1886.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 449 



The vessels excavated from the moaud raised over them had served 

 as a burial place, iu conformity with the Viking custom known to have 

 prevailed among the Northmen throughout the later centuries of pagan- 

 ism in Scandinavia. 



This mode of burial has been of great importance to archgeological 

 research, since it enabled us to study, from the remains thus preserved 

 in a more or less perfect state and brought to light by excavation, the 

 naval architecture of the nations among whom such customs prevailed. 



The vessels excavated vary considerably in size, ranging from mere 

 boats of 20 feet in length to sea-going vessels with a length of keel 

 measuring from 40 to GO feet. In the majority of cases the vessels had 

 been placed on an even keel and the remains of the dead deposited 

 with such articles as were to accompany the departed, after which a 

 mound of earth was thrown up over the grave. 



The composition of the earth used in the construction of the mound, 

 together with other influences, had often tended to destroy the wooden 

 structure, and often only just enough has been found to determine the 

 size of the boat and its position in the mound. In many cases, too, the 

 wood- work had been burned with the corpse, so that no positive knowl- 

 edge could be obtained of the form or of the dimensions of the sepul- 

 chral ship. 



The oldest naval relic of the early Scandinavian iron age ever dis- 

 covered, part of an oar, was found iu the Nydam Moss, northeast of 

 Flensburg, in the Duchy of Schleswig, in the year 1859, and the remain- 

 ing part of the same oar in 1862. On August 7, 1863, the remains of a 

 boat were excavated; on October 18, 1863, a large and magnificent oak- 

 built boat was discovered, lying in the direction of the valley, from 

 southeast to northwest, and on October 29, 1863, a third boat, built of $r, 

 was found at the side of the second boat and parallel with it. 



The first of these boats was in a very poor state of preservation, having 

 ing evidently been intentionally destroyed; nevertheless the fragments 

 found and taken up displayed sufficient resemblance to the correspond- 

 ing parts of the second and third boats to indicate the same construc- 

 tion for all the three boats. The second, and best preserved boat, was 

 placed in the hands of Mr. Stephenson, restorer of antiquities, of Copen- 

 hagen, and of the restored boat the accompanying drawing (see Plate 

 xviii) is a representation as figured by Prof. 0. Engelhard', under whose 

 direction the excavation of Nydam Moss had been placed by the Danish 

 Government. 



From its close resemblance both to the ancient form as represented 

 in the " Helleristninger" and to the modern Northland boat, as illus- 

 trated by a model of a Soudmore (Norway) boat in the United States 

 National Museum (previously figured and described), the description as 

 given by Professor Engelhard might be of interest, and I am indebted 



^ C. Engelhard: Denmark in the Early Iron Age. London, IS))".. 



Proc. N. M., 86 L'9 Deceiiibeii- 8, BH86. 



