PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 599 



Moss and described on p. r>72 our knowledge of noitlieru ships would 

 be very limited, and rest entirely in the Saga accounts, but for ihe for- 

 tunate circniustance connected with the burial customs in ancient times, 

 in accordance with which the bodies of the more prominent dead were 

 taken to the ship that had been their home during life and surronnded 

 by their wealth became their last resting" place. Two methods of burial 

 existed, that of cremating- the ship together with its sepulchral inhabi- 

 tant and a like one in which a mound was erected over the ship and 

 the dead. It is to the latter method that we are indebted for some 

 well-preserved ships, which not alone serve to confirm the Saga ac- 

 connts, but also extend our knowledge of j)rehistoric sliipbuilding. 



The Volusjjateils us that ''the Asastook the body of Baldr and carried 

 it down to the sea. >^tri)i(/]tor)ti was the name of Baldr's ship; it was 

 larger than any other sliip. The gods wanted to launch it tor the 

 hurnin<i voyage of Baldr, but it did not move. Then the gyr/ ( Jotun- 

 woman) — in Jotunheiiu named Hyrrokkin — was sent for. She went to 

 the stern of the ship and pushed it forward at the first attempt, so that 

 fire issued from tlie rollers." ' The house of the living thus became the 

 last dwelling of the dead. 



In accordance with this law Odin ordered that all dead men should 

 be burned and upon their pyre should be placed their ])roperty,^ and 

 Saga accounts^ indicate obedience with this order. 



The pyre indicated by Odin's law, tlieii, was the ship of the deceased, 

 which, after the body had been cousunied, was covered up with eartli. 



A second form of burial took phice in ships withont the burning of 

 the body, the ship being covered with a iuound. This method was 

 adopted after Fry had beeu monud-laid {i hang kujdr) at IJppsilir, al- 

 though it is now shown' that this traditioji can not extend to the 

 erection of the monnd, traces and remains of an enormous fire having 

 been found there. The cremation custom, however, was not altogether 

 abandcmed, and both methods continued together, as is shown by the 

 occurrence, upon the outer coast of the Trondhjem-Fjord, of the un- 

 burned remains found in ship mounds, while upon the inner coast cre- 

 mation of both bodies and ships has continued. Dr. Sophus Miiller 

 places the age of cremation at the beginning of the iron period, and 

 that of inhumation contemporaneous with the Roman invasion of the 

 North, while Engelhardt ascribes the different methods to local customs. 



The ship grave of Miilllehystj Elds Parish, Woru^ay/' explored by Mr. 

 Lorange, who beautifully described the ceremony of cremation, offers 

 an illustration of crematories. 



' Gylfaginuing Saga, c. 49. 



^Yngliiiga Saga, c. 8. 



'Egil's Saga, c. 61. Hakon the Good's Saga, c. 27. Yngliiiga Saga, c. 27. 



* Mestorf, J.: lu D. arrh.'iolog. Congress in Copenhagen. Hamburg, 1874. 



^'Lorange, J. : In Sanilingen of Norske Oldsagei" i Bergens Museum. Bergen, 1876, 

 pp. 153-161. Loranije, A. : In Norske Aarsheretning, f. 1874, Taf. viii, p. 93. Mes- 

 torf, J.: Ein Grabilenkmal eines altnordischeu Seekiinigs, in Globus, xxix, p. 297. 

 Dii Chaillu .-y iking Age, Vol. ii, p. 339. 



