Page:Prehistoric Times.djvu/28

14 umbo of one of the shields is inscribed, in dotted Roman letters, AEL. AELIANUS; while another one has a short Runic inscription, which Mr Haigh reads as Aisc Ah (Aisc owns); two figures resembhng Runic letters are also inlaid with golden wire on one of the sword blades. One of the Thorsbjerg scabbards also has a Runic inscription of two lines, each containing ten letters.

I particularly dwell on these cases, because no inscriptions or coins have yet been found which can be referred to the Bronze Age.

For the same reason the abundance of silver is very significant; out of two hundred buckles and square silver girdle ornaments, the greater number are of bronze plated with silver, and silver was also used to ornament shield rims, sandals, brooches, breast-plates, sword-hilts, sword-sheaths, girdles, harness, etc., as well as for clasps, pendants, boxes, and tweezers, while one helmet was formed entirely of this comparatively rare metal.

The ornamentation also of the shields, etc., is of a character altogether unlike any that occurs in the Bronze Age.

An assemblage of objects very similar to those of Nydam and Thorsbjerg has also been found in the "Vimose," or "Moss of the Temple." It comprises no less than 1500 lance-heads, 40 axes, and 30 swords, all of iron; abundance of silver; one Roman and three Runic inscriptions; and a coin of Faustina Junior. Here, again, bronze weapons are entirely absent, though bronze was used for ornaments, etc.

From these and similar discoveries, it appears evident that the use of bronze weapons had been discontinued in the North long before the commencement of our era. From the ease with which bronze could be worked, this metal was still used for brooches and ornaments; but in the manufacture of swords, axes, and similar implements, it had been entirely superseded by iron. There are many cases on record of iron swords with bronze handles or scabbards, but scarcely an instance of the reverse.