animals, found still adhering to the bone of the hand. Real size.
Fig. 555.—Ground plan of the Graveyard at Varpelev.
At Varpelev, Zeeland, a grave was found covered by several slabs; it is nearly 4 yards long, 1¾ yard broad, the bottom being about 3 yards under the surface of the earth. Within lay the skeleton of a full-grown man, with its head to the S.S.W., and its feet to the N.N.E.; alongside of it were numerous objects, the most interesting of which are those of glass.168
The graveyard at Varpelev is a low bank 200 feet long, 125 feet wide. The bodies were laid down, generally, in a bent position in the sand or gravel, in their clothes or grave-dress, but without a coffin. Old and young men, women and children lay buried here, and one corpse bears the mark of a heavy sword-cut. In the centre of this skeleton graveyard stood a single clay urn, containing burnt bones. At one place there was a bed made of paved stones burnt and smoked, which had evidently been used as a pyre.
Fig. 556.
Fig. 557.
Grave at Varpelev.
The richest grave was situated under the highest point of the bank, at a depth of 9 feet under the surface; it was made in the gravel, and was surrounded by sixteen rough stones of different size and shape. The majority were 2 feet in diameter; the large stone at the head measured 3 feet in length and width, and was 2 feet thick. The interstices were filled up with blue clay. A large slab, 2 feet long, 1½ feet broad, and 8 inches thick, was laid on the head, which like the rest of the bones was much decomposed, and proved to be that of a heavy-built man. The corpse lay on its back, nearly straight, with its head to the south-west; it had originally had over it some kind of covering, as there are remains of clothes or a grave-dress.
VARPELEV GRAVE FIND.
Fig. 558.—Skull (with sword-cut?). Varpelev Grave. 2
9 real size.
Fig. 559.—Skeleton of man; above the head two large stones. Varpelev. 1877.
Fig. 560.—½ real size.
Fig. 561.—Real size.
Two silver buckles: one found near the middle of the corpse, one near the head.
Fig. 562.—Real size.
Fig. 563.—Real size.
Gold rings found on finger bones.
Fig. 564. Fig. 565.
Roman Coin of Probus, 276–82; found lying by right ear of corpse. Real size.
Fig. 566.—Fragment of thin ornamented silver plating, probably the mounting of a drinking-horn. ½ real size.
Fig. 567.—Fibula of silver, svastica shape, plated with gold, with amber knob in the centre; beautiful small birds may be noticed on each arm; found in a woman’s grave. ½ real size.
Fig. 568.—Hair-pin of gold, top ornamented with garnet; found in a woman’s grave. ⅔ real size.
Fig. 569.—Skeleton of woman.
Fig. 570.—Skeleton lying on its left side, with an iron knife near the hands.
Fig. 571.
Fig. 572.
Fig. 573.
Skull, seen from three sides.
CHAPTER XV.
GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES IN THE NORTH.
Similar antiquities in the North and in Southern Russia—Roman coins—The trade of Gotland in earlier times—Ornaments and other objects of bronze.
Among the archæological wealth of the North still belonging to the earlier, but not earliest, iron age, we find a class of graves and antiquities which are of special importance, for they help us to fix very closely a date for the period to which they belong, and for this light we are indebted to Roman coins and other objects, both Roman and Greek, which these graves contain.
Many of the finds of this period are most interesting, as showing the taste of the people in the North, and a wealth and civilisation of which we were not aware. They are the more valuable because we see from them the wide extent of the maritime expeditions and overland trading journeys of the people towards the beginning of the Christian era. They show, as has already been pointed out, the intercourse which the people of the North had with those of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and also with the newly-acquired north-western provinces of the Roman empire (Gaul, Britain, and Frisia). But, what is still more important, they help to prove the general truthfulness of the earlier Edda and Sagas, for they show that the Asar, or whoever the emigrants were, who came north, and who were said to have brought their civilisation with them and to have given it to the people there, were either related to or on intimate relations with the people who inhabited the shores of the Black Sea; for many of the antiquities which were claimed to be of a peculiar northern origin are identical with those found there; while similar ornaments of unmistakable Greek origin are found in both regions. To complete the chain of proof, many of the antiquities, both in the Museums of Kief and Smolensk, are similar to those of the North.
Many of the forms of the antiquities, such as neck-rings and gold snake-shaped bracelets, fibulæ, &c., which were thought to belong exclusively to the North, are found in great number in the graves of Kertch, in Southern Russia, where they lie almost side by side with the exquisite Grecian antiquities—the pride of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg—mementoes of the colonies established by Greece on the shores of the Black Sea. They show that at that period there were two distinct civilisations and peoples living near each other—one Greek, the other native. The natives were probably of the same stock as a great number of the people of the North.
Western and Eastern, Roman and Byzantine, coins have been found; the gold solidi were for the most part used by the