The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2). Paul B. Du Chaillu
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Fig. 508.—Gold spiral ring. Elsehoved, Broholm. Real size.
Fig. 509.—Fibula of copper covered with gold, and ornamented with garnets, one of which remains intact; a bird will be seen at the bottom. ½ real size.
Fig. 510.—Roman coins of the 5th century, forming part of a necklace, with a string of gold beads (Valentinianus, 425–455; Julius Majorianus, 457–461; two Leo I., 457–474; Zeno, 474–491; two Anastasius, 491–515).
Fig. 511.—Gold rings used as money. Real size.
Fig. 512.—Ring of gold. Real size.
Among the finest and most valuable objects found in the North were the two superb golden horns discovered at Mögeltönder on the peninsula of Jutland, which were once the pride of the great Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen.
They were without equals in any part of the world; their exterior was made of different bands of gold, with figures in repoussé work, fastened to the harder gold of the body of the horn. Both were stolen from the old Danish Museum on the 4th of May, 1802, and the ignorant thief melted them; thus those two superb specimens were for ever lost to science, and with an unfortunate fatality the cast of each has also been lost; but luckily the drawings made can be relied on. The thief was captured a year after, and his punishment was not adequate to the crime he had committed.
The representations given upon them must have had a meaning; these were symbolical, and were probably very significant and not used for mere ornamentation; what the figures and symbolical signs meant is impossible for us to tell. Among the most remarkable of the former is the three-headed man, holding in one hand what appears to be an axe, while with the other he leads some kind of horned animal.
Fig. 513.—Golden horn discovered at Mögeltönder, 1639, with thirteen broad rings round it. Length, 2 feet 9 inches; weight over 7 lbs.
⅕ real size.
Fig. 514.—Golden horn discovered at Mögeltönder, 1734. The exact length of this horn, which had round its broadest end an inscription in earlier runes, has not been stated, but, judging from a facsimile in silver gilt made by command of Frederick VII. from the old drawing, and presented by him to the old Northern Museum, it must have been over 20 inches long. Though the lower part was broken off and lost, it still weighed more than 8 lbs. ⅕ real size.
Fig. 515.—Inscription in earlier runes on horn.
Fig. 516.—Facsimile of each ring of the damaged horn (Fig. 514).
Fig. 517.—Facsimile of the rings of the perfect horn (Fig. 513).
Bangstrup Find (Fyen).—Conspicuous among many remarkable finds is the Bangstrup find (Fyen, 1865), in which rings of gold used as money, ornaments of peculiar shape, and 46 gold Roman coins, which were pierced or had a loop attached to the top, were discovered. The coins, ranging from the time of Trajanus Decius (249–251) to that of Constantine II. (337–351), give an approximate idea of the time of the deposit of the find; for, while most of the earlier coins are well worn, the later ones are very well preserved and the coinage is very sharp and clear, thus indicating that they cannot have been long in circulation. As the dates of these later coins are about 340–350, the find cannot have been buried much later than that time.
307–323.
Fig. 518.
IMP. LICINIVS. P. F. AVG.
ORIENS AVGVSTORVM.
306–337.
Fig. 519.
CONSTANTINVS PFAVG.
VICTORIA. CONSTANTINI. AVG.
Fig. 520.—Gold coin.
Fig. 521.—Crescent-shaped pendant of gold.
The crescent-shaped ornaments have, so far as is known, never been found elsewhere in the North; but in the Ukraine similar ones have been discovered, and are described in the work “Account of the Mounds, &c., of the Government of Kiew,” by Privy Councillor J. Foundoukleï, Kief, 1848.
BANGSTRUP FIND.
Fig. 522.—Crescent-shaped pendant of gold.
Fig. 523.—Crescent of gold pendant-shaped: representing two lions drinking out of a cup.
Fig. 524.—Leaf-shaped pendant of thin sheet gold.
Fig. 525.—Leaf-shaped pendant, sheet gold.
Fig. 526.—Rectangular pendant of sheet gold, with embossed human figure.
Fig. 527.—Semi-spherical gold ornamentation of unknown use.
CHAPTER XIV.
DESCRIPTION OF SOME REMARKABLE GRAVES AND THEIR CONTENTS.
Sepulchral chambers containing skeletons—The objects in these graves not destroyed—Numerous Roman and Greek objects—The Vallöby grave—The Bavenhöi grave—The Varpelev graveyard.
Fig. 528.—Mound, about 13 feet above the ground, showing sepulchral chamber five feet below the surface. The body had been placed upon woollen pillows filled with down. Six oak logs supported the side planks forming the sepulchral chamber, which had an oak floor. The space between the timbers had been filled with tresses of wool and other hair of animals. The chamber had been carefully covered with clay.—Bjerring, near Viborg, Northern Jutland.
To return to the subject of graves, we will now speak of the sepulchral chambers containing skeletons. They generally vary in size, from the length