dispersed through the North of Europe, 379 



evinced by the difference of their structure, and of the relicts of ancient 

 art which have been discovered in them. For a long period of time it 

 seems to have been customary to deposit in these graves burnt bodies, 

 or merely collections of burnt bones in earthen vessels : but this was not 

 the oldest custom, nor was it universally prevalent; we sometimes find 

 bones in earthen vessels in the same graves with entire skeletons. With 

 the dead it was usual to bury various articles, such as his weapons, work- 

 ing tools, ornaments, and some religious tokens, probably amulets, fetlsses, 

 or talismans. In the later pagan times such things were of bronze, some- 

 times of gold, seldom of silver or iron ; in the more ancient times, the 

 ornaments were generally of amber, and the weapons and implements of 

 stone or bone, seldom, perhaps never, of metal. This circumstance fur- 

 nishes the ground for distinguishing the sepulchral remains of the north- 

 ern land as belonging to different chronological eras. 



'* Now, as we are obliged to admit that iron was known to the nations 

 of Gothic or German race who inhabited Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, 

 from an early age, and who were the ancestors of the present Swedes and 

 Danes, we mugt refer the existence of the earliest class of these remains to 

 a period ending two thousand years ago, and reaching back not only be- 

 yond authentic historical memorials, but even beyond the earliest tradi- 

 tions. It is evident that they belonged to a people older than the Danes. 

 Who were this people ? The early traditions speak of giants, elfs, the 

 hereditary enemies of the Goths ; and it is highly probable that under 

 these names were designated that ancient race whose indefatigable indus- 

 try supplied the want of metal. As historj^ gives little information, a re- 

 search into the contents of the sepulchral mounds themselves seems to 

 be the only resource for elucidating'this question. 



" Though many of these graves have been opened, and in some not 

 fewer than twenty skeletons have been discovered, there is yet not one 

 entire skeleton in any museum in Denmark. 



" In the summer of 1836, M. Hageof Stege, in the Isle of Moen, or- 

 dered two mounds to be opened, which were situated close together near 

 Byen. The style and contents of these burrows prove that they belonged 

 to the oldest period of similar remains. An opening in the southern end 

 of each mound affords an entrance to a narrow passage, which leads into 

 a chamber in the centre of the mound ; the passages, as well as the 

 chamber, are formed by means of rough stones of a flat shape. The se- 

 pulchral chambers are fourteen or sixteen ells long, between four and five 

 broad, and two ells and a half high." 



" From this account, it would appear that these oldest • Jettehoie,* or 

 * Gravhoie,' in the Danish islands, bear a close resemblance to our long 

 sepulchral burrows in Britain. Some of them contain, as it seems, ten or 

 even twenty human skeletons. Three skulls were procured by Professor 

 Eschricht from one of the tumuli above mentioned. They are described 

 and figured in the memoir, and the cast sent to the museum was taken 

 from one of them. Professor Eschricht afterwards compared these skulls. 



