ARCHEOLOGY IN DENMARK. 



23 



it not, that horns two thousand years old, buried for long centu- 

 ries in peat bogs, should, after this long silence, still be capable of 

 giving out clear, ringing even sweet tones ? 



The conditions in which these lurs are found are most sug- 

 gestivealways in peat bogs, usually in pairs. This could not be 

 the result of accident. Other objects are found purposely laid 

 away in the same manner : thus ten bronze hemispherical plates 

 were found at one spot ; nine fine bronze axes, all of one form, at 

 another. Similar clusters of celts, spears, etc., are not uncommon. 

 On one occasion about one hundred miniature boats of thin beaten 

 gold were placed in a vessel 

 and buried ; such occurrences 

 are not completely under- 

 stood. Dr. Sophus Miiller 

 believes that such purposely 

 buried or sunken objects are 

 ex voios (Fig. 20). 



The early iron age pre- 

 sents interesting problems 

 and wonderful relics. Still 

 prehistoric time in Denmark, 

 it is historic time in much of 

 Europe. The Danes now dis- 

 posed of their dead both by 

 inhumation and cremation ; 

 with those who were buried 

 relics are found. Near Tis- 

 trup, in West Jutland, with 

 Captain A. P. Madsen, of the 

 museum, we were present at 

 some excavations. Captain 

 Madsen has long been en- 

 gaged in studying the archaeology of Denmark. He is an artist 

 of no mean ability, and has sketched and painted many of the old 

 monuments. His Bronzealderen and other works (one of which 

 is now appearing) are important and especially valuable for their 

 illustrations. He is an indefatigable field explorer (Fig. 21). The 

 spot was a level field overgrown with heather in bloom. Only 

 the practiced eye would have detected aught there of archaeologi- 

 cal interest. The whole area, however, was covered with low, 

 flat, round mounds several metres in diameter and less than half 

 a metre in height. Digging revealed at the center of each, only a 

 little below the surface, a single pottery vase. The forms were 

 simple, but characteristic of the age. In them were mixed earth 

 and ashes (the remains of a cremated corpse). Iron fibula?, frag- 

 ments of bronze rings, and the like were found with some of these. 



Fig. 21. A. P. Madsen. 



