No. 8] A CELTIC RELIQUARY. 13 



death of the remaining partner of the marriage in order to receive 

 his or her body. With regard to this grave both the equipment 

 of the woman and that of the man indicate an early part of the 

 Viking age, and do not disprove the possibility of the two persons 

 having been buried at the same time; but still nothing can be 

 positively proved on this subject, as far as I am ab!e to see. 



From the order in which the single objects are found it may 

 be concluded that the woman has been placed near the middle of 

 the boat, vvith the face looking towards the north (the provv?), and 

 the man a little nearer the remaining boat-end. The spear-head 

 has oiiginallj^ been attached to a long shaft, and that may have 

 been the cause, why this object was first found, lying more 

 towards the south and apart from the other articles belonging to 

 the furniture of the man. 



In this comparatively rich and in several respects very important 

 grave-find, the reliquary naturally forms the most remarkable part, 

 and it may therefore be of interest to compare this example with 

 the other ones of its kind which are known still to exist. 



As far as 1 have been able to find, only four reliquaries be- 

 longing to the same type ^) as that from Melhus, characterized by 

 having the shape of a small house with ridged roof and hipped 

 ends^), have up to the present been known. The most remark- 

 able example is doubtless the shrine preserved at Monymusk 

 House, Aberdeenshire. It has often been mentioned in the Eng- 

 lish archæological literature, in greatest detail by Dr. J. Anderson 

 in his "Scotland in Early Christian Times", (first series), pp. 247 ff . ; 

 another description vviih illustration is later given by the same 

 author in J. Komilly Allen, The Early Christian Monuments of 

 Scotland, Lond. 1903, p. LXXIX. This reliquary consists of an 



1) Respecting the diflerent types of reliquaries I refer to the description given 

 by the late Mr. J. R o m 1 1 1 y Allen in his excellent work "Celtic .Art in 

 Pagun and Christian Times", Lond, 1904, p. 210. 



'^) With regard to tiie origin of the form which recalls the ancient Celtic ora- 

 tories or the representation of the Temple of Jerusalem in the Book of Kells 

 (Hg. 91) see J. .Anderson, "Scotland in Early Christian Times", (first 

 series), p. 246. 



