1906] The ceruciform brooches of Norway. 15 
great importance, the type as åa 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 åa 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 brooches of the 
4th. cent. we may deduce several of the different types of the fol- 
lowing time. The simple and most primitive variety, provided with 
Tee EG 
no knobs at all, proved to be least fit for any changes. Of 
course it soon loses the curious detail called the returned foot, 
but in other respects we find 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. 
