NA rURE 



97 



THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1887. 



THE PRE-HISTORY OF THE NORTH. 



The Pre-History of the North, based on Contetnporary 

 Memorials. By the late Chamberlain J. J. A. Worsaae, 

 &c. Translated, with a brief Memoir of the Author, 

 by H. F. Morland Simpson, M.A. (London : Triibner 

 and Co., 1886.) 



IT was a happy thought to offer as a tribute of respect 

 to the memory of one who had done so much for 

 English history and archjeology as the late Mr. Worsaae, 

 an English translation of one of the latest, as well as one 

 of the most important, of his archreological essays. The 

 Danish original, of which the volume before us is a 

 translation, is prefaced by an introduction dated De- 

 cember 1880, but a still later work of Worsaae's, and one 

 which may practically be regarded as his last, required 

 no translation, as it was originally written by him in 

 the English language, and published in 1882. This work 

 is entitled " The Industrial Arts of Denmark, from the 

 Earliest Times to the Danish Conquest of England," and 

 forms one of the series of hand-books issued in connexion 

 with the South Kensington Museum. A fellow volume 

 on "The Industrial Arts of Scandinavia in the Pagan 

 Time" appeared in 1883 from the pen of Dr. Hans 

 Hildebrand, of Stockholm. 



But not only did one of Worsaae's latest works make 

 its first appearance in the English tongue, but thirty 

 years previously, in 1852, one of his earliest works — in- 

 deed one of his most important independent works — 

 appeared in an English garb almost at the same time as 

 it did in the Danish and German languages. This, his 

 "Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland," was partly the result of a length- 

 ened stay in the British Isles, and contains a vast store 

 of historical information, to which perhaps too little re- 

 course has been had by English students. It was, however, 

 as an archaeologist rather than as an historian that Worsaae 

 merited and obtained the highest distinction. A remark- 

 able linguist, a man of high organizing power, of inde- 

 fatigable industry, and endowed with the most amiable 

 disposition and the most charming manners, the record 

 of all that he was able to accomplish is absolutely 

 amazing. At the age of eighteen he had already begun 

 to write on archreological subjects, and his important 

 work on the "PriniJEval Antiquities of Denmark," written 

 by him at the age of twenty-two, and published in 1843, 

 was translated into English by the late Mr. Thomas, and 

 published in 1849. From that date to the day of his 

 death his pen was never idle. This, however, is not the 

 place to attempt an account of Worsaae's contributions 

 to archaeology. They have already been recorded by Dr. 

 Sophus MiiJler in the Memoires of the Society of 

 Northern Antiquaries. Those who, from time to time, 

 have attended the Congresses of Prehistoric Archaeology 

 and Anthropology will have been able to form some idea 

 of the versatility of Worsaae's mind and the vast extent 

 of his archaeological acquirements ; and those who have 

 visited the Museum of Northern Antiquities and the 

 Rosenborg Castle at Copenhagen will have been im- 

 VOL. XXXVI. — No. 918. 



pressed with his wonderful powers of organization and 

 arrangement. The formation of an historical museum 

 like that of Rosenborg was the result of a happy inspira- 

 tion, and the difficulties that attended it were by no 

 means shght. Worsaae's own account of them in his 

 " Optegnelser om Rosenborg-Samlingen i 25Aar" is of 

 the highest interest, though perhaps it would have been 

 wise on the part of his executors to have postponed the 

 publication of this autobiographical memoir for a few 

 years. His relations to the Court of two successive 

 Kings of Denmark were of an intimate kind, and Occa- 

 sionally great tact had to be exercised in carrying out his 

 views as to the requirements of the Rosenborg Museum, 

 which illustrates in such a remarkable manner the succes- 

 sive reigns of the Danish monarchs from the fifteenth 

 century downwards. The estimation in which he was 

 held in his own country was evinced in 1874 by his being 

 appointed Minister of Worship and Public Instruction, 

 but, fortunately for archaeological science, his tenure of 

 office was not of long duration. 



It is, however, time to turn more immediately to the 

 work the title of which heads this notice. Its object is to 

 trace the prehistoric settlements and the development of 

 civilization in the Scandinavian North ; and the phases 

 under which these are considered, and the approximate 

 chronology assigned to them are as follows : — 



I. The early Stone Age, at least 3000 B.C., when por- 

 tions only of Southern Scandinavia seem to have been 

 inhabited. 



II. The later Stone Age, about 2000 to 1000 B c, con- 

 temporaneous with the Bronze Age on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean. 



III. The early Bronze Age, about 1000 to 500 B.C., 

 when a Stone Age existed to the north, and an Iron Age 

 had already come in to the south. 



IV. The late Bronze Age, about 500 B.C. to the time of 

 Christ's birth, when a pre-Roman Age of Iron was deve- 

 loped in Central and Western Europe. 



V. The early Iron Age, from a.d. i to 450, when 

 bronze was still in use in parts of the Scandinavian 

 peninsula. 



VI. The middle Age of Iron, about A.D. 450 to 700, 

 when foreign Romano-German influence predominated. 



VII. The later Iron Age, or Viking Period, about a.d. 

 700 to 1000, when a Stone Age still lingered in the 

 extreme north of Finland and Lapland. 



The characteristic relics of all these stages of culture 

 are discussed, and their extension in time and space and 

 the sources whence the various phases of civilization were 

 more immediately derived to the north are indicated 

 With regard to these general considerations not much 

 need be said, unless it be to observe that, with regard to 

 the Danish shell-mounds, or Kjokken-moddings, all 

 antiquaries and naturalists are not of one accord in 

 assigning to them an antiquity beyond that of the ordinary 

 forms of polished stone implements. 



Two principal points on which Worsaae insists are the 

 religious origin of many of the deposits of prehistoric 

 periods, and the religious signification of many symbols, 

 which at first sight would seem to be but of a conventional 

 character. The two remarkable golden horns found in 

 1639 and 1734 at Gallehus, in Slesvig, buried but a few 

 yards apart, belonged apparently to the middle Iron Age ; 



F 



