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STUDY OF HIGH ANTIQUITY IN EUROPE. 40] 
and bronze had been introduced before iron. Borrowing, according to his own 
acknowledgment, from the language of geologists, he introduced the happy 
expression of chronological horizons, to indicate “the periods in the history of 
art remarkable for revolutions or for notable changes in the forms and the 
character of the monuments.” Without pretending to lay down a general rule, 
allowing of no exception, and acknowledging that he owed the idea to Sir R. 
Hoare, M. de Caumont also pointed out the following order of succession in the 
mode of burial: In the most ancient graves the body of the deceased has been 
doubled up, so as to bring the knees in contact with the chin, (as if to take up 
as little room as possible.) Later (during the bronze age) the dead were usually 
burnt, (which leads to infer the worship of fire.) Lastly, the body was often 
laid in the grave, stretched out at full length. But, taken up by his vast 
researches on the Roman remains, M. de Caumont treated of the older periods 
only in the first volume of his lectures on monumental antiquities—a work 
which is in itself a monument of fame for its author.* 
It was reserved to the Scandinavian North definitely to open the proper track. 
Denmark and the south of Sweden teem with antiquities strewed in the 
ground, and with ancient barrows or tombs, raised like hillocks above the sur- 
rounding level. These drew attention the more readily, as Roman civilization 
had not penetrated so far, and had not left those traces which, for a long time, 
exclusively fastened research in the more southern regions of Europe. 
At Copenhagen, the Athens of the Scandinavian North, many began already, in 
the past century, to collect those axes and wedges of flint, which attract the 
eye by their perfect state of preservation, and by their natural lustre. It was 
a current idea among men of learning that these objects were symbols and 
implements used in the religious ceremonies and practice of the ancient heathens. 
It was not ill-conceived. But imagination cannot replace induction. Hence it 
was an event of note when a simple merchant, M. Thomsen, whose talent of 
observation and rare practical tact, revealed by his ability in collecting coins, 
published in 1832 a paper on the antiquities of stone ia the north,t showing 
that these objects had been the tools and weapons of a people very like the 
modern savages, who are not acquainted with the use of metal. 
The activity of Mr. Thomsen remained concentrated on the improvement of 
the museum, (Oldnordisk Museum,) which was confided to his care. Thanks 
to him, that establishment has grown to be what the Danes may well claim asa 
monument of national fame. With the view of furthering the interests of that 
museum, Mr. Thomsen published in 1836, again anonymously, a small practical 
guide for the study and preservation of northern antiquities.{ The book deserves 
particular notice, as being the first in which the chronological classification, 
formerly indicated by Goguet, and even hinted at by the Latin poet Lucretius, 
(De Rerum Natura, lib. v,) is expressly laid down and actually carried out. 
In a chapter on the different periods to which the Pagan antiquities may be 
referred, Mr. Thomsen begins by speaking of the implements of stone, of which 
he had already treated in his first paper. He then shows that certain sepulchral 
chambers, formed of huge boulders, and in which the dead were deposited with- 
out being burned, contain the same stone implements, without any traces of 
metal. ‘his furnishes him with his first period, which he calls the stone age. 
The author then goes on to show, as Goguet, had already done, that copper and 
bronze must have been in use before the iron, and he points out how cutting- 
—— 
* De Caumont. ‘‘ Cours d’Antiquités Monumentales, professé a Caen,’ 6 vols., with atlas 
of plates: vol. 1: Paris, 1536. ; 
+“ Nordisk Tidsskrift for O!dkyndighed,” vol. 1: Copenhagen, 1832. Eighteen pages in 
octavo, with three plates. Anonymous. , 
t ** Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed.” Copenhagen, 1836. German edition: ‘ Leit- 
faden zur Nordischen Atterthumskunde.’”’? Copenhagen, 1837. English edition, by Lord 
Ellesmere: ‘‘A Guide to Northern Antiquities.” London, 1848. ‘ 
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