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54 on each breast. That they are positively to be referred to the last period of paganism, we know with complete certainty, because they are frequently found in graves in Ireland, which country was first peopled by pagan Norwegians, at the close of the ninth century. In connection with these oval ornaments, some other clasps, called the trefoil-shaped clasps, were occasionally deposited.

On the obverse they are embellished with the loop ornaments; on the reverse an iron pin is introduced, which is fastened in a ring. It is therefore evident that these were also clasps. Although there are several different ornaments of the same kind, we will pass over them as of minor importance, and call attention to the numerous gold ornaments of the same period. In the bronze-period most of the ornaments were of the common metals, occasionally covered with thin