SCANDINAVIA AND NORTH GERMANY.
INTRODUCTORY.
So much has been said by the Danes and their admirers of the services
that they have rendered to the study of prehistoric archæology that it
is rather disappointing to find that, when looked into, almost less is
known regarding their megalithic monuments than regarding those of any
other country in Europe. No work has yet been published giving anything
like a statistical account of them, and no map exists showing their
distribution. What little information can be obtained regarding the
Danish dolmens, and other similar monuments, is scattered through so
many volumes of transactions and detached essays that it is extremely
difficult to arrive at any connected view of them--almost, indeed,
impossible for any one who is not locally familiar with the provinces
in which they are found. The truth seems to be that the Danish
antiquaries have been so busy in arranging their microlithic treasures
in glass cases that they have totally neglected their larger monuments
outside. They have thus collected riches which no other nation
possesses, and have constructed a very perfect grammar and vocabulary
of the science. But a grammar and a dictionary are neither a history
nor a philosophy; and though their labours may eventually be most
useful to future enquirers, they are of very little use for our present
purposes. They have indeed up to this time been rather prejudicial than
otherwise, by leading people to believe that when they can distinguish
between a flint or bronze or iron implement they know the alpha and
omega of the science, and that nothing further is required to determine
the relative date of any given monument. It is as if we were to adopt
the simple chemistry of the ancients, and divide all known substances
into earth, water, fire, and air: a division not only convenient but
practically so true that there is very little to be said against it. It
is not, however, up to the mark of the knowledge of the day, and omits
to take notice of the fact that earths can occasionally be converted
into gases, and airs converted into liquids or solidified. Instead of
their simple system, what is now wanted is something that will take
into account the different races of mankind--some progressive, some
the reverse--and the different accidents of success and prosperity, or
disaster and poverty: the one leading to the aggregation of detached
communities into great centres, and consequent progress; the other
leading to dispersion and stagnation, if not retrocession, in the
arts of life which tend towards what we call civilization. At the
International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology, held at Copenhagen in
the autumn of 1869, it was understood that many of the best Northern
antiquaries were inclined to abandon, to a very considerable extent,
the hard and fast lines of their first system, and to admit not
only that there may be considerable overlapping, but even, in some
instances, that its indications were not in accordance with the facts.
More than two years have elapsed since the Congress was held, but the
volume containing the account of its proceedings is not yet published;
when it is, we may probably be in a position to speak much more
favourably not only of their views but of the extent of their knowledge
of the antiquities in question.
Under these circumstances, we may congratulate ourselves in possessing
such a work as that of Sjöborg.[321] He wrote, fortunately, before
the Danish system was invented, but, unfortunately, before drawing
and engraving had reached the precision and clearness which now
characterize them. In consequence of the last defect, we cannot always
feel sure of our ground in basing an argument on his drawings; but,
generally speaking, he is so honest, so free from system, that there
is very little danger in this respect. The work has also the merit of
being as free from the speculations about Druids and Serpents which
disfigure the contemporary works of English antiquaries, as it is from
the three ages of the Danes; though, on the other hand, he relegates
all the dolmens and such like monuments to a prehistoric "Joter," or
giant race, who preceded, according to his views, Odin and his true
Scandinavians, to whom he ascribes all the truly historic monuments.
In addition to the difficulties arising from the paucity of information
regarding the monuments, the Scandinavians have not yet made up
their minds with regard to their early chronology. Even the vast
collections contained in the ponderous tomes of Langebeck and Suhm[322]
are far from sufficing for the purpose; and such authors as Saxo
Grammaticus[323] write with an easy fluency too characteristic of our
own Jeffrey of Monmouth, and others who bury true history under such
a mass of fables as makes it extremely difficult to recover what we
are really seeking for. Patient industry, combined with judicious
criticism, would, no doubt, clear away most of the obscurities which
now disfigure this page of mediæval history; but, meanwhile, the
Scandinavian annals are as obscure as the Irish, and more uncertain
than the contemporary annals of England.
Of the history of Scandinavia anterior to the Christian era, absolutely
nothing is known. It is now no longer admissible to believe in a
historic Odin, whom all the mediæval historians represent as living in
the first century B.C., and as the founder of those families
who play so important a part in the subsequent histories of our own
as well as of the whole group of Northern nations. The modern school
of Germans has discovered that Odin was a god who lived in the sky
in pre-Adamite times, and never condescended to visit our sublunary
sphere. It is now rank heresy to assume that during the thousand years
which elapsed between his pretended date and that of our earliest MSS.
the wild imaginings of barbarous tribes may not have gathered round the
indistinct form of a national hero, transferred him back to a mythic
age, and endowed him with the attributes and surroundings of a god. As
the Germans have decreed this, it is in vain to dispute it, and not
worth while to attempt it here, as for our present purposes it is of
the least possible consequence.
About the Christian era there is said to have been a king, called
Frode I., who, as he never was deified, may have had a tomb on earth,
and might, if that could be identified, be allowed to head our list.
Between him and Harald Harfagar, who, in 880, conquered Norway and came
into distinct contact with British history in the Orkneys, we have
several lists of kings, more or less complete, and with dates more or
less certain.[324] That there were kings in those days, no one will
probably dispute, nor perhaps is the succession of the names doubtful;
and if the dates err to the extent of even fifty years or so, it is of
little consequence to our argument. The monuments extend so far down,
and to kings whose dates are so perfectly ascertained, that it is of
no importance whether the earlier ones are assigned to dates forty or
fifty years too early or too late. Their fixation may be left to future
research, as it has no direct bearing on the theory we are now trying
to investigate.
BATTLE-FIELDS.
The chief of the Scandinavian monuments, and the most interesting
for our present object, comprise those groups of stones which mark
battle-fields. Not only are their dates generally known with sufficient
precision to throw considerable light on the question of the antiquity
of such monuments in general, but they also illustrate, if they do
not determine, the use of many of the groups of stones we meet with
in other countries. Sjöborg devotes ten plates in his first volume to
these battle-fields, illustrating twice that number of battles which
occurred between the fifth and the twelfth centuries after Christ.
[Illustration: 99. View of Battle-field at Kongsbacka. From Sjöborg.]
The first of these, at Kongsbacka, near the coast in Halland, though
of somewhat uncertain date, is worth quoting from its similarity to
the alignments on Dartmoor, Ashdown, Karnac, and elsewhere, though,
unfortunately, no plan or dimensions are given. On the hills beyond is
a tumulus called the grave of Frode, and on the plain a conspicuous
stone bears his name; but whether this was Frode V. (400) or some
other Frode is not clear. Sjöborg assigns it to a date about 500, and
there seems very little reason to doubt he is at least approximatively
correct.[325]
The second battle-field illustrated is similar to the last, except
in the form of the stones, which seem to belong to a different
mineralogical formation.[326] They are plainly, however, seen to be
arranged in circles and lines, and are even more like forms with which
we are familiar elsewhere. It is said to represent a battle-field in
which the Swedish king Adil fought the Danish Snio, and in which the
latter with the chiefs Eskil and Alkil were slain. As all these names
are familiarly known in the mediæval history of these countries there
can be no great difficulty in ascribing this battle also to about the
same age as that at Kongsbacka.
With the third we tread on surer ground. No event in the history of
these lands is better known than the fight on the Braavalla Heath, in
Östergothland, where the blind old king, Harald Hildetand, met his
fate in the year 736, or 750 according to others. As the Saga tells
us, Odin had, when the king was young, taught him a form of tactics
which gave him a superiority in battle over all his enemies; but the
god having withdrawn his favour from him, he fell before the prowess of
his nephew, Sigurd Ring, to whom the god had communicated the secret of
the battle array. It does not appear to admit of doubt that the circles
shown in the cut in the opposite page were erected to commemorate
this event, and that they contain the bodies of those who were slain
in this action; and if this is so, it throws considerable light on
the battle-fields of Moytura, illustrated woodcuts Nos. 54 to 61. The
circles on Braavalla are generally from 20 to 40 feet in diameter,
and consequently are, on the average, smaller than those at Moytura;
they are also more numerous, unless we adopt Petrie's suggestion,[327]
that there must originally have been at least two hundred in the Irish
field; and if so, it is the smaller ones that would certainly be
the first to be cleared away, so that the similarity may originally
have been greater than it now is--so great, indeed, as to render it
difficult to account for the fact that two battle-fields should have
been marked out in a manner so similar when so long a time as seven
centuries had elapsed between them. As it does not appear possible
that the date of the Braavalla fight can be shifted to the extent of
fifty years either way, are we deceiving ourselves about Moytura? Is it
possible that it represents some later descent of Scandinavian Vikings
on the west coast of Ireland, and that the cairn on Knocknarea--
"High and broad,
By the sailors over the waves
To be seen afar,
The beacon of the war renowned"[328]--
which they built up during ten days--is really the grave of some
Northern hero who fell in some subsequent fight at Carrowmore? That
all these are monuments of the same class, and belong, if not to the
same people, at least to peoples in close contact with one another,
and having similar faiths and feelings, does not appear to admit of
doubt. When, however, we come to look more closely at them, there are
peculiarities about them which may account for even so great a lapse
of time. The Braavalla circles are smaller, and on the whole perhaps,
we may assume, degenerate. There are square and triangular graves,
and other forms, which, so far as we know, are comparatively modern
inventions, and, altogether, there are changes which may account for
that lapse of time; but that more than seven centuries elapsed between
the two seems to be most improbable.
[Illustration: 100. Part of the Battle-field of Braavalla Heath. From
Sjöborg.]
[Illustration: 101. Harald Hildetand's Tomb at Lethra.[329]]
To return, however, to King Hildetand. According to the saga, "After
the battle the conqueror, Sigurd Ring, caused a search to be made for
the body of his uncle. The body when found was washed and placed in the
chariot in which Harald had fought, and transported into the interior
of a tumulus which Sigurd had caused to be raised. Harald's horse was
then killed and buried in the mound with the saddle of Ring, so that
the king might at pleasure proceed to Walhalla either in his chariot
or on horseback. Ring then gave a great funeral feast, and invited all
the nobles and warriors present to throw into the mound great rings
and noble armour, in honour of the king Harald. They then closed up
the mound with care."[330] This mound still exists at Lethra's Harald,
capital in Seeland. It was mentioned by Saxo Grammaticus in 1236,[331]
and described and drawn by Olaus Wormius in 1643;[332] and no one ever
doubted its identity, till recently the Museum authorities caused
excavations to be made. Unfortunately some "wedges of flint" have
been found in the earth which was extracted from the chamber, from
which Worsaae and his brother antiquaries at once concluded that "it is
beyond all doubt merely a common cromlech of the stone period"[333]--a
conclusion that seems to me the reverse of logical. No one, I presume,
doubts that King Hildetand was buried in a tumulus with rings and
arms; and if this tumulus was regarded historically as his, for the
last 600 years, and traditionally so from the time of his death, it is
incumbent upon the antiquaries to show how worthless these traditions
and histories are, and to point out where he really rests. To form
an empirical system and to assert--which they cannot prove--that no
flint implements were used after a certain prehistoric date, and
that consequently all mounds in which flint implements are found are
prehistoric, seems most unreasonable, to say the least of it. It would
be surely far more philosophical to admit that flint may have been
used down to any time till we can find some reason for fixing a date
for its discontinuance. In this instance an "instantia crucis" would
be to dig into some of the circles at Braavalla, and see if any flints
are to be found there. No metal was found at Moytura, though metal
was, if history is to be depended upon, then commonly used, and flint
implements were probably not found because those who opened the tombs
were not aware of its importance. Pending this test, the form of the
grave may give us some indication of its age. It is an oblong barrow,
with an external dolmen at one end, and with a row of ten stones on
each side, the two end ones being taller than the rest. A similar
mound, known as the Kennet long barrow, exists at Avebury,[334] so
similar indeed that if this tomb at Lethra is historical so certainly
is the English example. If, on the other hand, either can be proved to
belong to the long forgotten past, the other must also he consigned to
the same unsatisfactory limbo.
The barrow at West Kennet was carefully explored in 1859 by Dr.
Thurnam, and the results of his investigation fully detailed in a
paper in the 'Archæologia,' vol. xxxviii., from which the following
particulars are abstracted, together with some others from a second
paper, "On Long Barrows," by the same author, in vol. xlii. of the same
publication.
Externally it is a mound measuring 336 feet in length by 75 feet at
its broadest part. Originally it was surrounded by what is called a
peristalith of tall stones, between which, it is said, a walling of
smaller stones can still be detected. On its summit, as at Lethra, was
an external dolmen over the principal chamber of the tomb. The chamber
was nearly square in form, measuring 8 feet by 9, and approached by
a passage measuring 15 feet by 3 feet 6 inches in width; and its
arrangement is in fact the same as that of the Jersey tumulus (woodcut
No. 11), and, as Sir John Lubbock remarks, "very closely resembles
that of a tumulus" he had just been describing, of the Stone age,
in the island of Möen, "and, in fact, the plan of passage graves
generally."[335]
[Illustration: 102. Long Barrow, Kennet, restored by Dr. Thurnam.
'Archæologia,' xlii.]
When opened, six original interments were found in the chamber, under
a stratum of black, sooty, greasy matter, 3 to 9 inches in thickness,
and which, Dr. Thurnam remarks, "could never have been disturbed since
the original formation of the deposit" (p. 413). Two of these had
their skulls fractured during lifetime; the others were entire. To
account for this, Dr. Thurnam takes considerable pains to prove that
slaves were sometimes sacrificed at the funeral of their masters, but
he fails to find any instance in which they were killed by breaking
their heads; and if they were to serve their master in the next
world, even a savage would be shrewd enough to know that cracking his
skull was not the way to render him useful for service either in this
world or the next. No such mode of sacrifice was ever adopted, so far
as I know.[336] But supposing it was so, all the six burials in this
tomb seem to have been nearly equal, and equally honourable, and why,
therefore, all their skulls were not broken is not clear. If on the
other hand we assume that it is the grave of six persons who were
slain in battle, two by blows on the head, and four by wounds in the
body, this surely would be a simpler way of accounting for the facts
observed. Even, however, if we were to admit that these men with the
broken heads were sacrificed, this would by no means prove the grave to
be prehistoric. Quite the contrary, for we know from the indisputable
authority of a decree of Charlemagne that human sacrifices were
practised by the pagan Saxons as late, certainly, as 789,[337] and were
sufficiently frequent to constitute one of the first crimes against
which he fulminated his edicts. The fact is that neither historians
nor antiquaries seem quite to realise the state of utter barbarism
into which the greater part of Europe was plunged between the collapse
of the Roman Empire and the revival of order under Charlemagne.
Christianity no doubt had taken root in some favoured spots, and some
bright lights shone out of the general darkness, but over the greater
part of Europe pagan rites were still practised to such an extent as
easily to account for any heathen practice or any ancient form of
sepulture which may be found anywhere existing.
To return, however, to our long barrow. Under a piece of Sarsen stone,
but on the skull of one of the principal persons interred here (No.
4), were found two pieces of black pottery (fig. 8, page 415), which
Dr. Thurnam admits may be of the Roman age. Other fragments of the
same vessel were found in other parts of the tomb, and also fragments
of pottery (figs. 14 to 17), not British, but to which he hesitates to
assign an age. So far as I can judge, it seems just such pottery as the
less experienced British potters would form, on Roman models, after
the departure of that people. But this is immaterial; for beyond the
chamber, and deeper consequently into the tumulus, were found fragments
of undoubted Roman pottery. So far, therefore, everything favours
the view that it was the sepulchre of persons slain in battle, after
the departure of the Romans; for we can hardly believe that a battle
would be fought, and such a tomb raised over the slain, during their
occupation; and if so, as the pottery proves it could not be before, a
choice of a date is fixed within very narrow limits. It may either have
been in 450, immediately after the departure of the Romans, or in 520,
the date of the battle of Badon Hill, which is the time at which, I
believe, it was reared. So far as the general argument is concerned, it
is of no consequence which date is chosen. Against this conclusion we
have to place the following facts. First, no trace of iron or bronze,
or of metal of any sort, was found in the tomb. Secondly, at least 300
flint fragments were found in it. Some of these were mere chippings,
some cones, but many were fairly formed flint implements (figs. 10 to
13),[338] not belonging to the oldest type, but such as antiquaries are
in the habit of ascribing to the pre-metal Stone age. In addition to
these, the quantity of coarse native pottery was very remarkable. No
whole vessels were found, but broken fragments that would form fifty
vessels were heaped in a corner; and there were corresponding fragments
in another corner. Dr. Thurnam tries to explain this by referring to
the passage in the grave scene in 'Hamlet,' where our great dramatist
speaks of "shards, flints, and pebbles," which should be thrown into
the graves of suicides; the use of which, he adds, "in mediæval times
may be a relic of paganism." It does not, however, seem to occur to him
that, if such a custom was known in the sixteenth century, it would be
likely to have been in full force in the sixth. It is strange enough
that such a custom, even if only referred to suicides, should have
survived a thousand years of such revolutions and changes of religion
as England was subjected to in those days; but that it should be known
to Christians, after 3000 or 4000 years' disuse, seems hardly possible.
No argument, it appears to me, can be drawn from the different kinds of
pottery found in the tomb. If any one will take the trouble of digging
up the kitchen midden of a villa built within the last ten years, in
a previously uninhabited spot, he will probably find fragments of an
exquisite porcelain vase which the housemaid broke in dusting the
drawing-room chimney-piece. He will certainly find many fragments of
the stoneware used in the dining-room, and with them, probably, some of
the coarser ware used in the dairy, and mixed with these innumerable
"shards" of the flower-pots used in the conservatory. According to
the reasoning customary among antiquaries, this midden must have been
accumulating during 2000 or 3000 years at least, because it would
have taken all that time, or more, before the rude pottery of the
flower-pots could have been developed into the exquisite porcelain
of the drawing-room vase. The argument is, in fact, the same as that
with respect to the flints. It may be taken for granted that men used
implements of bone and stone before they were acquainted with the
use of metal; but what is disputed is that they ceased to use them
immediately after becoming familiar with either bronze or iron. So with
earthenware: men no doubt used coarse, badly formed, and badly burnt
pottery before they could manufacture better; but, even when they could
do so, it is certain that they did not cease the employment of pottery
of a very inferior class; and we have not done so to the present day.
To take one instance among many. There are in the Museum of the Society
of Antiquaries at Edinburgh a series of vessels, hand-made and badly
burnt, and which might easily be mistaken--and often are--for those
found in prehistoric tombs. Yet they were made and used in the Shetland
Islands in the last and even in the present century.
The truth of the matter seems to be that, as in the case of a find of
coins, it is the date of the last piece that fixes the time of the
deposit. There may be coins in it a hundred or a thousand years older,
but this hoard cannot have been buried before the last piece which it
contains was coined. So it is with this barrow. The presence of Roman
or post-Roman pottery in an avowedly undisturbed sepulchre fixes,
beyond doubt, the age before which the skeletons could not have been
deposited where they were found by Dr. Thurnam. The presence of flints
and coarse pottery only shows, but it does so most convincingly, how
utterly groundless the data are on which antiquaries have hitherto
fixed the age of these monuments. It proves certainly that flints and
shards were deposited in tombs in Roman or post-Roman times; and if
there is no mistake in Dr. Thurnam's data, this one excavation is, by
itself, sufficient to prove that the Danish theory of the three ages
is little better than the "baseless fabric" of--if not "a vision"--at
least of an illusion, which, unless Dr. Thurnam's facts can be
explained away, has no solid foundation to rest upon.
If any systematic excavations had been undertaken in the Scandinavian
long barrows, it would not, perhaps, be necessary to adduce English
examples to illustrate their age or peculiarities. Several are adduced
by Sjöborg, but none are reported as opened. This one, for instance,
is externally like the long barrow at West Kennet, and, if Sjöborg's
information is to be depended upon, is one of several which mark the
spot where Frode V. (460-494) landed in Sweden, where a battle was
fought, and those who fell in it were buried in these mounds, or where
the Bauta stones mark their graves. If this is so, the form of the
long barrow with its peristalith was certainly not unknown in the
fifth century; and there is no improbability of its being employed in
England also in that age. In settling these questions, however, the
Scandinavians have an immense advantage over us. All their mounds have
names and dates; they may be true or they may be false, but they give a
starting-point and an interest to the enquiry which are wanting in this
country, but which, it is hoped, will one day enable the Northmen to
reconstruct their monumental history on a satisfactory basis.
[Illustration: 103. Long Barrow at Wiskehärad, in Halland. From a
drawing by Sjöborg.]
In most cases antiquaries in this country have been content to appeal
to the convenient fiction of secondary interments to account for the
perplexing contradictions in which their system everywhere involves
them. In the instance of the Kennet long barrow there is no excuse
for such a suggestion. All the interments were of one age, and that
undoubtedly the age of the chamber in which they were found, and the
pottery and flints could not have been there before nor introduced
afterwards. Indeed, I do not know a single instance of an undoubtedly
secondary interment, unless it is in the age of Canon Greenwell's
really prehistoric tumuli. When he publishes his researches, we shall
be in a condition to ascertain how far they bear on the theory.[339]
In the chambered tumuli secondary interments seem never to occur; and
nothing is more unlikely than that they should. As Dr. Thurnam himself
states: "In three instances at least Mr. Cunnington and Sir R. C. Hoare
found in long barrows skeletons which, from their extended position and
the character of the iron weapons accompanying them, were evidently
Anglo-Saxon."[340] A simple-minded man would consequently fancy that
they were Anglo-Saxon graves, for what can be more improbable than
that the proud conquering Saxons would be content to bury their dead
in the graves of the hated and despised Celts whom they were busy in
exterminating.[341]
If the above reasoning is satisfactory and sufficient to prove that
the long barrow at West Kennet is of post-Roman times, it applies also
to Rodmarton, Uley, Stoney Littleton, and all the Gloucestershire long
barrows which, for reasons above given (_ante_, page 164), we ventured
to assign to a post-Roman period; and _à fortiori_ it carries with
it King Hildetand's tomb at Lethra. It is true we have not the same
direct means of judging of its date as we have of our own monuments.
The Danes treat with such supreme contempt any monument that does not
at once fall in with their system, that they will not even condescend
to explore it. So soon as Worsaae found some "flint wedges" in the
tomb, he at once decreed that it was prehistoric, and that it was
no use searching farther; and we are consequently left to this fact
and its external similarities for our identification. Here, again,
is a difficulty. The two drawings above given (woodcuts Nos. 101 and
102) may show them too much alike or exaggerate differences. The
one is an old drawing from nature, the other a modern restoration;
still the essential facts are undoubted. Both are chambered long
barrows, ornamented by rows of tall stones, either partially or wholly
surrounding their base, and both have external dolmens on their summit,
and both contain flint implements. If this is so, the difficulty is
rather to account for so little change having taken place in 230 years
than to feel any surprise at their not being identical. The point upon
which we wish to insist here is that they are both post-Roman, and may
consequently belong to any age between Arthur and Charlemagne.
* * * * *
The remaining battle-fields of which representations are given in
Sjöborg are scarcely so interesting as that at Braavalla, which with
the tomb of the king slain there are landmarks in our enquiry. If those
circles on Braavalla Heath do mark the battle-field, and that tomb at
Lethra is the one in which the blind old king was laid--neither of
which facts I see any reason for doubting--all difficulties based on
the assumed improbability of the monuments being so modern as I am
inclined to make them are removed, and each case must stand or fall
according to the evidence that can be adduced for or against its age.
To return, however, to the battle-fields given by Sjöborg. Figures 43
and 44 represent two groups of circles and Bauta stones near Hwitaby,
in Malmö. These are said to mark two battle-fields, in which Ragnar
Lothbrok gained victories over his rebellious subjects in Scania:
Sjöborg says in 750 and 762, as he adopts a chronology fifty years
earlier than Suhm. But be this as it may, there does not seem any
reason for doubting but that these stones do mark fields where battles
were fought in the eighth century, and that Ragnar Lothbrok took part
in them. These groups are much less extensive than those at Braavalla,
but are so similar that they cannot be distant from them in age.
At Stiklastad, in Norway, in the province of Drontheim, a battle was
fought, in 1030, between Knut the Great and Olof the Holy; and close
to this is a group of forty-four circles of stones, which Sjöborg
seems, but somewhat doubtfully, to connect with this battle. But about
the next one (fig. 49) there seems no doubt. The Danish prince Magnus
Henricksson killed Erik the Holy, and was slain by Carl Sverkersson,
in the year 1161, at Uppland, in Denmark; and the place is marked
by twenty stone circles and ovals, most of them enclosing mounds
and two square enclosures, 30 to 40 feet in diameter. They are not,
consequently, in themselves very important, but are interesting, if
the adscription is correct, as showing how this heathenish custom
lasted even after Christianity must have been fairly established in the
country. Another group (fig. 51) is said to mark the spot where, in
1150, a Swedish heroine, Blenda, overcame the Danish king Swen Grate,
and the spot is marked by circles and Bauta stones; one, in front of a
tumulus, bears a Runic inscription, though it merely says that Dedrik
and Tunne raised the stone to Rumar the Good.
Only one other group need be mentioned here. On a spot of land, in the
island of Freyrsö, off the entrance of the Drontheim Fiord, in the year
958, Hakon, the son of Harald Harfagar, overthrew his nephews, the sons
of Erik Blodoxe, in three battles. The first and second of these, as
shown in the plan (woodcut No. 104), are marked by cairns and mounds;
and the third by eight large barrows, three of which are of that shape
known in Scandinavia as ship barrows, and measure from 100 to 140 feet
in length. There are also three tumuli at 4 in the woodcut, in one
of which one of Erik Blodoxe's sons is said to be buried. It is not
clear whether the five large mounds that stud the plain do not cover
the remains of those also who fell in this fight. It does not appear
that any excavations have been made in them. The interest of this
battle-field to us is not so much because it shows the persistence
of this plan of marking battle-fields at so late a date--later ones
have just been quoted--but because all the actors in the scene are
familiar to us from the part they took in the transactions in the
Orkneys in the tenth century. If they, in their own country, adhered
to these old-world practices, we should not be astonished at their
having erected circles or buried in mounds in their new possessions. It
is true that none of these Scandinavian circles can compare in extent
with the Standing Stones of Stennis or the Ring of Brogar, but this
would not be the first time that such a thing has happened. The Greeks
erected larger and, in proportion to the population, more numerous
Doric temples in Sicily than they possessed in their own country;
and the Northmen may have done the same thing in Orcadia, where they
possessed a conquered, probably an enslaved, race to execute these
works.
[Illustration: 104. Battle-field at Freyrsö. From Sjöborg, vol. i. pl.
16.]
TUMULI.
The number of sepulchral mounds in Scandinavia is very great, and
some of them are very important; but, so far as I can ascertain, very
few have been explored, and, until interrogated by the spade, nothing
can well be less communicative than a simple mound of earth. A map of
their distribution might, no doubt, throw considerable light on the
ethnography of the country, and tell us whether the Finns or Lapps
were their original authors, or whether the Slaves or Wends were their
introducers; and, lastly, whether the true Scandinavians brought them
with them from other lands, or merely adopted them from the original
inhabitants, in which case they can only be treated as survivals.
Funereal pomp, or tomb-building of any sort, is so antagonistic to
the habits of any people so essentially Teutonic as the Scandinavians
were and are, that we cannot understand their adopting these forms, or
indeed stone circles or monuments of any class, in a country where they
had not previously existed. If we assume that the modern Scandinavians
were German tribes who conquered the country from the Cimbri or the
earlier Lapps and Finns, and did so as warriors, bringing no women
with them, the case is intelligible enough. Under these circumstances,
they must have intermarried with the natives of the country, and would
eventually, after a few generations, lose much of their individual
nationality, and adopt many of the customs of the people among whom
they settled, using them only in a more vigorous manner and on a larger
scale than their more puny predecessors had been able to adopt.[342]
It is most improbable that the "Northmen," if Germans--as indeed their
language proves them to be--should ever have invented such things as
tumuli, dolmens, circles, or any other such un-Aryan forms, in any
country where they had not existed previously to their occupying it;
but that as immigrants they should adopt the customs of the previous
occupants of the land is only what we find happening everywhere. The
settlement of these points will be extremely interesting for the
ethnography of Northern Europe, and ought not to be difficult whenever
the problem is fairly grappled with. In the meanwhile, all that the
information at present available will enable us to do here is to
refer to some tumuli whose contents bear more or less directly on the
argument which is the principal object of this work.
The first of these is the triple group at Upsala, now popularly
known as the graves of Thor, Wodin, and Freya. It may illustrate the
difficulty of obtaining correct information regarding these monuments
to state that, even so late as 1869, Sir John Lubbock, who is generally
so well informed, and had such means of obtaining information, did
not know that they had been opened.[343] I was aware of a passage in
Marryatt's travels in Sweden in which, writing on the spot, he asserts
that one of them had been opened, and that "in its 'giant's chamber'
were found the bones of a woman, and, among other things, a piece of a
gold filagree bracelet, richly ornamented in spiral decoration, some
dice, and a chessman, either the king or a knight."[344] Wishing,
however, for further information, I obtained an introduction to Mr.
Hans Hildebrand, who gave me the following information. Subsequently
I received a letter from Professor Carl Säve, of Upsala, who kindly
abstracted for me the only published accounts of the excavations as
they appeared in a local paper at the time. These were forwarded to me
by Professor Geo. Stephens, of Copenhagen, who also was so obliging as
to translate them. They are so interesting that I have printed them,
as they stand, as Appendix B. From these two documents the following
account is compiled, and may be thoroughly depended upon.
One of the mounds, known as that of Wodin, was opened, in 1846, under
the superintendence of Herr Hildebrand, the royal antiquary of Sweden.
It was soon found that the mounds were situated on a ridge of gravel,
so that the tunnel had to take an upward, direction. At the junction
of the natural with the artificial soil, a cairn was found of closely
compacted stones, each about as large as a man could lift. In the
centre of the cairn the burial urn was found in the grave-chamber,
containing calcined bones, ashes, fragments of bronze ornaments
destroyed by fire, and a fragment of a gold ornament delicately
wrought. Within the cairn, but a little away from the urn, were found
a heap of dogs' bones, equally calcined by fire, and fragments of
two golden bracteates. "The workmanship of the gold ornaments," Herr
Hildebrand adds, "closely resembles that of the gold bracteates of the
fifth or sixth centuries, and, with the fragments of these peculiar
ornaments themselves, settles a date before which these mounds could
not have been raised." How much later they may be, it is not easy
to conjecture, without at least seeing the bracteates, which do not
seem to have been published. With a little local industry, I have
very little doubt, not only that the date of these tombs could be
ascertained, but the names of the royal personages who were therein
buried, probably in the sixth or seventh century of our era.
"The tombs of Central Sweden," Herr Hildebrand adds, "are generally
constructed in the same way, the urn containing the bones being placed
on the surface of the soil, at the place of cremation or elsewhere,
as the case may be. Generally, nothing is found with them but an
iron nail, or some such trifling object"--a curious and economical
reminiscence of the extravagant customs of their predecessors.
According to him, "almost every village in Sweden, with the exception
of those in some mountain-districts and the most northern provinces,
has a tomb-field quite close to the side of the houses. The antiquities
found in the mounds of these tomb-fields all belong to the Iron age.
The tombs of the earlier ages have no connection with the homesteads of
the present people."
How far these tombs extend downwards in date cannot be ascertained
without a much more careful examination than they have yet been
subjected to. It may safely, however, be assumed that they continued
to be used till the conversion of the inhabitants to Christianity, and
probably even for some considerable time afterwards, for such a custom
is not easily eradicated.
It would be as tedious as unprofitable to attempt to enumerate the
various mounds which have been opened, for their contents throw little
or no light on our enquiry; and being distributed in cases in the
museum, not according to their localities or traditions, but according
to their systematic classes, it is almost impossible to restore them
now to their places in history.
[Illustration: 105. Dragon on King Gorm's Stone, Jellinge. From 'An.
Nord. Oldkund.' xii. 1852.]
At Jellinge, however, on the east coast of Jutland, there are two
mounds, always known traditionally as those of Gorm the Old and his
queen Thyra Danebod--the Beloved. The date of Gorm's death seems now
to be accepted as 950 A.D.;[345] but it is not clear whether
he erected the tomb himself, or whether it is due to the filial piety
of his son Harald Blaatand, or Blue-Tooth, and in which case its date
would be 968.[346] Saxo Grammaticus at least tells us that he buried
his mother in the tumulus, and then set a whole army of men and oxen
at work to remove from the Jutland shore an immense stone--a little
rock--and bring it to the place where his mother lay inhumed.[347]
That stone still exists, and has sculptured on one side a dragon,
which calls forcibly to our mind that found on Maes-Howe (woodcut No.
85), and on the other side a figure, which is, no doubt, intended to
represent Christ on the cross. On the two sides are Runic inscriptions,
in which he records his affection for his father and mother and his
conversion to the Christian faith.
So far as I can ascertain, the tomb of King Gorm has not yet been
opened. That of Thyra was explored many years ago--in 1820 apparently;
but no sections or details have been published, so that it is
extremely difficult to ascertain even the dimensions. Engelhardt
reports the height as 43 feet, and the diameter as 240 feet;[348]
Worsaae gives the height as 75 feet, and the diameter as 180 feet, and
he is probably correct.[349] But in Denmark anything that cannot be put
into a glass case in a museum is so completely rejected as valueless
that no one cares to record it. When entered, it was found that it
had been plundered probably in the middle ages, and all that remained
were the following articles:--A small silver goblet, lined with gold
on the inside, and ornamented with interlaced dragons on the exterior;
some fibulæ, tortoise-shaped, and ornamented with fantastic heads of
animals; some buckle-heads, and other objects of no great value. The
chamber in which these objects were found measured 23 feet in length by
8 feet 3 inches in width, and was 5 feet high;[350] the walls and roof,
formed of massive slabs of oak, were originally, it appears, hung with
tapestries, but these had nearly all perished.
Not only are these monuments of Gorm and Thyra interesting in
themselves, and deserving of much more attention than the Danes have
hitherto bestowed upon them, but they are most important in their
bearing on the general history of monuments of this class. In the
first place, their date and destination are fixed beyond dispute, and
this being so, the only ground is taken away on which any _à priori_
argument could be based with regard to the age of any mound anterior
to the tenth century. As soon as it is realised that sepulchral mounds
have been erected in the tenth century, it is impossible to argue that
it is unlikely or improbable that Silbury Hill or any other mound in
England may not belong to the sixth or any subsequent century down to
that time. The argument is, however, even more pertinent with reference
to Maes-Howe and other tumuli in the Orkneys. If the Scandinavian kings
were buried in "howes" down to the year 1000--I believe they extend
much beyond that date--it is almost certain that the Orcadian Jarls
were interred in similar mounds down at least to their conversion to
Christianity (A.D. 986). Whether Maes-Howe was erected as
a sepulchre for the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, as John Stuart seems to
infer from the inscriptions,[351] or of Havard Earl, as I have above
attempted to show, is of little consequence to the general argument.
That it was the grave of a Scandinavian Jarl, erected between 800 and
1000 A.D., seems quite certain, and my own impression is that
it is almost as certainly the tomb of the individual Jarl to whom I
have ventured to ascribe it.
As before mentioned, no argument against these views can be drawn
from the fact that Thyra's tomb is lined with slabs of oak, while the
chamber at Maes-Howe is formed with stone. The difference of the two
localities is sufficient to account for this. Denmark has always been
famous for its forests, and especially on the shores of the Baltic, at
Jellinge, wood of the noblest dimensions was always available, whereas
the stone of the country was hard and intractable. In the Orkneys, on
the other hand, there is absolutely no timber of natural growth big
enough to afford a good-sized walking-stick, and stone is not only
everywhere abundant, but splits easily into slabs, self-faced, and most
easily worked, so that stone, and stone only, would be the material
employed in the Orkneys for that purpose, as wood would also be the
best and most available material in Denmark.
If, before leaving this branch of the subject, we turn back for a few
minutes to the Irish monuments, we are now in a position to judge more
correctly of the probabilities of the case than we were. Assuming the
three-chambered tumulus at New Grange to have been erected between the
years 200 and 400, and Maes-Howe and Jellinge between 800 and 1000
A.D., we have a period of from five to six, it may possibly be seven,
centuries between these monuments. Is this more than is sufficient to
account for the difference between them, or is it too little? It is
not easy to give a categorical answer to such a question, but judging
from the experience gained from other styles, in different parts of the
world, the conclusion generally would be that the time is in excess
of what is required. That there was progress, considerable progress
indeed, made in the interval between the Irish and Scandinavian
monuments, cannot be denied, but that it should have required five
centuries to achieve this advance is hardly what would be expected, and
it would be difficult to quote another example of a progress so slow.
Yet it is hardly possible to bring down New Grange to the age of St.
Patrick (A.D. 436), and as difficult to carry back Maes-Howe
beyond Ragnar Lothbrok (794 at the extreme), and between these dates
there are only 358 years; but we must certainly add something at
either one end or the other; and if we do this, we obtain an amount of
progress so slow that it would be almost unaccountable, but upon the
assumption that they are the works of two different peoples. At the
time the sepulchre on the Boyne was erected, Ireland was energetically
and rapidly progressive, and her arts were more flourishing than might
have been expected from her then state of civilization. When Maes-Howe
was erected, the native population was poor and perishing, and as the
lordly Vikings would hardly condescend to act as masons themselves,
they did the best they could with the means at their disposal. Explain
it, however, as we may, it seems impossible to allow a longer time
between the mounds at Jellinge and Stennis and those on the Boyne than
has been accorded above; and as it seems equally difficult to bring
them nearer to one another, the probability seems to be in favour of
the dates already assigned to them.
To return, however, from this digression; besides those just mentioned,
Denmark possesses a nearly complete series of royal tombs such as
are not to be found in any other country of Europe. Even Worsaae
acknowledges the existence of that of Frode Frodegode, who lived
about the Christian era, of Amlech, near Wexio--Shakespeare's Hamlet,
of Humble, and Hjarne,[352] besides those of Hildetand, and Gorm
and Thyra, already mentioned. If the Danes would only undertake a
systematic examination of these royal sepulchres, it might settle many
of the disputed points of mediæval archæology. To explore tombs to
which no tradition attaches may add to the treasures of their museums,
but can only by accident elucidate either the history of the country
or the progress of its arts. If ten or twelve tombs with known names
attached to them were opened, one of two things must happen: either
they will show a succession and a progress relative to the age of their
reputed occupants, or no such sequence will be traceable. In the first
case the gain to history and archæology would be enormous, and it is
an opportunity of settling disputed questions such as no other country
affords. If, on the other hand, no such connection can be traced,
there is an end of much of the foundations on which the reasoning of
the previous pages is based, but in either case such an enquiry could
not fail to throw a flood of light on the subject which we were trying
to elucidate. The fear is that all have been rifled. The Northmen
certainly spared none of the tombs in the countries they conquered, and
our experience of Maes-Howe and Thyra's tomb would lead us to fear that
after their conversion to Christianity they were as little inclined to
spare those of their own ancestors. All they however cared for were the
objects composed of precious metals; so enough may still be left for
the less avaricious wants of the antiquary.
DOLMENS.
So far as is at present known, there are not any tumuli of importance
or any battle-fields marked with great stones in the north of Germany;
but the dolmens there are both numerous and interesting, and belong
to all the classes found in Scandinavia, and, so far as can be
ascertained, are nearly identical in form. Nothing, however, would
surprise me less than if it should turn out that both barrows and Bauta
stones were common there, especially in the island of Rügen and along
the shores of the Baltic as far east as Livonia. The Germans have
not yet turned their attention to this class of their antiquities.
They have been too busy sublimating their national heroes into gods
to think of stones that tell no tales. Whenever they do set to work
upon them, they will, no doubt, do it with that thoroughness which
is characteristic of all they attempt. But as the investigation will
probably have to pass through the solar myth stage of philosophy, it
may yet be a long time before their history reaches the regions of
practical common sense.
No detailed maps having been published, it is extremely difficult
to feel sure of the distribution of these monuments in any part of
the northern dolmen region; but the following, which is abstracted
from Bonstetten's 'Essai sur les Dolmens,' may convey some general
information on the subject, especially when combined with the map (p.
275), which is taken, with very slight modifications, from that which
accompanied his work.
According to Bonstetten there are no dolmens in Poland, nor in Posen.
They first appear on the Pregel, near Königsberg; but are very rare in
Prussia, only two others being known, one at Marienwerder, the other at
Konitz. In Silesia there is one at Klein-Raden, near Oppeln; another
is found in the district of Liegnitz, and they are very numerous in
the Uckermark, Altmark, in Anhalt, and Prussian Saxony, as well as in
Pomerania and the island of Rügen. They are still more numerous in
Mecklenburg, which is described as peculiarly rich in monuments of this
class. Hanover possesses numerous dolmens, except in the south-eastern
districts, such as Göttingen, Oberharz, and Hildesheim. To make up for
this, however, in the northern districts, Lüneburg, Osnabrück, and
Stade, at least two hundred are found. The grand-duchy of Oldenburg
contains some of the largest dolmens in Germany; one of these, near
Wildesheim, is 23 feet long; another, near Engelmanns-Becke, is
surrounded by an enclosure of stones measuring 37 feet by 23, each
stone being 10 feet in height, while the cap stone of a third is 20
feet by 10. In Brunswick there were several near Helmstädt, but they
are now destroyed. In Saxony some rare examples are found as far south
as the Erzgebirge, and two were recently destroyed in the environs of
Dresden. Keeping along the northern line, we find them in the three
northern provinces of Holland, Gröningen, Ober-Yssel, and especially in
Drenthe, where they exist in great numbers, but none to the southward
of these provinces, and nowhere do they seem to touch the Rhine or its
bordering lands; but a few are found in the grand-duchy of Luxembourg
as in a sort of oasis, halfway between the southern or French dolmen
region and that of northern Germany.
From the North German districts they extend through Holstein and
Schleswig into Jutland and the Danish isles, but are most numerous on
the eastern or Baltic side of the Cimbrian peninsula, and they are also
very frequent in the south of Sweden and the adjacent islands. Dolmens
properly so called are not known in Norway, but, as above mentioned,
cairns and monuments of that class, are not wanting there.
The value of this distribution will be more easily appreciated when we
have ascertained the limits of the French field, but meanwhile it may
be convenient to remark that, unless the dolmens can be traced very
much further eastward, there is a tremendous gulf before we reach the
nearest outlyers of the eastern dolmen field. There is a smaller, but
very distinct, gap in the country occupied by the Belgæ, between it
and the French field, and another, but practically very much smaller
one, between it and the British isles. This is a gap because the
intervening space is occupied by the sea; but as it is evident from
the distribution of all the northern dolmens in the proximity to the
shores and in the islands that the people who erected them were a
sea-faring people, and as we know that they possessed vessels capable
of navigating these seas, it is practically no gap at all. We know
historically how many Jutes, Angles, Frisians, and people of similar
origin, under the generic name of Saxons, flocked to our shores in the
early centuries of the Christian era, and afterwards what an important
part the Danes and Northmen played in our history, and what numbers
of them landed and settled in Great Britain, either as colonists or
conquerors, at different epochs, down to at least the eleventh century.
If, therefore, we admit the dolmens to be historic, or, in other words,
that the erection of megalithic monuments was practised during the
first ten centuries after the Christian era, we have no difficulty
in understanding where our examples came from, or to whom they are
due. If, on the other hand, we assume that they are prehistoric, we
are entirely at sea regarding them or their connection with those on
the continent. The only continental people we know of who settled in
Britain before the Roman times were the Belgæ, and they are the only
people between the Pillars of Hercules and the Gulf of Riga who, having
a sea-board, have also no dolmens or megalithic remains of any sort.
All the others have them more or less, but the Northern nations did
not, so far as we know, colonise this country before the Christian era.
* * * * *
As all the Northern antiquaries have made up their minds that these
dolmens generally belong to the mythic period of the Stone age, and
that only a few of them extend down to the semi-historic age of bronze,
it is in vain to expect that they would gather any traditions or record
any names that might connect them with persons known in history. We
are, therefore, wholly without assistance from history or tradition
to guide us either in classifying them or in any attempt to ascertain
their age, while the indications which enable us to connect them with
our own, or with one another, are few and far between.
[Illustration: 106. Dolmen at Herrestrup.]
Among the few that give any sure indications of their age, one of the
most interesting is at Herrestrup, in Zeeland, which has recently
been disinterred from the tumulus that once covered it.[353] On it
are engraved some half-dozen representations of ships, such as the
Vikings were in the habit of drawing, and which are found in great
quantities on the west coast of Göttenburg.[354] According to the best
authorities, these representations range from about A.D. 500
to 900,[355] and some may perhaps be more modern. Those in this dolmen
do not appear to be either among the most ancient or the most modern,
and if we fix on the eighth century as their date, we shall not be very
far wrong. That they are also coeval with the monument seems perfectly
certain. We cannot fancy any Viking engraving these on a deserted
dolmen, say even 100 years old, and then covering it up with a tumulus,
as this one was till recently. Had it never been covered up, any
hypothesis might be proposed, but the mound settles that point. Besides
the ships, however, there are an almost equal number of small circles
with crosses in them, on the cap stone. Whether these are intended to
represent chariot-wheels, or some other object, is not clear, but if
we turn back to woodcut No. 41, representing the side-stone of the
dolmen at Aspatria, we find the identical object represented there,
and in such a manner that, making allowance for the difference of
style in the century that has elapsed between the execution of the two
engravings, they must be assumed to be identical. No engravings--so
far as I know--have been published of the objects found in this Danish
dolmen, but in the English one, as already mentioned, the objects found
belonged to the most modern Iron age; such things, in fact, as will
perfectly agree with the date of the eighth century. Among them, as
will be recollected, was the snaffle-bit, so like, though certainly
more modern than, Stukeley's bit found in Silbury Hill. We have thus
three tumuli which from their engravings or their contents confirm
one another to a most satisfactory extent, and render the dates above
assigned to them, to say the least of it, very probable. If the date
thus obtained for the Aspatria monument is accepted, it is further
interesting as giving that of those mysterious concentric circles, with
a line passing through them from the centre, which have been found in
such numbers on the rocks in the north of England and in Scotland.[356]
These are, so far as I know, the only examples of these circles which
were buried, and were consequently associated with other objects which
assist in fixing their age.
[Illustration: 107. Dolmen at Halskov. From a drawing by Madsen.]
As before hinted, many of the monuments engraved by Madsen[357] are so
extremely like those in the field of Northern Moytura that it is almost
impossible to believe that they were erected by a different race of
people, or at any great distance of time. The one, for instance, at
Halskov is so like the dolmen and circle represented in woodcut No.
61 that the one might almost pass for the other, were it not that the
photograph is taken from the wrong side, to bring out the resemblance,
as it is seen on the spot, while in others the resemblance is as great,
or even greater. It is very unsatisfactory, however, picking these
points of similarity from books, some of the engravings in which are
from imperfect drawings. In others, artistic effect has been more aimed
at than truth, and some are taken from photographs, which, though
they give a truthful, generally give an unintelligent representation
of the object. It is only by personal familiarity that all the facts
can be verified and pitfalls avoided. But it is always useful to turn
attention to any forms that may seem novel, and explain peculiarities
in others which but for such means of comparison would remain
unnoticed. Here, for instance, is one from Sjöborg, which resembles
the Countless Stones at Aylesford, as drawn by Dr. Stukeley (woodcut
No. 27). It is found at a place called Oroust, in Böhuslan,[358] and
stands on a low mound encircled by twenty large stones at its base. The
chamber is low, and semicircular in form, and in front of it stands
what the Germans call a sentinel stone. No date is given to this
monument by Sjöborg, for he was so far indoctrinated in modern theories
that he believed all dolmens to be prehistoric, though all the circles
and Bauta stones marking battle-fields were to him as essentially
historic as any monuments in his country. From its appearance, the
dolmen at Oroust may be of the same age as the Countless Stones at
Aylesford, and if other monuments in the two countries could be
compared with anything like precision, their forms and traditions might
mutually throw great light on their real histories.
[Illustration: 108. Dolmen at Oroust. From Sjöborg.]
It is not only, however, from the analogies with similar monuments
in this country, or from their bearing on their history, that the
Scandinavian dolmens are interesting to us. They have forms and
peculiarities of their own which are well worth studying. If materials
existed for mastering these differences, their aggregate would make up
a sum which would enable us to separate the Scandinavian group from the
British, as we can our own from the French, and the French from that
of Northern Germany. A great deal more must, however, be published,
and in a more accurate form, before this can be done; but, whenever
it is possible, it promises to afford most satisfactory results to
ethnographical science. The problem is similar to that which was
known to exist in reference to pointed Gothic architecture. That is
now admitted to be a Celtic-French invention, but it was adopted by
the Spaniards and Italians on the one hand, and by the Germans and
ourselves on the other; although always with a difference. No antiquary
would now for an instant hesitate in discriminating between an Italian
and a German or between a Spanish and an English example, though the
difference is so small that it can hardly be expressed in words, and
must be carefully represented in order to be perceived. In like manner,
the rude-stone style of art seems to have been invented by some
pre-Celtic people, but to have been adopted by Celts, by Scandinavian,
by British, and Iberian races--perhaps not always pure in their own
countries, but always with considerable differences, which, when
perceived and classified, will enable us to distinguish between the
works of the several races as clearly as we can between the mediæval
styles that superseded them.
[Illustration: 109. Diagram from Sjöborg, pl. i. fig. A.]
Among these peculiarities, the most easily recognised are the square
or oblong enclosures which surround tumuli, and, sometimes, one, at
others two, or even three free-standing dolmens. In order to make the
point clear, I have quoted a diagram from Sjöborg, though it is almost
the only instance in this work in which a woodcut does not represent a
really existing object. I have no doubt, however, that it is correct,
as old Olaus Wormius represents one of two similar ones which in his
day existed near Roeskilde. Both had enclosures 50 paces square,
enclosing one tumulus with a circle of stones round its base, another
halfway up, and, the text says, an altar-dolmen on the top, though the
woodcut does not show it. The other, on the road to Birck, in Zeeland,
enclosed three tumuli in juxtaposition, the one in the centre similar
to that just described, and with a dolmen on its summit; two smaller
mounds are represented in juxtaposition on either side, but with only
a circle of stones round their base.[359] Other varieties no doubt
exist, but modern antiquaries have not favoured us with any drawings of
them. From the diagram and description it will be perceived that in so
far as the mound itself is concerned these Danish tumuli are identical
with those already quoted as existing in Auvergne (woodcut No. 8), but
so far as I know, the square enclosure does not exist in France, nor
does it in this country. These square enclosures seem, however, to
belong to a very modern date, and the stones, consequently, are small,
and may therefore have been removed, which could easily be done; but
still there seems little doubt that many of them may still remain, and
could be found if looked for.
[Illustration: 110. Dolmen near Lüneburg. From Bonstetten.]
One of the most striking examples I know of, an oblong rectangular
enclosure, enclosing a single free-standing dolmen, is that near
Lüneburg, figured by Bonstetten[360] (woodcut No. 110); he seldom,
however, indulges in dimensions, and being perfectly convinced that
all are prehistoric, he never speculates as to dates, nor condescends
to notice traditions. What we know of it is therefore confined to the
representation, which after all may be taken from some other work, as
he rarely favours us with references. Two others are represented by von
Estorff as existing near Uelzen, in Hanover.[361]
A good example of two dolmens in a rectangular enclosure is that at
Valdbygaards, near Soröe, in Zeeland. Here the enclosure is about 70
feet in one direction by 20 feet in the other--outside measurement. In
this instance, the enclosing stones are smaller in proportion to the
dolmens than is usually the case. On the same plate, Madsen represents
a single dolmen in a much squarer enclosure.[362] It, like that at
Halskov (woodcut No. 107), is represented as standing on a knoll, but
whether dolmens stand so or on the flat, like that at Valdbygaards, it
is quite certain they never were enclosed in tumuli, but always stood
free, as they now do.
[Illustration: 111. Double Dolmen at Valdbygaards. From Madsen.]
[Illustration: 112. Plan of Double Dolmen at Valdbygaards.]
[Illustration: 113. Triple Dolmen, Höbisch. From Keysler.]
For three dolmens in one square enclosure we are obliged to go back
to old Keysler, though, in this case, the engraving is so good that
there can be very little doubt of its correctness.[363] It is situated
near Höbisch, in Mark Brandenburg, consists of an outer enclosure of
forty-four stones, and is 118 paces in circuit, and in the middle
are twelve stones, of which six bear three large stones, placed
transversely upon them. It is very much to be regretted that no better
illustration of this curious monument exists, as it probably very
closely resembles those in Drenthe, with which, indeed, he compares it;
and as these form one of the most remarkable groups of this class of
monuments on the continent, it would be most desirable to trace their
connection with others farther east.
A similar monument to that at Höbisch is figured by Sjöborg (vol. i.
pl. 6), but without the enclosure; and a third, Oroust, in Böhuslan
(pl. 3); but in this instance the three long stones are surrounded by
a circular enclosure with two sentinel stones outside; and there are
several others which show similar peculiarities in a greater or less
degree.
The buried dolmens in Scandinavia are, in some respects, even more
interesting than those which are, and were always intended to be,
exposed, but our knowledge of them is necessarily more limited than of
the other class. Sjöborg deserts us almost entirely here, and Madsen
illustrates only two, while the modern antiquaries have been more
anxious to secure and classify their contents than to illustrate the
chambers from which they were obtained. As a rule, they may be older
than the free-standing examples, but they do not look old, though,
as metal has not generally been found in them, it is assumed they
all belong to the Stone age. One example will suffice to display the
general features of the older group of this class of monuments. The
next two woodcuts present an internal view and plan of one near Uby,
in the district of Holbak, in Zeeland. It was opened in 1845, and
measured then 13 feet in height, and had a circumference of upwards
of 300 feet. The chamber measures 13 feet by 8 feet, and is walled in
by nine great stones, which have been split or hewn, so as to obtain
a flat surface towards the interior, and the interstices are filled
in with smaller stones very neatly fitted. The entrance gallery is 20
feet in length, and is closed, or capable of being so, by two doors.
From the disposition of the entrance it certainly does not appear that
it was intended to be hid. The whole appearance is that of a dignified
approach to the tomb. Had it been meant to be closed, the chamber
would, no doubt, have been in the centre of the tumulus, instead of
being near one side, as it is. The other monument of the same class,
illustrated by Madsen,[364] is near Smidstrup, in the district of
Fredericksborg. It is very similar in dimensions and details, but has
the peculiarity of having two chambers placed side by side, with two
separate entrances, and the chambers affect a curve more perfectly
elliptical than is attained in that at Uby.
[Illustration: 114. View of Interior of Chamber at Uby. From Madsen.]
[Illustration: 115. Plan of Chamber at Uby. From Madsen.]
These last examples from Madsen's work are further interesting to us
as illustrating the difference between dolmens or chambers always
intended to be buried in tumuli and those which were always meant to be
exposed. In the chambers at Uby and Smidstrup the stones are placed so
closely together that very little packing between them was sufficient
to keep out the earth, and the passages to them and other arrangements
all indicate their original destination. The case, however, is widely
different with the dolmens at Halskov and Valdbygaards, or those
at Lüneburg or Höbisch, which evidently are now on their mounds as
originally designed. With a very little study it seems easy to detect
the original intentions in all these monuments; but there is this
further difference. None of those intended to be exposed were ever
buried, while many which were meant to have been covered up never
received their intended envelope.
A monument having a considerable affinity to the two last quoted
exists, or perhaps rather existed, at Axevalla, in Westergothland.
It was opened apparently in 1805, and the representations are taken
from drawings then made by a Captain Lindgren, who superintended the
excavation by the king's command. It consists of one apartment 21 feet
long by 8 feet wide and 9 feet high. The sides and roof are composed
of slabs of red granite, which, if the plates are to be depended upon,
were hewn or at least shaped in some mechanical fashion. Instead of the
bodies being laid on the floor of the chamber as was usually the case,
and being found mixed up with _débris_ and utensils of various kinds,
each of the nineteen who occupied this chamber had a little cist to
itself, so small and irregular-shaped, like those at Rose Hill (woodcut
No. 39), that the body had to be doubled up, in a most uncomfortable
position, to be placed in the cist. This was by no means an uncommon
mode of interment in those early ages, but if the skeletons were really
found in the attitudes here represented, their interment must date
from very recent times indeed. I know there is nothing more common
in archæological books than to represent skeletons sitting in most
free and easy attitudes in their boxes.[365] But if all the flesh had
disappeared as completely as these drawings represent, the integuments
must have gone also, and if they were either rotted or reduced to
dust, the skeleton must have collapsed and been found in a heap on the
floor. It would be interesting to know how long, either in very dry
or in moist places, the integuments would last so as to prevent this
collapse before they were disturbed. No qualified person has yet given
an opinion on such a subject, but the time could hardly extend to many
centuries. But does the case really exist? are not all these queer
skeletons merely the imaginings of enthusiastic antiquaries?
[Illustration: 116. Dolmen at Axevalla. From Sjöborg.]
Be this as it may, these elliptical and long rectangular dolmens,
with their arrangement of cists and entrances in the centre of the
longer side, seem so distinguished from those generally found in other
countries as to mark another province. It seems scarcely open to doubt
that the oval forms are the older, though what their age may be is not
so clear, nor have any descriptions of their contents been published
which would enable us to form distinct opinion on the subject. Flint
implements have been found in them, but, so far as I can gather, no
bronze. According to the Danish system, therefore, they are all before
the time of Solomon or the siege of Troy. It may be so, but I doubt
it exceedingly. Those who excavated the Axevalla tomb reported that
something like an inscription was found on one of the walls (woodcut
No. 116, fig. A); but whether it was an inscription or a natural
formation is by no means clear--at all events, as we have no copy of
it, it hardly helps us in arriving at a date.
[Illustration: 117. Head-stone of Kivik Grave. From Sjöborg.]
In some respects, the Axevalla tomb resembles the grave near Kivik, in
the district of Cimbrisham, near the southern extremity of Sweden. This
is the most celebrated of Swedish graves. It is mentioned as perfect by
Linnæus in 1749, but was shortly afterwards opened, and drawings and
illustrations of it have from time to time been published since, and
given rise to the usual diversity of opinion. Suhm and Sjöborg seem to
agree in connecting it with a battle fought in that neighbourhood by
Ragnar Lothbrok, about the year 750, in which the son of the then king
was slain.[366] This date appears probable; had it been later, there
would almost certainly have been found Runes on some of its stones; if
earlier, the representations of the human figure would hardly have been
so perfect. One stone found elsewhere (woodcut No. 117),[367] which
seems to have been its head-stone, has a curious resemblance to the
head-stone of the Dol ar Marchant, at Locmariaker, illustrated farther
on. The likeness may be accidental, but, as in all these cases, it
is difficult to believe that five or six centuries can have elapsed
between two monuments which show so little progress; for whether this
stone belonged to the Kivik grave or not, it certainly is of the same
age and design, some of the figures on it being identical with those
found in the tomb, and that can hardly be older than the date above
quoted. Another of the stones of this tomb has two of those circles
enclosing crosses which are seen on the Herrestrup dolmen and the
Aspatria stone, all of which probably belong to the eighth century. The
tomb itself is not remarkable for its dimensions, being only 14 feet
long by 3 feet wide, and almost 4 feet in height. It is much too large,
however, for any single warrior's grave, but we are not told whether
it was occupied by a number of small cists like that at Axevalla. The
probability, however, is that this was the case, but 120 years ago men
were not accurate observers of antiquarian phenomena.
Besides these, there are two other forms of tombs which, so far as is
yet known, are quite peculiar to the Scandinavian province. The first
of these are the so-called ship graves, from their form. They consist
of two segments of a circle joined together at the ends, so as to
represent the deck of a vessel, and are of all sizes, from 20 or 30
feet to 200 or 300 feet. They are generally found on the sea-shore, and
it seems hardly to be doubted that they mark the graves of Vikings.
The other form is quite as peculiar, but more difficult to explain.
It is marked by a range of stones forming an equilateral triangle,
sometimes straight-lined, but as frequently the lines curve inwards
so as to restrict the internal space considerably. It is by no means
clear what suggested this form, or what it was intended to represent.
It is, however, found on battle-fields (woodcut No. 118), and solitary
examples are frequent in Sjöborg's plates, sometimes with a Bauta
stone in the centre. The one hypothesis that seems to account for this
form, is that it is the "Cuneatus ordo" of Olaus Magnus, and that it
marked a spot where a combined phalanx of horse and foot fought and
conquered.[368] The probability is that where single it marks the grave
of a particular rank either in the army or in civil life.
All these forms are shown in the next woodcut, from a group found in
the peninsula of Hjortehammer, in Bleking, in the south of Sweden, but
others are found in the island at Amrom, and in many other places.[369]
It has been disputed whether these represent battle-fields or are the
ordinary graves of the inhabitants of the district in which they are
found. That those found on the shore at Freyrsö (woodcut No. 101) mark
the graves of those who fell in Blodoxe's battle there in the tenth
century seems quite certain, but whether this was always the case
may be open to doubt; but certainly a sandy peninsula, like that of
Hjortehammer, seems a most unlikely place for peaceful men to bury
their dead, especially at a time when not one-tenth part of the land
around could have been under cultivation.
[Illustration: 118. Graves at Hjortehammer. From Worsaae.]
For our present purposes it is of no great consequence which opinion
prevails, as these forms have no bearing on those of other countries,
especially as their date does not seem to be doubted. Worsaae places
them all between the years 700 and 1000,[370] or in the second and
latest Iron age, and as no one seems to dispute this, it may be
accepted as an established fact. Their peculiarities of form, and the
smallness of the stones of which most of them are composed, are such
that the date here ascribed to them does not necessarily bring down
that of the true megalithic remains to anything like the same age. It
takes away, however, all improbability from the assertion that these
may be much more modern than was supposed, and this much is certain
that there was no break between the great English and Irish circles
and the Viking graves; or, in other words, men did not cease to mark
their sepulchres with circles and cairns, and then after a lapse of
centuries revive the custom, and begin it again on a smaller scale.
There may be a descent, but there was no solution of continuity, and
any one can consequently form an idea how long a time must have elapsed
before the great Wiltshire circles could have degenerated into those of
Hjortehammer.
[Illustration: 119. Circles at Aschenrade. From Bähr.]
There is one other group of monuments it seems worth while to
illustrate before leaving this branch of the subject. They are found
in the extreme east of the province, on the banks of the Dwina, in
Livonia. At a place called Aschenrade, about fifty miles as the crow
flies from Riga, is a group shown in the accompanying woodcut.[371] The
arrangement is unusual in Europe, but is met with in Algeria, and seems
to be only such a combination of the square enclosures of Scandinavia
as we would expect to find in a cemetery, as contradistinguished from a
battle-field.
In these graves was found enormous wealth of bronze and other metal
and personal ornaments, many of which are engraved in Professor
Bähr's book. They resemble in many respects the celebrated "find" at
Hallstadt, in the Salzkammergut;[372] but mixed with these Livonian
treasures were great numbers of coins and implements of iron of very
modern form. The coins are classified as follows:--
German coins, dating from A.D. 936 to 1040.
Anglo-Saxon coins, dating from " 991 " 1036.
Byzantine coins, dating from " 911 " 1025.
Arabic or Kufic coins, dating from " 906 " 999.
It is curious that the Eastern coins should be so much earlier than the
others, but they are only five in number, and may have been preserved
as curiosities. The dates of the others prove, at all events, that some
of these tombs are not of earlier date than 1040, and all, probably,
are included in the century which preceded that epoch.
Besides these, however, there are tumuli at a place called Segewolde,
and circles, sometimes with a stone in the centre, at Bajard, and no
doubt other remains of the same class in the district. The purpose,
however, of the only book I know on the subject was not to illustrate
the forms of tombs, but that of the objects found in them, and to trace
the ethnographic relations of the people who possessed them with the
other tribes who at various times inhabited that district. The dates of
the whole, according to their describer, may safely be included between
the eighth and the twelfth century.[373]
DRENTHE.
The most southern group of these monuments belonging to the northern
division is one of the most extensive, though unfortunately one of
the least known. It is situated almost exclusively in the province of
Drenthe, in North Holland, where the Hunebeds--giants' beds or graves,
as they are locally called--are spread over an area extending some
twenty miles north and south, and probably ten or twelve miles in
the opposite direction. This tract of country is a bare open heath,
which even now is only partially cultivated, or indeed capable of
cultivation, and at no time could have supported a population at all in
proportion to so extensive a group of monuments.
As long ago as 1720, Keysler drew attention to them, and gave
a representation of one in order to show its similarity to
Stonehenge.[374] The engraving, however, is so defective that it is
impossible to make out what it represents, and as no dimensions or
statistics are given, it adds very little to our knowledge. A short
paper on the subject appeared in the 'Journal of the Archæological
Association' in 1870, but unfortunately without any illustrations,[375]
and we are consequently dependent for our knowledge of them almost
entirely to a work published at Utrecht in 1848, by the late Dr.
Janssen, keeper of the antiquities in the museum at Leyden. This work
is in many respects most painstaking and satisfactory; but, though it
is hardly correct to say it, is without illustrations, the Hunebeds
are represented by conventional symbols, which no one would guess
were intended for buildings of any sort without a most careful study
of the book. I have ventured to try to translate one of these into
ordinary forms, in woodcut No. 120, but without at all guaranteeing
its correctness. It is, however, sufficiently accurate to explain the
general nature of the monuments.
Within the area above described, Janssen measured and described
fifty-one Hunebeds still existing, and they were probably at one time
much more numerous, as he regrets the loss of four which he remembers
in his youth; and several others have been very much ruined in very
recent times. This, fortunately, is not likely to happen again, as,
with a liberality and intelligence not shown by any other government in
Europe, the Dutch have purchased the Hunebeds and the ground on which
they stand, with a right of way to the nearest road, so that, so far as
possible, they will be protected from future depredations.
Of these fifty-one monuments only one is a dolmen, in the sense in
which we usually understand it, meaning thereby a single cap stone,
supported by three, or, as in this instance, by four uprights. This one
is near Exlo, and is one of the few that formed a chamber in a tumulus.
A few have three cap stones, and from that number they range up to
ten or twelve, with at least double that number of supports. They are
all, in fact, of the class which the French call "allées couvertes,"
or "grottes des fées;" Calliagh Birra's house (woodcut No. 80) and
the dolmens at Glen Columbkill are of the same class. But the Drenthe
dolmens have one peculiarity not found either in France or Ireland:
that they are all closed at both ends, and the entrance, where there is
one, is always on the longer side. In this respect they more resemble
the Scandinavian examples, such as the tomb at Axevalla (woodcut No.
116), or that at Uby (woodcut No. 114).
[Illustration: 120. Plan of Hunebed near Emmen.]
The annexed attempted restoration of one near Emmen will give a fair
idea of their general arrangements. It is 49 feet long over all, and
internally from 4 to 6 feet in width. It is roofed with nine or ten
stones, some of considerable dimensions. Some of these Hunebeds have
a range of stones round them, not arranged in a circle or oval form,
but, as in this instance, following the lines of the central chamber.
This is the case with another near the same place, which is 125 feet
in length over all. When closely examined, however, it does not seem
to be one Hunebed, but three ranging in a straight line, with a small
space between each. Two have five and one six cap stones. As a rule,
each cap stone stands on two uprights, and though frequently they touch
one another, as often they form really independent trilithons. It was
no doubt this fact that induced Keysler to compare these monuments with
Stonehenge, though in fact no two sets of rude-stone monuments could
well be more dissimilar either in arrangement or construction. As
will be seen from the annexed view of one near Ballo[376] (woodcut No.
121), they are formed of unshaped granite boulders. Sometimes, it may
be, artificially split, but certainly untouched by the chisel. All that
has apparently been done has been to select those most appropriate in
form for the purposes to which they were to be applied, and then rudely
to heap them one upon the other, but in such a manner as to leave wide
gaps everywhere between the stones composing the structure.
[Illustration: 121. Dolmen at Ballo. From a Photograph.]
* * * * *
The first question that arises with regard to these Hunebeds is, were
they originally covered with earth or not? That some of the smaller
ones were and are is clear enough, and some of medium size are still
partially so; but the largest, and many of the smaller, do not show a
vestige of any such covering; and it seems impossible to believe that
on a tract of wretched barren heath, where the fee-simple of the land
is not now worth ten shillings an acre, any one could, at any time,
have taken the trouble to dig down and cart away such enormous mounds
as would have been required to cover these monuments. It seems here
clearer than almost anywhere else that, even if it had been intended
to cover them, that intention, in more than half the cases, was never
carried into effect.
It may be taken for granted that these Hunebeds were at one time
much more numerous in Drenthe than they now are, but it is a much
more difficult point to ascertain whether they extended into the
neighbouring provinces or not. One is found in Gröningen, and one in
Friesland, and none elsewhere. It may, of course, be that in these more
fertile and thickly inhabited districts they have been utilised, or
removed as incumbrances from the soil, while in Drenthe their component
parts were of no value, and they are useful as sheep-pens and pigstyes;
and to these uses they seem to have been freely applied. It may be,
also, that there are no granite boulders in the neighbouring provinces,
and that they are common in Drenthe. There certainly seem to be none
in Guelderland, a country in which we would expect to find monuments
of this class, as it is the natural line of connection with the German
dolmen region; and unless it is that there were no materials handy for
their construction, it is difficult to understand their absence.
As these Hunebeds have been open and exposed for centuries at least--if
they were not so originally--and have been used by the peasantry for
every kind of purpose, it is in vain to expect that anything will now
be found in them which can throw much light on their age or use. We
can only hope that an untouched or only partially plundered example
may be found in some of the numerous tumuli which still exist all
over the country. I confess I do not feel sanguine that this will be
the case. I would hope more from the digging up of the floor of those
which are known, and a careful collection of any fragments of pottery
and other objects which may be found in them. Nothing of any intrinsic
value will be found, of course; but what is perfectly worthless for
any other purpose may be most important in an antiquarian sense.
Judging them from a general abstract point of view, they do not seem
of high antiquity, and may range from the Christian era down to the
time when the people of this country were converted to Christianity,
whenever that may have been. This, however, is only inferred from their
similarity to other monuments mentioned in the preceding pages, not
from any special evidence gathered from themselves or from any local
tradition bearing on their antiquity.
When we have examined the megalithic remains of Brittany and of the
north of France, we shall be in a better position than we now are to
appreciate the importance of the gap that exists between the French
and Scandinavian provinces; but in the meanwhile it may be convenient
to remark even here that it hardly seems doubtful that the Hunebeds
of Drenthe and the Grottes des fées of Brittany are expressions of
the same feeling, and, generally, that the megalithic remains of the
southern and northern divisions of the western parts of the European
continent are the works of similar if not identical races, applied to
the same uses, and probably are of about the same age.
These two provinces are now separated by the Rhine valley. It is
probably not too broad an assertion to say there are no true Rude-Stone
Monuments in the valleys of the Rhine or Scheldt,[377] or of any of
their tributaries, or, in fact, in any of the countries inhabited by
the Germans and Belgæ. The dolmen-building races were, in fact, cut
in two by the last-named race on their way to colonise Britain. When
that took place, we have no exact means of knowing. According to Cæsar,
shortly before his time, Divitiacus ruled over the Belgæ of Gaul and
Britain as one province;[378] and the inference from all we know--it
is very little--is that the Belgian immigration to this island was of
recent date at that time. Whether it was one thousand or ten thousand
years, the fact that interests us here is that it took place before
the age of the rude-stone monuments. If we admit that the peoples who,
from Cadiz to the Cimbric Chersonese, erected these dolmens were one
race--or, at least, had one religion--and were actuated by one set of
motives in their respect for the dead, it seems impossible to escape
from the conclusion that, whether they came direct from the east,
or migrated from the south northward, or in the opposite direction,
they at one time formed a continuous community of nations all along
the western shores of Europe. They were cut across only in one
place--between Drenthe and Normandy--and that by a comparatively modern
people, the Belgæ. If this is so, the separation took place in the
pre-dolmen period, whenever that may have been. If the original races
in Belgium had been in the habit of erecting dolmens before they were
dispossessed by the intruders, we should find remains at least of them
there now, as we do both north and south of that district. As the case
now stands, the conclusion seems inevitable that it was after their
separation that the northern and southern families, though no longer
in contact, adopted, each in its own peculiar fashion, those more
permanent and megalithic forms which contact with a higher civilization
taught them to aspire to, without abandoning the distinctions which
separated them from the more progressive Celts and the thoroughly
civilized Romans.
NOTE.
The map opposite is compiled partly from the two by M. Bertrand,
mentioned p. 326, and partly from one which accompanies Baron de
Bonstetten's 'Essai sur les Dolmens,' 1864. It has been corrected,
in so far as the scale would allow, from the information since
accumulated; and may be considered as representing fairly our knowledge
of the distribution of dolmens at the present day. Till, however, the
Governments of this country and of Denmark condescend to take up the
subject, such a map must necessarily remain imperfect in its most vital
parts.
[Footnote 321: 'Samlingar för Norders Fornälskare,' Stockholm,
1822-1830.]
[Footnote 322: 'Scriptures rerum Danicorum medii ævi,' 9 vols.
folio, Hafniæ, 1722 _et seq._]
[Footnote 323: 'Historic Danicæ,' lib. xvi. Soræ, 1644, in fol.]
[Footnote 324: The following list of the kings of Denmark, copied
from Dunham's, and giving the dates from Suhm, and Snorro's
'Heimskringla,' will probably suffice for our present purposes:--
Suhm. Snorro. A.D. B.C.
Frode I. 35 17
Fridlief 47 --
Havar 59 --
Frode II. 87 --
Wermund 140 --
Olaf 190 --
A.D.
Dan Mykillate 270 170
Frode III. 310 235?
Halfdan I. 324 290
Fridlief III. 348 300
Frode IV. 407 370
Ingel 436 386
Halfdan II. 447 "
Frode V. 460 "
Helge and Roe 494 438
Frode VI. 510 "
Rolf Krake 522 479
Frode VII. 548 "
Halfdan III. 580 554
Ruric 588 "
Ivar 647 587
Harald Hildetand 735 "
Sigurd Ring 750 --
Rajnar Lothbrog 794 --
Sigurd Snogoge 803 --
Herda Canute 850 --
Eric I. 854 --
Eric II. 883 --
Harald Harfagar -- 863
Gorm the Old (died?) 941 --
Harald Blatand 991 --
Sweyn 1014 -- ]
[Footnote 325: 'Samlingar,' &c. i. plate 11, fig. 38, p. 104.]
[Footnote 326: _Loc. sup. cit._, fig. 39.]
[Footnote 327: Stokes, 'Life of Petrie,' p. 260.]
[Footnote 328: Beowulf, _loc. sup. cit._]
[Footnote 329: Engelhardt, 'Guide illustré du Musée à Copenhague,'
p. 33.]
[Footnote 330: The woodcut is copied from a drawing in Sjöborg, ii.
fig. 214. It is repeated by Worsaae, _loc. sup. cit._, both copying
from some original I have not cared to trace.]
[Footnote 331: 'Historia Danica,' viii. p. 133.]
[Footnote 332: 'Danicorum Monument,' libri sex, i. p. 12.]
[Footnote 333: 'Primæval Antiquities of Denmark,' p. 113.]
[Footnote 334: At one time I was, on the authority of a Saxon
charter, inclined to believe that this tumulus was the grave of
Cissa, Saxon king of Winchester, who was contemporary with Arthur.
I am now informed by the Rev. Mr. Jones, who has carefully gone
into the matter, that the Charter No. 1094, which is taken from
the 'Codex Winton.' fol. 54, refers to Overton in Hants, and not
to Overton in Wilts, because Tadanliage (Tadley) is mentioned as
part of it. As I cannot dispute the competency of so eminent an
authority on such a question, its identification with the tomb of
King Cissa must for the present be withdrawn, but it by no means
follows in consequence that it may not be of his age.]
[Footnote 335: 'Prehistoric Times,' p. 153.]
[Footnote 336: The slaves of the Scythian kings were strangled
(Herodotus, iv. 71 and 72).]
[Footnote 337: "Si quis, hominem diabolo sacrificaverit
et in hostiam more paganorum dæmonibus obtulerit, morte
moriatur."--Balusius, _Capt. Reg. Franc._ i. 253.]
[Footnote 338: The wood-blocks of these and other illustrations of
Dr. Thurnam's paper were lent to Sir John Lubbock, and used by him
in his 'Prehistoric Times,' Nos. 146-156, where they will be more
accessible to many than in the 'Archæologia.']
[Footnote 339: An argument for secondary interments has been
attempted to be founded (Lubbock, 'Prehistoric Times,' p. 156) on
an edict of Charlemagne, in which he says:--"Jubemus ut corpora
Christianorum Saxonum ad cœmeteria ecclesiæ deferantur et non
_ad_ tumulos paganorum (Balusius, 'Cap. Reg. Franc.' i. p. 154).
If the expression had been "_in_ tumulos," there might have been
something in it; but a fair inference from the edict seems to me
to be that even in Charlemagne's time converted Saxons insisted on
being buried--probably in tumuli--near where the tombs of their
fathers were, and probably with pagan rites, in spite of their
nominal conversion.]
[Footnote 340: 'Archæologia,' xlii. p. 195.]
[Footnote 341: Nothing would surprise me less than the discovery
of an interment in the upper part of the barrow at West Kennet,
between the roof of the chamber and the dolmen. Many indications in
the West Country long barrows lead us to expect that such might be
the case, but it by no means follows that it would be secondary. On
the contrary, it would probably be, if not the first, at least the
chief burial in the mound.]
[Footnote 342: I have tried hard to follow Worsaae's argument in
respect to this point ('Zur Alterthumskunde des Nordens,' 1847),
but without success. As he is personally familiar with the country
and its monuments, he may be perfectly correct in what he states,
but as there are neither maps nor illustrations to this part of the
work, it is almost impossible for a stranger to judge; and as, like
all Danes, he is a devout believer in the three-age system, it is
difficult to know how far this may or may not influence his view.]
[Footnote 343: 'Prehistoric Times,' p. 107.]
[Footnote 344: 'One Year in Sweden,' ii. p. 183.]
[Footnote 345: Engelhardt, 'Catalogue illus.' p. 33. Suhm makes
it 991, but this seems more probably to have been the date of the
death of his son Harald Blaatand.]
[Footnote 346: 'Annalen for Nordk. Oldk.' xii. p. 13.]
[Footnote 347: 'Hist. danica,' x. p. 167.]
[Footnote 348: 'Guide ill.' p. 33.]
[Footnote 349: 'Primæval Ant. Denmark,' p. 104.]
[Footnote 350: Engelhardt, 'Cat. ill. du Musée,' p. 33.]
[Footnote 351: 'Proceedings Soc. Ant. Scot.' v. p. 265. If Ragnar
was taken prisoner by Ella of Northumberland, it must have been in
the latter half of the ninth century. Suhm places his death nearly
a century earlier, 794.]
[Footnote 352: 'Primæval Ant. of Denmark,' p. 112.]
[Footnote 353: 'Annalen for Nord. Aldk.' vi. pl. x.]
[Footnote 354: Holmberg, 'Scandinavien Hallristingar,' p. 3.]
[Footnote 355: _Ibid._ p. 21. 'Soc. des Ant. du Nord,' ii. pp. 140
_et seq._]
[Footnote 356: Sir James Simpson, appendix, vol. vi. 'Proc. Soc.
Ant. of Scotland,' _passim_.]
[Footnote 357: Madsen, 'Antiquités préhistoriques du Danemark,'
1869.]
[Footnote 358: 'Samlingar,' i. pl. iii. fig. 6.]
[Footnote 359: Olaus Wormius, 'Danica Monumenta,' pp. 8 and 35.]
[Footnote 360: 'Essai sur les Dolmens,' p. 9.]
[Footnote 361: 'Heidnische Alterthümer von Uelzen,' Hanover, 1846.]
[Footnote 362: Madsen, 'Antiquités préhist.' pl. 8.]
[Footnote 363: 'Antiquitates Septentrionales,' pp. 320 and 519, pl.
xvii.]
[Footnote 364: Madsen, plates 13 and 14.]
[Footnote 365: Bateman, 'Ten Years' Diggings,' p. 23. Lewellyn
Jowett, 'Grave Mounds,' pp. 14 and 15, &c.]
[Footnote 366: Sjöborg. _loc. sup. cit._]
[Footnote 367: Now destroyed. Sjöborg, iii. pl. 10, p. 143.]
[Footnote 368: _Vide ante_, footnote, p. 15.]
[Footnote 369: The woodcut is reduced from a plate in Worsaae's
'Alterthumskunde Scandinaviens,' but both it and the Amrom group
are found in the 'English Archæological Journal,' xxiii. p. 187.]
[Footnote 370: Archæol. Journal,' _loc. sit._ p. 185.]
[Footnote 371: Bähr, 'Die Gräber der Liven,' Dresden, 1850, pl. i.
Unfortunately, as is too often the case, no scale is engraved on
the plate, and no dimensions are mentioned in the text.]
[Footnote 372: Not yet published, so far as I know.]
[Footnote 373: 'Die Gräber der Liven,' p. 51.]
[Footnote 374: 'Ant. Septent.' p. 5, pl. ii.]
[Footnote 375: It is by no means clear whether Mr. Sadler, who is
the author of this paper, ever visited the spot, or compiled his
information from Janssen's book, which, however, he never mentions.
Be this as it may, it is the best paper I know of on the subject,
and well worthy of perusal.]
[Footnote 376: The woodcut is from a photograph kindly lent
me by Mr. Franks. It is sufficient to show the nature of the
construction, but the camera is a singularly unintelligent
interpreter of plan or arrangements.]
[Footnote 377: There are several dolmens, as before stated, in
rugged mountainous parts of Luxemburg, but they seem to belong to
the old races that in those corners were not swept away by the
Belgian current.]
[Footnote 378: Cæsar, 'Bell. Gall.' ii. p. 4.]