1890.] 
A  Strange  Wooden  Object. 
17 
indications  of  a  higher  symbolical  significance  being  possibly 
attached  to  these  objects,  although  that  is  not  yet  capable  of  proof. 
As  far  as  my  own  opinion  goes,  I  consider  these  indications  to  be 
pretty  strong,  and  tbey  are  also  welcome  as  means  to  a  satisfac- 
tory  explanation  of  the  obvious  relationsnip  between  the  two  ob- 
jects, so  separated  in  point  of  time  and  place,  yiz.  the  Persian  and 
the  Norwegian  puzzles. 
That  sacred  articles  are  wrought  out  of  such  a  simple  material 
as  wood  is  certainly  not  without  examples.  According  to  Plutarch, 
the  Delphic  symbol  E  denoted  deity  (the  everlasting),  and  the  old- 
est  specimen  of  that  symbol  was  of  wood,  presented  to  the  temple 
of  Apollo  by  the  ancient  philosophers.1) 
Fig.  14 — 17.    Ornamenta!  symbols. 
In  the  Evebd-find  the  "thought  ring"  must  have  been  deposited 
on  about  the  breast  of  the  deceased.  As  an  instance  of  the 
fact  that  sacred  symbols  were  used  carried  upon  the  body, 
as  a  prophylactic,  may  be  cited  the  well-known  swastika-formed 
brooches  from  the  early  iron  age  of  the  North.  Three  such  have 
been  found  in  Norway,  and  several  in  Sweden  and  Denmark. 2) 
Others  of  the  same  kind,  but  plainer,  have  been  found  among  Celtic 
and  Germanic  antiquities,  in  the  countries  bordering  on  the  Roman 
Empire,3)  and  pieces  of  mountings  in  swastika-shape  are,  for  in- 
stance, seen  in  the  gr  eat  find  from  the  peat-bog  of  Thorsbjerg.4) 
x)  M ull  er:  Det  saakaldte  Hagekors  anvendelse  og  betydning  i  oldtiden. 
In  Mémoires  de  1'Académie  royale  de  Copenhague  1877. 
2)  Comp.  Rygh,  Norske  oldsager,  238.  Montelius,  Svenska  fornsaker, 
338,  and  W  ors  aae,  Nordiske  oldsager  1859,  rig.  395. 
3)  Muller:  op.  eit.  fig.  24,  25. 
4)  Engel ]iardt:  Denmark  in  the  early  iron  age,  Tb.  pl.  11,  fig.  55; 
also  illustrated  by  Mestorf  in  Vorgeschichtliche  Alterthumer  aus  Scbleswig- 
Holstein,  fig.  499. 
XV 
