172 SHELL-MOUNDS AT FIRST 



valuable, or perhaps when the stones themselves are 

 coveted for building or other purposes, no conservative tra- 

 dition, no feeling of reverence for the dead, protects them 

 from desecration : and it is estimated that not a day passes 

 without witnessing the destruction of one or more of these 



o 



tumuli, and the loss of some perhaps almost irrecoverable 

 link in the history of the human race. 



Almost every barrow, indeed, contains in itself a small 

 collection of antiquities, and the whole country may even be 

 considered as a museum on a great scale. The peat bogs, 

 which occupy so large an area, may almost be said to swarm 

 with antiquities, and Professor Steenstrup estimates that on 

 an average every column of peat three feet square contains 

 some specimen of ancient workmanship. All these advan- 

 tages and opportunities, however, might have been thrown 

 away, but for the genius and perseverance of Professor 

 Thomsen, who may fairly be said to have created the 

 museum over which he so worthily presides. 



In addition to the objects collected from the tumuli 

 and the peat bogs, and te those which have been found 

 from time to time scattered at random in the soil, the 

 Museum of Northern Antiquities contains an immense col- 

 lection of specimens from some very interesting shell-mounds, 

 which are known in Denmark under the name of " Kjokken- 

 moddings," and were long supposed to be raised beaches, like 

 those which are found at so many points along our own 

 shores. True raised beaches, however, necessarily contain a 

 variety of species ; the individuals are of -different ages, and 

 the shells are, of course, mixed with considerable quan- 

 tity of sand and gravel. But it was observed in the first 

 instance I believe by Professor Steenstrup, that in these sup- 

 posed raised beaches, the shells belonged entirely to full 

 grown, or to nearly full grown, individuals : that they con- 

 sisted of four species which do not live together, nor require 



