Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/145

NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL PUBLICATIONS. 103 deficiency, to which we have alluded, of any classified public collection of national antiquities, the objects or remains which can, with confidence, be pointed out as vestiges of the frequent inroads, or more permanent migra- tions, of the Danes, are exceedingly few, almost had said we, none. We have only entered upon the discrimination, in which the volumes edited by the Earl of Ellesmere and Mr. Thorns must prove valuable guides. In the first period, the " Age of Stone," the utmost similarity appears to obtain between the simple weapons or implements of the earliest occupants, and those found in our own country, and indeed in most parts of Europe, as also in America. This is admirably shown in the recently published memoir on the Valley of the Mississippi. The period, however, doubtless presents varieties of type, which may ultimately prove to be distinctive of certain tribes or localities. Thus, in the curious little urns found in the tombs of the " Stone-period," and here represented, the peculiar form and the conical lid, seem to recall a tradition of the simple expedient of more southern and genial climes in the use of the calibash. We are not aware that any vessels, precisely of this fashion, have been found in England : small fictile urns, pierced at the sides, for some like purpose, have occurred in British tumuli ; but the projecting loops or ears, for suspension, are perforated in a horizontal, not, as in the examples here represented, in a perpendicular direction. Mr. Worsaae states the remarkable fact, that the aboriginal Danes were occasionally deposited, cremation not being practised, in vessels of bui-nt clay, like the ancient inhabitants of South America. The remains of the second, or " Bronze-period," are those which perhaps possess the highest interest, in their greater antiquity, as compared with objects of the " Iron-age," in the variety and perfection of their workman- ship, and especially in their bearing on a search for some feature of analogy with weapons or implements of the East, tending to tlu'ow light on the supposed Asiatic origin of the European races. Our limits will not permit a detailed notice of points of similarity to ancient relics discovered in these Islands, and especially, it deserves remark, in Lincolnshire. The great inlet of the Witham was assuredly a frequent resort of the Danish Viking, as shown by the relics drawn from its muddy bed. We are enabled, however, to present to our readers one most curious specimen of this age, the round brazen shield of the Northman, with its remarkable ornaments and bosses. In England, several round shields of thin bronze