone coffin containing an urn with burnt bones, and on these lay a fine double-edged knife, a knife, and a pair of pincers, all of bronze.

Fig. 18.—Clay vessel found near Fredericia, Jutland. ⅓ real size.

Fig. 19.—Clay urn. Stone age grave, with flint weapons and amber-beads. ⅓ real size. Island of Möen.

POTTERY OF THE STONE AGE.

Fig. 20.—Necklace of amber beads found with other amber beads and ornaments, altogether about 2,500, in a bog at the hamlet of Lœsten, Viborg amt, Jutland. ¼ real size.

Fig. 21.—Clay vessel which had a top, Stone age. ⅓ real size.—Möen.

Fig. 22.—Stone axes, of the form of some bronze axes. Several specimens in the Copenhagen Museum. ⅓ real size.—Fyen.

The two axes in this page are given on account of their peculiar form, similar

to that of the bronze age. Many other forms of weapons will be found

illustrated in ‘The Land of the Midnight Sun.’

Fig. 23.—Clay vessel found in a burial chamber with flint implements and other objects near Aalborg, Denmark. ⅓ real size.

Fig. 24.—Clay vessel found in a large passage grave, with flint, and other implements, near Haderslev, Slesvig. ⅓ real size.