1906] 



The cvuciform brooches of Norway. 



15 



great importance, the type as a whole being purely Teutonic with 

 no more remarkable traces of the Roman influence than most 

 of the other barbarian productions of the same time. The bow is 

 comparatively broad, like a ribbon — not thick and high as the 

 Roman form, — the facets are not very marked, and the arrangement 

 of the upper part — „the head" — of the brooch at once presents 

 itself as quite different from the Roman and half Roman forms. 



From the varying number of knobs on these hrooches of the 

 4th. cent. we may cleduce seyeral of the different types of the fol- 

 lowing time. The simple and most primitive variety, provided with 



Fig. 13. Vi- 



Fig. 14. Vi- 



no knobs at all, proved to be least lit for any changes. Of 

 course it soon loses the curious detail ealled the returned foot, 

 but in other respects we lind its descendants nearly unchanged in 

 the 6th cent., while other forms of the same family had gone through 

 a considerable development. It is naturally explained by the cir- 

 cumstance that the simplest brooches, generally being the smallest 

 ones too, had a practical purpose only and were not regarded as 

 ornaments, in which case the claim of changing tastes ought 

 to be followed. — They are found in great numbers in Norwegian 

 graves from the 5th and 6th cent. 



