For instance, the motive and the style of the decoration of an iron axe-head (Fig. [78]), inlaid with silver, which was found in a grave-mound of the heathen time called the Mammen How, near Viborg, in Denmark,[[50]] are almost identical with those of the engraved designs on the Skaill brooches. There is the same scale-covered beast, in the same attitude, rendered with the same conventionality of treatment, and the convolutions of the tail and crest which interlace with the limbs and body of the creature exhibit the same tendency to break off in scrolls. In the upper part of the axe we have the same triangular, broad-nosed, goggle-eyed face which also appears on one of the brooches from Skaill. The same face appears on the pendants representing Thor’s Hammer, which are occasionally found in hoards of personal ornaments of the heathen period in Scandinavia. They are usually of silver, sometimes parcel-gilt, and decorated with filigree work. One of these (Fig. [79]), found in Skane, Sweden, bearing the typical face with the goggle-eyes and the bar between them, is here figured of the actual size.[[51]] The same face occasionally occurs on Runic monuments of the heathen time. It is seen on a stone 5 feet high by 3 feet broad, and from 2 to 16 inches thick, at Skjern, in North Jutland (Fig. [80]), which is here reproduced from the engraving given by Professor Stephens, who thus describes the figure:—“In the centre is the head of Thor, wild and bearded. There is no manner of doubt that he is here introduced and invoked to bless and protect the deceased and his tumulus, grave-stone, and funeral-marks.” That the face is really intended for that of Thor appears to be demonstrated by its occurrence upon the small amulets representing Thor’s Hammer in silver, and by such monumental sculptures as that on a stone at Aby, in Sodermanland, Sweden (Fig. [81]), where a similar face, though less conventional in treatment, occurs in association with a sculptured representation of a Thor’s Hammer. But it is quite immaterial to our present purpose to determine whether this peculiar type of face is more of a mythological conception than a conventionality of art. The point which concerns our inquiry is that we have localised the typical form definitely within the Scandinavian area, and demonstrated its association with the art of the monuments and the metal work of the Scandinavian heathen time.
Fig. 80.—Runic Monument at Skjern, North Jutland, with Thor’s face (5 feet high).
Fig. 81.—Runic Monument at Aby, with representation of Thor’s Head and Hammer.
The general result of this examination of the typical form and ornamentation of these bulbous brooches is that they are found to possess features that are Celtic, in combination with features that are distinctive of the art of the Scandinavian heathen time. The obvious inference is that the birthplace of the type is to be looked for in an area in which the population were partly Celtic and partly Scandinavian in their extraction. At the period indicated by the range in date of
Fig. 81.—Runic Monument at Aby, with representation of Thor’s Head and Hammer. these silver hoards,[[52]] and for a considerable time previous to the earliest date assigned to them, this was the character of the mixed race of the Gall-gael of the Western Isles, and it was also to a certain extent the character of the inhabitants of the northern isles of Orkney and Shetland, though there the Celtic element was feeble and the northern element strong. But this is precisely the nature of the mixed art of these brooches. It is more northern than Celtic, and seeing that the deposit is found in the very area where this was the special character of the population, the conclusion seems irresistible that the type is the product of the area in which it is found. There is no evidence whatever of its having come from the east—no evidence of its having come from Scandinavia itself. The only other example of the type that has occurred in Scotland—the plain bulbous brooch of silvered bronze—which was found with a heathen burial in the island of Eigg (Fig. [43]), also occurs within the area of the mixed population. A few specimens have occurred sporadically in England,[[53]] but there they are confined to the north-western area—that is, the portion adjacent to the insular territories possessed by the Norse colonists of the Western Isles. A few specimens have been found in Ireland, chiefly isolated, but in one remarkable instance associated with brooches and other metal work of pure Celtic types.[[54]] In Scandinavia itself they do not occur in such abundance as to suggest that they were common ornaments characteristic of the people or the time. While, therefore, they are partially Scandinavian in the character of their art, they occur so sparsely in the Scandinavian countries that they cannot be considered as products that are characteristic of that area, or indigenous to it, and their presence in such limited numbers in the archæological deposits of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, is not inconsistent with the conclusion that the type may have had its birthplace in the Scandinavian colonies planted in Celtic soil, between whom and the fatherland there was always such a closely-knit connection and continuous intercourse.
In passing finally from the examination of these brooches, it may be desirable to refer briefly to the materials composing the dress in which such gigantic ornaments were worn. The perishable nature of these materials precludes the possibility of obtaining such specimens of them as would suffice to show the form and appearance of the garments themselves. But there are occasional instances in which the natural circumstances of the deposit have been more than usually favourable to their preservation, and there may be cases in which exceptional carefulness in the examination of these circumstances may preserve not only the texture but even the form and appearance of the garment. I have already alluded to the fact that small portions of the dress from a grave of the Viking time in the island of Eigg exhibit distinctly the texture of the woollen fabric, and retain portions of its mountings of fur. Similar discoveries in Denmark and Norway have established the truth of the Saga narratives, which testify to the excessive richness of the ornamentation, and the costly nature of the materials of the dress of this period.
