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Similar antiquities in the North and in Southern Russia—Roman coins—The trade of Gotland in earlier times—Ornaments and other objects of bronze.

Among the archæological wealth of the North still belonging to the earlier, but not earliest, iron age, we find a class of graves and antiquities which are of special importance, for they help us to fix very closely a date for the period to which they belong, and for this light we are indebted to Roman coins and other objects, both Roman and Greek, which these graves contain.

Many of the finds of this period are most interesting, as showing the taste of the people in the North, and a wealth and civilisation of which we were not aware. They are the more valuable because we see from them the wide extent of the maritime expeditions and overland trading journeys of the people towards the beginning of the Christian era. They show, as has already been pointed out, the intercourse which the people of the North had with those of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and also with the newly-acquired north-western provinces of the Roman empire (Gaul, Britain, and Frisia). But, what is still more important, they help to prove the general truthfulness of the earlier Edda and Sagas, for they show that the Asar, or whoever the emigrants were, who came north, and who were said to have brought their civilisation with them and to have given it to the people there, were either related to or on intimate relations with the people who inhabited the shores of the Black Sea; for many of the antiquities which were claimed to be of a peculiar northern origin are identical with those found there; while similar ornaments of unmistakable Greek origin are found in both regions. To complete the chain of proof, many of the antiquities, both in the Museums of Kief and Smolensk, are similar to those of the North.

Many of the forms of the antiquities, such as neck-rings and gold snake-shaped bracelets, fibulæ, &c., which were thought to belong exclusively to the North, are found in great number in the graves of Kertch, in Southern Russia, where they lie almost side by side with the exquisite Grecian antiquities—the pride of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg—mementoes of the colonies established by Greece on the shores of the Black Sea. They show that at that period there were two distinct civilisations and peoples living near each other—one Greek, the other native. The natives were probably of the same stock as a great number of the people of the North.

Western and Eastern, Roman and Byzantine, coins have been found; the gold solidi were for the most part used by the people in the North as ornaments, for loops have been attached to or holes made through them. The two largest discoveries hitherto made of Roman coins are those of Hagestaborg, in Scania, southern Sweden (550 denarii), found in 1871, and of Sindarfe (Hemse parish), Gotland, at which latter spot about 1,500 Roman coins were found, in 1870, in a clay urn.¹⁶⁹ Few coins dating before the Christian era have been found.

The people had to learn that these coins had an intrinsic value, and that with them they could buy goods. In every country where barter takes place it has taken a certain, sometimes a great, number of years for the people to learn this value.¹⁷⁰ The fact that the earlier coins are rare does not conclusively prove that intercourse between the North and the Western parts of Europe had not taken place before that time.

Judging from the extensive hoards of coins discovered, it is not improbable that they were kept for some opportune time when their need would be required, such as for purchases when travelling back to the Western or Eastern Roman provinces. That the people were well acquainted with the value of these coins is beyond dispute, for otherwise they would not have kept them.

We must remember that human nature is and always has been the same; there were misers in those early days as there are now. The Sagas give us some examples of the practice of hoarding, and the probability is that some of the hoards found may have been collected during the lifetime of one or more persons. But the numbers found, in hoards or otherwise, even without those which remain undiscovered, show the existence of commercial intercourse.

One of the countries of whose earlier history we know nothing, except that it is mentioned here and there in the Sagas, is the island of Gotland; but from the finds, which are especially rich in coins, we are led to the conclusion that it was a great emporium of trade at least from the beginning of the Christian era to the twelfth century. Roman, Byzantine, Arabic, and earlier English coins are found in far greater numbers than in all the Scandinavian lands together. Of the latter, those of Ethelred are even more numerous than in England itself. Situated in a sea whose shores at that period seem to have been inhabited by a dense population, Gotland appears to have occupied the position of commercial supremacy which England holds in Europe to-day.

We have historical evidence of its being a great emporium of trade as late as the fourteenth century, until Wisby, its chief town, was destroyed by the Danes. Its magnificent towers, walls, and ruined churches still bear witness to its past greatness.¹⁷¹

From the time of Alexander Severus (A.D. 235) to Theodosius (A.D. 395), which comprises a period of 160 years, the coins become very scarce, and Roman gold coins take the place of silver.¹⁷² From the finds we see that this period in the North becomes exceedingly rich in gold jewels, and it seems probable that the people preferred gold coins to those of silver.

The North is particularly rich in finds of bronze vessels, which appear to be more specially of Greek, or some perhaps of Roman manufacture; the scarcity of them in Britain and Gaul would imply that they are chiefly of Greek origin; they seem to have been highly prized by the people.

Fig. 574.—Bronze vessel,⅕ real size, containing burnt bones, ring armour, coat or mail, dipper of bronze with a sieve belonging to it, two glass tumblers, &c., under a stone slab buried in the ground.

Near the fishing village of Abekås, Southern Scania, in Jutland, a dipper has been found with the name of the Roman manufacturer on it, and the words “P. Cipi Polibi.” Another, with a name on it, was also found in Helsingland, Sweden.

Fig. 575.—Piece of the coat of mail. Real size. Oremölla.

Fig. 576.—Vessel of glass. ⅓ real size. Oremölla.

Fig. 577.—Dipper of bronze, with sieve. ⅓ real size. Oremölla.

Fig. 578.—Urn. ⅖ real size. Oremölla.

Fig. 579.—Bronze vessel of Roman workmanship, containing burnt bones, and a few pieces of melted glass. Height, 18 inches. Inscribed on it are the following words in silver:¹⁷³ “Apollini Granno donvm Ammillivs Constans præfectvs templi ipsivs votvm solvit libentissimo merito.” Mound, Fycklinge, Vestmanland, Sweden. ⅕ real size.

Fig. 580.—Roman bowl of bronze, found, with several antiquities, under a slab at Sojvide, Gotland.

Fig. 581.—Ornament of a large bronze vase, with hole for the handle; found when ploughing. ⅔ real size. Öland.

Fig. 582.—Handle of a Roman bronze vase. ⅔ real size. Öland.

Fig. 583.—Bronze vessel,⅕ real size, with burnt bones, in a tumulus, with two bronze spurs exactly alike, a bent double-edged sword, a spear-head damaged purposely, lying over the kettle, another larger spear-head well preserved, &c. Norway.

Fig. 584.—Restored bronze vase, containing ashes and bones, length 8½ inches, encircled by glittering stones and inlaid with silver. Angvaldnœs, Karmoen, Norway.

Fig. 585.—Bronze statuette,¹⁷⁴ representing Juno. ⅓ real size. Ösby, Gräsgard parish, Öland.

Fig. 586.—Silver vase. 3

7 real size. Byrsted, Aalborg amt, North Jutland.

Fig. 587.—Sieve of bronze, ⅓ real size, found with ornaments of bronze and a drinking horn, a gold charm, two gold rings, and a small gold button found in a sepulchral chamber of little over 4 yards in length, and about 2 feet 3 inches wide. Norway.

Fig. 588.—Handle of the sieve. Real size.

Fig. 589.—Ornament of a bronze vase, 3

7 real size, found in a tumulus. Norway.

Fig. 590.—Ornament of bronze. ½ real size. Norway.

Fig. 591.—Bronze vessel from Mosbœk bog. Jutland.

Fig. 592.—Fragments of a bronze chain, probably part of riding gear. ⅓ real size. Bog, Karby on Mors.

Fig. 593.—Head at fastening of the handle of the bronze vessel.

Fig. 594.—Bronze basin, over a kettle containing burnt bones,¼ real size, in round tumulus, inside a little stone cist built of slabs; with it also were a bronze kettle and a glass cup. Norway.

Fig. 595.—Bronze vase containing burnt bones, wrapped in a dark green woollen cloth with greenish and yellow stripes, fastened with a fibula of silver. In the chamber were a pair of shears and other objects. Ringkjobing amt, Jutland.

Fig. 596.—Vase,¼ real size, found in a round mound, Vang Hdm., Norway, with fragments of another bronze vessel of the same size, but of a somewhat different form. It has on it the inscription “LIBERTINVS. ET. APRVS. CVRATOR [ES. POS] VERVNT.” Originally it must have belonged to a Roman temple of one of the northern provinces of the empire, and was offered to this temple by two of the administrators (curatores) named above. The shape of the letters leads to the conclusion that the vase belongs to the first century of our era.

Fig. 597.—Bronze bucket of Roman make,⅕ real size, found in a round mound, Norway, together with a spear of iron and other objects of the same metal, but these were so decayed as to be undistinguishable.

Fig. 598.—Bronze vessel about 10 inches high. Angvaldnœs mound, Norway.

Fig. 599.—Flat finger-ring of silver and alloyed gold, real size, found together with fragments of Roman or Greek bronze vessels, four small beads of greenish glass, and two bronze fibulæ, in a mound, Hjörring, Jutland.

Fig. 600.—Bronze ring, real size, with Latin inscription, “Divo Trajano Parth. Avg. Patri.” Holbæk, Denmark.

Fig. 601.—Part of bent sword, real size, showing inscription in Latin “RANVICI,” probably a name, and above it a stamp, probably constituting the trade-mark of its maker.—Similar swords have been found at other places in the North, in the Nydam and Vimose bogs.

Fig. 602.—Bent sword,¼ real size, found in a mound at Einang, Kristians Amt, Norway, on a layer of charcoal and burnt bones.

Fig. 603.—Bronze vessel, of Roman manufacture, mound 48 to 50 feet diameter, 6 feet high, found in a mound at Harf, Meldelpad Sweden, above a slab, filled with burnt bones, an iron spear-point, fibula of bronze, fragments of clay urns, &c. ¼ real size.

Fig. 604.—Bronze kettle, ⅑ real size, Brokær, Ribe, Jutland; found with fragments of Roman bronze vessels; and of two massive coats of mail; fragments of artistically woven cloth; double-edged sword with scabbard; comb, fragments of checkers, oblong dice of bone, and fragments of a silver drinking-horn, &c.

Fig. 605.—Ornaments of silver for drinking-horn, Brokær, Ribe, Jutland. ½ real size.

On the farm of Brottby, Ösby, Upland, a grave-mound of about 150 feet in circumference and 13 feet in height was found. The mound, the exterior of which was of earth, covered a cairn, in which was found a stone burial chamber enclosing a clay urn. The upper part contained bones, which were entirely unburnt, below which were pieces of the skull, also unburnt.¹⁷⁵

Fig. 606.—Grave-chamber found at Bröttby, Upland.

Fig. 607.—A buckle of bronze found with an iron needle. Bröttby.

Fig. 608.

Fig. 609.

Fig. 610.

Glass beads, of pale red colour, with white flowers with light and dark-green leaves; one is fastened to a silver wire. Of the twelve beads, three are represented here. Bröttby.

Fig. 611.

Bronze chain, found in a small elevation ½ foot deep, with a bead covered with some metal, and a silver wire like the one in Bröttby parish. Upland.

Fig. 612. Fig. 613.

Denarius of Marcus Aurelius A.D. 162. Bröttby.

AARESLEV FIND.

Fig. 614.—Fibula of gold, ornamented with eight garnets. Aareslev, Fyen. Real size.

Fig. 615.—Fibula with hanging ornament of gold, real size, representing a lion’s head; the filagree work is ornamented with garnets, found with another large silver fibula, a crystal ball, a vase of bronze, an imitation of a Roman coin, &c. Aareslev, Fyen.

Fig. 616.—The crystal ball with Greek inscription found near a skeleton with hanging ornaments, &c. Aareslev, Fyen. Real size.

Fig. 617.—Part of a belt buckle, silver gilt. ⅓ real size.

Fig. 618.—Bronze vessel,⅕ real size, so brittle, that only by covering it all around with clay could it be moved away. It is made of two parts joined together in the middle with small flat rivets of bronze, and contained six quarts of burnt bones, among which were seventeen human teeth, different articles of iron and bronze, which had been packed in apparently coarse linen, small fragments of which only remained; a bronze mounting for a drinking-horn, and different kinds of iron knives; iron mounting for a knife-handle, remains of two iron awls, an iron key, two small melted lumps of silver, remains of about thirty-two bone needles, a glass bead with green ground and yellow stripes, remains of four earthen vessels, &c. Möllegaard, Broholm.

Fig. 619.—Bronze ornament, real size, found with kettle. Möllegaard, Broholm.

Fig. 620. Fig. 621.

Byzantine gold coins, fifth century, Libius Severus and Leo, found in Björnhofda, Öland, with thirty-three other coins of the same century. Real size.

Fig. 622. Fig. 623.

Barbaric imitation of Byzantine coin of the fifth century. Real size. Mallgards, Gotland.

Fig. 624. Fig. 625.

Antonini Pii.

Fig. 626. Fig. 627.

Faustina the younger.