168 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF [lbct. 



hand, the objects of iron are numerous, and comprise 

 fifty swords, twenty-three lances, and five axes. Coins 

 have also been met with at this station, while they are 

 entirely absent in those of the Bronze Age. 



The only other find of the Iron Age to which I will 

 now refer is that of Nydam, recently described at length 

 by M. Engelhardt in his excellent work on Denmark in 

 the Early Iron Age. At this place have been found an 

 immense number of the most diverse objects — clothes, 

 brooches, tweezers, beads, helmets, shields, coats of mail, 

 buckles, harness, boats, rakes, brooms, mallets, bows, 

 vessels of wood and pottery, 80 knives, 30 axes, 40 

 awls, 160 arrow-heads, 180 swords, and nearly 600 

 lances. All these weapons were of iron, though bronze 

 was freely used for ornaments. That this find, as well 

 as the very similar one at Thorsbjerg, in the same neigh- 

 bourhood, belonged to the Roman period, is clearly 

 proved by the existence of numerous coins belonging 

 to the first two centuries after Christ, although not one 

 has occurred in any of the Bronze Age lake-villages, or 

 in the great find at Hallstadt. 



It is quite clear, therefore, that neither bronze nor 

 stone weapons were in use in Northern Europe at the 

 commencement of our era. 



A closer examination would much strengthen, this 

 conclusion. For instance, at Thorsbjerg alone there are 

 seven inscriptions, either in Runes or Roman characters ; 

 while, as I have already stated, letters are quite un- 

 known, with one exception, on any object of the Bronze 

 Age, or in the great transition find at Hallstadt. Again, 

 the significance of the absence of silver in the Hallstadt 

 find is greatly increased when we see that in the true 



