140 Haakon Schetelig. [No. 8 



velopment of the form, and after that time, when the type was no 

 more the favourite ornament, there ought to have existed some 

 degenerated varieties. When enumerating, as much as possible in 

 the natural chronological order, the linds which I intend to treat 

 here, it will not he clifiicult to point out two different stages of 

 the character just indicated; the date of transition is probably to 

 be placed about the middle of the century, which thus also indicates 

 the end of the development. But I must at once remark that, 

 with respect to the earlier half of the century, the largest and 

 finest of the cruciform brooches are rarely found in association with 

 the fine brooches in relief, as generally only one of the large broo- 

 ches was wanted for the dress of one person; the conclusions re- 

 garding the chronology of this part of the development must there- 

 fore be dravvn from a small number of linds and partly from 

 specimens which are not of the highest workmanship of the time. 

 In the first of these linds, however, we have to do with the 

 very remarkable brooch shown as fig. 73 1 ) above. Both the di- 

 mensions and the ornaments show that this brooch is one of the 

 finest specimens from Eastern Norway, and by the peculiar moulding 

 of its knobs and by its gilt surface it is marked as a rather late 

 specimen in spite of the fact that the side-knobs are made separately 

 and placed upon the axis of the spring-coil. The ornaments are 

 in some degree allied to the early brooches in relief. As it is 

 worn — the ornaments at the top of the bow are partially effaced 

 by long use — it must have been an old brooch already at the 

 time when it was placed in the grave. The large silver brooch 

 fig. 170 was found in the same grave. It represents an intermediate 

 stage between the early and the late brooches in relief, as the 

 head-plate is still ornamented with geometrical patterns, while the 

 edges are decorated with four animal-figures, and the whole sur- 

 face of the foot has been covered with similar animals. This sort 

 of brooches must be attributed to the earliest part of the 6th cent. 

 and it seems likely that also the cruciform brooch belongs to the 

 same time, though its date must probably be somewhat earlier than 

 the silver brooch. It is difficult, however. to draw more conclusions 

 from this find as the cruciform brooch in question is in every re- 

 spect very irregular. 



L ) Langlo, Stokke pgd. Jarlsberg. C. 5951. Ab. 1872, p. 104, pl. I fig. 

 5 and 6. 



