The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2). Paul B. Du Chaillu
Fig. 415.—Bronze enamelled bowl (1867), 2¾ in. high, 4¾ in. wide, in bog at Maltbœk, Jutland. The enamel in the serpentine line is red.
Kragehul Find.—In a small bog called Kragehul, situated near the city of Assens on Fyen, objects have been found which seem to belong to the 4th or 5th century. The first mention of the Kragehul bog is in 1751, when some articles with rune inscriptions were found, which, unfortunately, have been lost, but it was not until 1864 that a regular exploration took place.163
KRAGEHUL FIND.
Fig. 416.—Bundle of bent weapons.
Fig. 417.—Bronze vessel destroyed by sword cuts. ⅕ real size.
Fig. 418.
Fig. 419.
Iron spears with ornaments carved on the wooden handles. ½ real size.
Fig. 420.—Spear,½ real size.
Fig. 421.—Spear, ⅓ real size.
The antiquities, none of which are of Roman origin, seem to have been thrown in without any order, but spears with thin iron points on the end formed the boundary of the find.
In this as in the other bog finds, weapons are twisted together in extraordinary knots and many objects destroyed.
The Nydam Bog Find.—The remarkable bog find at Nydam164 is extremely valuable on account of the boat, and the discovery of Roman coins enables us to approximate the date of the objects,165 which is probably about the years 250 and 300 of our era.
The Nydam oak boat was discovered in 1863 near Slesvig, in Southern Jutland. Its length is about 75 feet; its widest part, about 10½ feet. It held 14 benches, and was rowed with 28 oars, the average length of which was 12 feet. By its side was the rudder, about 10 feet long.
The bottom plank, which is not a keel proper, is 45 feet 3 inches long, and of a single piece. The oar-tholes are fastened to the gunwales with bast ropes, and, though they have all one general shape, there are no two alike.
Fig. 422.
The boat is clinch-built; that is, the planks are held together by large iron bolts with round heads outside, and clinch plates on the inside, at a distance of 5½ inches from each other. The space between the planks is filled with woollen stuff and a pitchy sticky mass. The boards are joined in a very common manner to the frame with bast ropes. In the frame are holes, which correspond to elevated pieces on the boards which are also bored through; these pieces had not been nailed to the planks, but were hewn out of the latter, which thereby had lost more than half their thickness. Vessels by this peculiar manner of joining frame and boards acquired great elasticity, which must have been of good service in the surf and in a heavy sea.
Fig. 423.—Oar-thole of red pine. ⅒ real size.
Fig. 424.—Oar-thole of the Nydam Boat. ⅐ real size.
Fig. 425.—Inside view of one of the stems of the Nydam boat.
Fig. 426.—Rib of boat, showing seat attached.
Fig. 427.—Wooden pegs fastening stem to bottom plank. 1
17 real size.
Fig. 428.—Showing how the boards joined the ribs.
Fig. 429.—End face view of oar-thole. ⅒ real size.
Fig. 430.—Rudder, 10 feet long, found alongside Nydam boat.
The boat was shaped alike both fore and aft, so that it could be rowed in either direction; and in both stems, which are fastened to the bottom plank, are two holes through which, judging from the manner in which they are worn, ropes were probably drawn, by which to drag the boat ashore at the beginning of winter. In the bottom there is a hole, which probably after the ship had been drawn up served to give outlet to the water collected in the boat.
The boat had undoubtedly been intentionally sunk, for in the planks under the water-line had been cut large holes to let in the water. Rust had destroyed the ends of the iron bolts which had held the planks together, and also the ropes with which the boards and the frame had been held together. The planks fell apart, therefore, and took their original straight shape; the oar-tholes were loosened from the gunwale; the frame fell on different sides, and the two high stems fell down. As the joints loosened, the separate pieces sank to the bottom, and remained lying at about an equal depth, while the turf grew up above them and preserved them from destruction. After all the parts of the boat had been carefully collected and dried, it was possible to restore it to its original shape.
Fig. 431.—Wooden scoop for baling water. ⅑ real size.
Another boat of red pine wood was discovered alongside it. This one was laid on the field and covered with bog mould, until the work connected with the other boat was finished. Unfortunately the war of 1864 put an end to the examination of the Nydam bog, so that the boat was left lying on the field, and strangers have carried off many pieces of it. The bottom plank was about 50 feet long, 13 inches broad, and ends in two spurs or rams. How high the prows were raised above the plank cannot be stated. Since this date the diggings have been done by inexperienced men, and consequently have given but little results. This sacred part of the land of the Danes had passed into the hands of its German conquerors, for the Nornir166 are fickle, and what is fated to one generation to accomplish is often, in the course of time, undone by another.
NYDAM BOG FIND.
Fig. 432.—The end of the bottom plank of a vessel of red pine, with a ram at each end, from Nydam Bog-find. The pointed lines show how the spurs protruded from the stem.
Fig. 433.
Fig. 434.
Fragments wooden scabbard with bronze mountings. ½ real size.