GENERAL VIEWS ON ARCHAEOLOGY. 309 



The climate has scarcely changed since the first appearance of man 

 in the country, for the terrestrial mollusk species, which are found 

 accidentally in the Kjoekkenmoedding, and the fluviatile mollusks which 

 are met with in greater number in the marly layers of the peat hogs, 

 are without exception identical with the species living at present in 

 the country, and we know what good climatometers snails are, (helix.) 

 Our vineyard snail (Helix pomatia, L.) is missing in the antiquity of 

 Denmark, while it is now found in the country; but it is known that 

 it was introduced by the monks in the middle ages. 



The succession of the pine, the oak, and the beech appears to be 

 simply owing to a gradual desiccation of the soil and a gradual amelio- 

 ration of the mould. For it is the pine that is satisfied with the most 

 humid and least fertile soil, whilst the beech craves the dry est and in 

 general the best. 



We may notice here that the aspen (Popidus tremula, L.) traverses 

 the whole of the turf epoch from its beginning, and that it still 

 flourishes in the country. Not so with the white birch, (Betula alba, 

 h.,) which is found in the lower layers of the peat-bogs, where it is 

 represented by large individuals of fine stature, but which give place 

 in the upper layers to the ivarty birch, (Betula verrucosa, Ehr.,) which 

 flourishes still in Denmark. 



Archaeology of the Feat-Eogs. — The peat-bogs of Denmark swarm 

 with antiquities of all kinds and of all ages, as the museums show. 

 Mr. Steenstrup estimates that there is scarcely a vertical column a 

 metre square at the base, and taken anywhere, in any peat-bog what- 

 soever in the country, in which at least one antique object may not be 

 found. The traces of the presence of man cannot, however, be followed 

 to the very bottom of the Skovmose, which are generally the most 

 ancient of the peat-bogs, and the more ancient as they are less exten- 

 sive but deeper. There are no antiquities in the amorphous peat, but 

 traces of man appear early in the pine layer of the outer band of 

 the Skovmose, and this establishes the high antiquity of the primitive 

 population of Denmark. There have been found various objects of 

 flint, characterizing the age of stone, in the pine layer; Mr. Steen- 

 strup withdrew some with his own hand from beneath trunks. Among 

 the trees of this layer they have remarked some that had been cut 

 with the aid of fire, specimens of which are preserved in the museum 

 of Copenhagen. 



The pine had very nearly disappeared before the end of the age of 

 stone in Denmark, for the indications of the latter are observable even 

 in the oak-layer. 



It is very possible that man himself may have contributed to cause 

 the disappearance of the pine, for it was an easy wood to cut and 

 pleasant to burn; moreover, the inner part of its bark, properly pre- 

 pared, furnishes when boiled a very edible broth. The Laplanders are 

 still quite fond of it. When they prepare a meal of it, they bark the 

 tree all around up to a certain height. The tree then dies, and thus 

 the routes of migration in Lapland are marked by a track of dead 

 pines, which is continually widening. We can easily conceive how 

 in a country, every part of which is so accessible as Denmark, the 



