than that which inhabited the country during the bronze-period; for though the antiquities and barrows of these two periods are by no means of the same kind, yet the difference is neither so striking, nor so prominent, as to enable us to found on it the supposition of two totally different races of mankind. A greater developement of civilization, and in particular a more lively intercourse with other nations, might easily, during a more advanced period of paganism, have called forth a remarkable alteration both in the prevailing taste, and in the mode of interment. The most that we can say, at present, is that Denmark, during the iron-period may possibly, by small immigrations from the neighbouring countries, have received new constituent parts of its population. Since, therefore, it appears from the evidence of its monuments that Denmark was inhabited, in ancient times, by two different races, let us seek whether any sufficient explanation respecting the families of mankind, to which those races must be referred, is contained in the most ancient historical records, or whether we must be satisfied with the information which these monuments themselves afford us.
§ 1. The Stone-period.
History mentions the Fins and Celts as being among some of the first inhabitants of Europe. The Fins, or Laplanders, as they are called at the present day, now live far towards the north; at a former period, they reached farther to the south, at least over the greatest part of Sweden and Norway, and, in the opinion of many, even over other countries, from which they were driven eventually by the intrusion of later immigrants. The vestiges and remains of the Celts are likewise confined within very narrow limits, in England, Scotland, and Ireland; though, in remote ages, they were the most powerful and the most widely diffused nation in the west of Europe. From this circumstance, historians have hitherto assumed that the Fins and Celts, in ancient times,
