440 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. xn. 



finding their way in the Iron age as far as the shores of 

 the Baltic. The Greek influence is proved also in the 

 same regions by the distribution of Greek coins and 

 their imitations, and some of the painted vases found 

 in Germany may have been imported from Greece. 

 The Iron age in those countries began several centuries 

 before the Christian era. It appears, however, from 

 the evidence brought together by Worsaae, 1 Engelhardt, 

 and others, that iron was not used in Scandinavia until 

 about the beginning of the Christian era. 



This overlap of the Bronze age in Scandinavia with 

 the Prehistoric Iron age in Germany will go far to ex- 

 plain the beauty and fine workmanship of the Scandi- 

 navian implements, weapons, and ornaments of Bronze. 

 The higher designs were probably derived from the 

 Etruskans and the Greeks, and are some of them identical 

 with those characteristic of the Iron age in Germany, 

 France, and Britain. Other articles, such as the repousse 

 shields, sword-belts, and golden cups, 2 were probably im- 

 ported from Etruria. Thus we see that the Iron age in 

 Scandinavia is very nearly the equivalent of the beginning 

 of the Historic age in Britain, and we have proof of the 

 overlap of History and Prehistoric Archaeology. 



The Prehistoric Iron Age in Scandinavia. 



Iron was introduced into Scandinavia by the Ger- 

 manic tribes who conquered the previous inhabitants, 

 about the beginning of the Christian era, and the civil- 

 isation which they introduced has been maintained 



1 La Colonisation de la Ru&sie et du Nord Scandinave ; and Congr. Int., 

 Buda-Pesth, p. 253. 



2 See Montelius, Congr. Int., Stockholm vol., 1874, p. 505. 



