FrazeEr—On a Great Sepulchral Mound. a5 
next uncovered two human skeletons, each a separate interment; 
these bodies they described as belonging to persons of much smaller 
size, and it is probable they were the remains of females. I 
regret that these bones got removed and mixed up with nume- 
rous other human remains that were soon after unearthed, as the 
excavations advanced, the bones themselves being broken during 
removal. Three iron arrowheads were subsequently found in the 
clay close to where the first discovery took place ; and from the iron 
spear and sword buried by the side of the skeleton, and the wound on 
his head, we may conjecture that he was, in all probability, some 
leader or chief; at all events, he was the only individual found 
buried with weapons at his side in the entire heap; and apart from the 
rest of the slain he lay stretched at full length, interred north and 
south—a position that would indicate pagan, or at least non-Christian 
burial. The iron sword-hilt, which I will describe in more detail 
hereafter, when subjected to minute examination, was ascertained to 
have a rich ornamentation of inlaid gold and silver-work, such as we 
find figured decorating the swords of Norse Viking chieftains. In the 
great ethnological work, the Crania Britannica, of J. B. Davis, M.D., 
and J. Thurnam, M.D., we have recorded a good account, illustrated 
by engravings, of an ancient Norse skull that was found interred on 
the shores of Lough Larne, about three-quarters of a mile from the 
town, on the 7th November, 1840. It lay about seventy yards from 
the seashore, and five feet above the level of high water. ‘‘The 
skeleton lay not more than two feet below the surface, in a sandy 
soil, the head pointed to the N. W. Across the breast lay an iron 
double-edged sword, its hilt deposited towards the right hand; on 
the right side, and below the sword, was an iron lance-head; a small 
bronze pin, covered with erugo, and a few fragments of bone, were 
found near the body. 
A description of the discovery of this Larne body was laid before 
the Royal Irish Academy by Mr. J. Huband Smith, and was published 
in the Proceedings, vol. u1., p. 40, but the engravings of the skull and 
of the different objects obtained with it are to be found in the Crania 
Britannica. Worsaae would refer the date of the Larne interment to the 
eleventh century, and he mentions that the Icelandic historian Snorre 
Sturleson relates that in the beginning of the century ‘‘a desperate 
nayal battle was fought between the Orkney Jarl Einar and the Irish 
king Konofogr in Ulfrics fiord on the coast of Ireland. The situation 
of this fiord remained unrecognised until it was discovered in a docu- 
ment issued by King John in the year 1210, at which time Lough 
Larne was still called ‘‘ Wulsriche fiord.”” Worsaae’s very probable 
inference, founded upon the relation of the historian, is that the Larne 
grave contained one of the Ostmen slain in the battle. The Rev. 
Dr. Reeves informs me that this identification of Ulfrics fiord was made 
originally in his work on the Keclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Con- 
nor, and Dromore, and that Worsaae obtained the information from 
him. 
