1906] The cruciform brooches oi: Norway. 55 



evident thai the workman always had the opportunity of seeing 

 older brooches still in use and that consequently some of the features 

 characteristic of the early stages of the development may spontan- 

 eously have been combined with the late forms of the type, especi- 

 ally as the whole development of the cruciform brooches in Norway 

 has tåken place, in my opinion, within a space of time not much 

 more than a hundred and fifty years. 



Respecting the head of the brooches I will first draw the 

 attention to a detail which ought to be spoken of — though of 

 little importance as to the transformation of the form — as it has 

 sometimes been mentioned as a feature indicating a late stage of 

 development. As seen from many of the figures above it is a fact 

 that, when seen from the side, the plate is a little sloping a pro- 

 portion to the foot, being a little raised. This peculiarity is seen 

 already in the prototype of the cruciform brooches and is also very 

 common through the Avhole development of them, but sometimes 

 missing even among the early forms. It is not till the very latest 

 varieties that it is regularly given up. 



The variations of the dimensions of the plate and of the shape 

 of the knobs have already been spoken of sufficiently to give an 

 impression of the general transformation of them; it may be men- 

 tioned only that the head of the brooches in the Eastern district 

 generally have preserved the original shape better than in the late 

 Western forms. I proceed to treat the not uninteresting question 

 about the development of the form of the bow. 



The simple bow with parallel edges, which is certainly the 

 original form of it, is always preserved besides the later variations, 

 though it is gradually made shorter and broader than before. 1 ) But 

 even early we find specimens the bow of which is a little broader 

 in the middle than at the ends, and somewhat later the middle part 

 is extended so as to form a pointed angle on both sides. A marked 

 specimen of this sort is seen in the late brooch fig. 72. 2 ) The form 

 of the bow seen nere is certainly a speciality of the cruciform 

 brooches, developed from the original form of this type, and it 

 seems also to be confined to the Scandinavian Peninsula, as I have 



a ) As mentioned above, the shortness of the boAv is one of the typical 

 differences between brooches from the Scandinavian Peninsula and from Den- 

 mark. In the later English brooches the bow is also generally very short. 



2 ) Nordheim, Hedrum pgd. Larvik. Skien Museum, nr. 3720. Published by 

 the kind permission of Mr. J. Christie, director of the Skien Museum. 



