Implements and Artefacts of the North-east Greenlanders. 363 



Grave 423, illustrated in THOSTRUP, p. 283, was located only 

 about 20 metres SSE. of the preceding one. Its interior length was only 

 I 1.22 metres; hence there was only room for a body in a con- 

 tracted position. Here, all the grave-goods were lying outside the 

 grave, along its east wall; the objects in question are shown in 

 PL IX, 1 4 and consisted of: A handsome, slender single-edgecT knife 

 of reddish slate (PI. IX, 4) ; in contrast to the one found in grave 

 422 it is without a distinct handle ; three miniature weapons with 

 fragments of shafts, viz. an arrow with head of bone (PI. IX, 1), 

 the fore part of which has been widened on account of the slit 

 which has been made there by drilling for the reception of the 

 blade, the marks of the drill being still visible; an arrow (PI. IX, 2), 

 the bone head of which is shaped like Figs. 46 of PI. VIII; and a 

 harpoon (PI. IX, 3) with foreshaft of bone, evidently split off by bo- 

 ring, and head entirely of bone ; unlike those shown in Figs. 2 and 

 3 of PL VIII, it has only one barb at the butt end. All three spec- 

 imens are bevelled at the shaft end and have been inserted in a slit 

 in the fore end of the shaft. 



There is a very marked similarity between the objects belonging 

 to the two graves from Snenses: both finds included a single-edged 

 knife, harpoons and arrows, objects belonging decidedly to men. It 

 is of special interest, that the finds from both graves contained, 

 besides things meant for real use, miniature specimens also. As in 

 both cases the skeleton of a full-grown individual only was found, 

 the miniature weapons cannot be interpreted as playthings; they 

 must be regarded as symbols, deposited instead of the real weapons. 

 Such miniature objects have often been found in Greenland graves, 

 and the opinion that they were symbols has also been advanced 1 , 

 but the evidence was not so clear that this could be stated with 

 any certainty. The same custom, which incidentally is well-known 

 from various primitive peoples, prevails among the Central Eskimo 2 ; 

 it is also found in ancient times in Europe, including Denmark. 3 

 Even among civilised people like the Chinese it is customary to 

 burn at the grave symbols of clothes and money intended for the dead. 4 



Rypefjeldet. 



On one of the islands in the delta of the river 5 Gravelven a 

 grave was found pointing east and west; it was 1'42 1'55 metres 

 in length. The stone roofing had partly collapsed into the grave, 

 and had disturbed the position of the skeleton. 



1 RYDER I, pp. 32728). 2 BOAS I, p. 613. 3 Cf. for instance SOPHUS MULLER, 

 Vor Oldtid, p. 375; Nordische Altertumskunde, vol. I, p. 519. 4 Cf. for instance 

 DAVIS, vol. I, p. 296. 5 THOSTRUP, p. 306. 



