II. Chronology of the cruciforra brooches. 



By a detailed description of the different varieties of a type, 

 such as is given respecting the cruciform brooches in the preceding 

 part of this paper, it is possible to distinguish perfectly the different 

 stages of a development and to attribute each of the specimens to 

 their proper place in the series of suecessive forms. But it has 

 often been stated by archaeologieal writers that prehistoric chronology 

 is not to be simply derived from typological features as the de- 

 velopment of forms has not always been parallel in the different 

 countries and as, in some cases, suecessive stages of the develop- 

 ment may have been nearly contemporary even in the same place. 



To fix the limits of the period comprised by the duration of a 

 type such as the cruciform brooches it is therefore necessary to 

 take into consideration a larger material than this type alone and 

 especially to study the antiquities associated with it in the graves, 

 and this is the more requisite when one is trying not only to fix 

 the general age of the type but also to make out the approximate 

 date of its different varieties. 



Most important help is here afforded by the chronological 

 systems which are put together by the Danish and Swedish archaeo- 

 logists, but as they do not in all points agree with each other, a 

 closer comparison between them is necessary before treating our 

 special questions. Though only a relatively short period of the 

 Iron-Age is concerned in the question about our brooches I will here 

 state the complete systems in order to give a better impression of 

 the principal differences between them and also to point out in 

 what degree it is necessary to consider the chronological questions 

 regarding any of the periods in connexion with the preceding and 

 folio wing periods. 



