PREHISTORIC RAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 579 



They give us an ap])roxiiiiate date for the object with which they 

 were found. Anowing- some time for their transport from southern 

 countries, the deposit in the peat bogs can not have taken phice be- 

 fore about the middle of the third century. 



All the known coins from discoveries of this age — from mosses, 

 graves, and chance flnds — are of the first three centuries of the Chris- 

 tian era; the latest known is of Macrinus (A. d. 217). Among? them the 

 Antonines are of most frequent occurrence. 



An analysis of the i*fy dam boat would give us the following interest- 

 ing table: 



Lougth between stems feet aud inches . . 69 6 



Length of keel do 48 



Width cihove gunwale amidships do 10 8 



Perpendicular depth from gunwale to liottoni do 3 10 



Draft at middle of keel do 2 3 



Draft at ends of keel do 2 3 



Gunwale above water in the middle do 1 10 



Gunwale above water at the stems do 4 8 



Length of uppermost water line feet and inches.. 58 



Width of uppermost water line do 8 6 



Area of uppermost water line square feet . . 333 



Area of middle rib do 12 



Displaeemeut in cubic feet cubic feet. . 443 



Displacement center before the middle tons. . 14 



Number of oars on each side 14 



Distance between oars feet and inches. . 3 6 



Middle oar above surface of wa tev do 2 1 



Length of middle oar do 11 



Entire crew 40 



Weight of crew, weapons, and provisions tons.. 7 



Weight of ship aud equipment do. .. 7' 



Prof. Handelmann^ and Admiral Werner'^ recognize in this boat 

 the only well-preser^■ed specimen of the oldest Cxernian shi}), basing their 

 claim on the traditions that during' the third and fourth centuries 

 Saxt»n pirates had repeatedly harassed the coasts of the Roman prov- 

 inces of (lallia and Brittany, and that the coins found in the boats 

 point to about that ^leriod. 



Admitting the piratical excursions of the Saxons, our knowledge of 

 their naval architecture (as shown on page 549) does not justify the 

 acceptance of such hy})othesis, most especially since the boats of the 

 Nydam type in general appearance point to the ship of the Scandina- 

 vians (Suiones), explicitly described by Tacitus as being so entirely 

 different from the Roman ships, which, in comparison Avith the primitive 

 ships of the coast inhabitants of Germania, bad attained a high degree 

 of perfection. A navy that produced ships of the Nydam pattern nuist 



' Handel niann, H.: Nydam boat; Das iilteste germanische Seeschiff. In Corres- 

 pondenzblatt d. Deutsch. Ges. f. Antli. No. 12, Decbr. 1871, p. 95. 



-J!. lV'-:irr: D i -. .S?.'-v>se\ (It Ger u uiischeu Vorzeit. In Westermann's Illus- 

 trirte Mouatsheite, October, 1882. 



