COSTLY ANTIQUITIES .\M> <'A*TI.\<;. 



85 



prove that the shores of the Baltic and of the Cattegut 

 were once thickly inhabited by a people having the same 

 customs and religion ; and from the situations of the graves, 

 as well as from the objects, etc., in them, we learn that they 

 were a seafaring people. North of the great lakes on the 

 large Scandinavian peninsula these antiquities become more 

 rare, thus showing that country not to have been so thickly 

 settled. 



From the finds of beautiful and often costly antiquities 

 belonging to the bronze 

 aire, 1 and from their great 



o J o 



numbers,the fact is brought 

 vividly to our mind, that 

 even before iron was dis- 

 covered there existed in 

 those regions a remarkable 

 culture 



The people had attained 

 very great proficiency in 

 the art of casting, most of 

 the objects are cast, and 

 some of the weapons have 



still the mark of the clay 



.on thpm tliprmrlp] \vi"<- Kg- 25. Cake of a rosin-like substance made of a 



upon mem , tne nioi - paste of birch bark> and containing f ragmell ,. s 



sometimes made of wax 

 and clay put round it, the 

 bronze was cast into the 



mould thus made, and the wax melted into the mould which 

 afterwards was broken in order to take out the sword or object 

 manufactured. Some of the small daggers especially are 

 marvels of casting, which could not be surpassed to-day. The 

 largest swords are cast in one piece. In the collection at 

 Copenhagen nine of these are perfect, the size of the longest 

 being from 35 to 38 inches. The swords, daggers, poniards often 

 have their hilts ornamented or twisted with threads of gold. 

 The weapons of the bronze epoch are the same as those of 



of amber, used as a kind of putty to fill up the 

 hollows of objects of bronze, &c., found in 

 bogs and urns belonging to the bronze age. 



1 Some of the forms of these antiqui- 

 ties are met with in parts of Germany, 

 Hungary, England, and elsewhere in 



Europe, whilst others, by far the iiin>t 

 numerous, are peculiarly Northern. 



