52 Haakon Schetelig. [No. 7 



as contemporary; but it may be allowed to infer that grave I is 

 the older as it was laid upon the natural surface of the soil and 

 had, probably, caused the building of an addition to the mound then 

 ah-eady existing, while grave IV had been formed after the mound 

 had been given its present extent. — The fifth grave of which there 

 was found so few and scattered remnants is probably of a later 

 date than grave II and III, but older than the two last mentioned, 

 though I am unable to express an authoritative opinion on this 

 subject. 



Mound no. 4 had been injured by the construction of a road 

 in 1847. On this occasion a grave was disturbed, containing a 

 number of iron objects of which a sword and a spear-head only is 

 preserved in the Bergen Museum. Among the lost objects a kettle 

 of iron is mentioned from which I conclude that this grave has been 

 of the same kind as the one explored by Mr. Lorange and like 

 grave I in mound no. 2. The sword found here is figured by Mr. 

 Lorange in his work „Den yngre jernalders sverd", pl. III, fig. 6. 



In the centre of the mound I discovered a deposit of coal inter- 

 mingled with burned bones which have been identified partly as 

 human remains, partly as those of a dog and a bird, probably a 

 small hen. The grave contained the remnants of a small bo at, 

 consumed on the funeral pyre, some nails and rivets of which are 

 given fig. 36. In the same way as has already been described as 

 regards grave lY in mound no. 2 the bones as well as the grave 

 goods were scattered all over the layer of coal, a fact which is the 

 more interesting as in both these cases we have certainly to deal 

 with the graves of women, while in the men's graves the human 

 bones had always been carefully collected and deposited in the centre 

 of the grave; however, I will not at all pronounce this difference 

 to be a characteristic common to the Viking graves all over Western 

 Norway. A diagram of the grave in question is given fig. 35 and 

 part of the antiquities figs. 37 — 43. 



V>y comparing the brooch found in tliis grave with the similar 

 brooches figs. 32, 33 and 19 it will be seen that the specimen here 

 considered is of more recent date than all the otliers, as it belongs 

 to the variation of the type which is especially characteristic of the 

 latter pai-t of the Viking age. Consequently the grave in whicli 

 this broocli was found must be of more recent date than all the 



I 



