F. BEOWULF AND THE ARCHÆOLOGISTS
The peat-bogs of Schleswig and Denmark have yielded finds of the first importance for English archæology. These "moss-finds" are great collections, chiefly of arms and accoutrements, obviously deposited with intention. The first of these great discoveries, that of Thorsbjerg, was made in the heart of ancient Angel: the site of the next, Nydam, also comes within the area probably occupied by either Angles or Jutes; and most of the rest of the "moss-finds" were in the closest neighbourhood of the old Anglian home. The period of the oldest deposits, as is shown by the Roman coins found among them, is hardly before the third century A.D., and some authorities would make it considerably later.
An account of these discoveries will be found in Engelhardt's Denmark in the Early Iron Age[[709]], 1866: a volume which
summarizes the results of Engelhardt's investigations during the preceding seven years. He had published in Copenhagen Thorsbjerg Mosefund, 1863; Nydam Mosefund, 1865. Engelhardt's work at Nydam was interrupted by the war of 1864: the finds had to be ceded to Germany, and the exploration was continued by German scholars. Engelhardt consoled himself that these "subsequent investigations ... do not seem to have been carried on with the necessary care and intelligence," and continued his own researches within the narrowed frontiers of Denmark, publishing two monographs on the mosses of Fünen: Kragehul Mosefund, 1867; Vimose Fundet, 1869.
These deposits, however, obviously belong to a period much earlier than that in which Beowulf was written: indeed most of them certainly belong to a period earlier than that in which the historic events described in Beowulf occurred; so that, close as is their relation with Anglian civilization, it is with the civilization of the Angles while still on the continent.
The Archæology of Beowulf has been made the subject of special study by Knut Stjerna, in a series of articles which appeared between 1903 and his premature death in 1909. A good service has been done to students of Beowulf by Dr Clark Hall in collecting and translating Stjerna's essays[[710]]. They are a mine of useful information, and the reproductions of articles from Scandinavian grave-finds, with which they are so copiously illustrated, are invaluable. The magnificent antiquities from Vendel, now in the Stockholm museum, are more particularly laid under contribution[[711]]. Dr Clark Hall added a most useful "Index of things mentioned in Beowulf[[712]]," well illustrated. Here again the illustrations, with few exceptions, are from Scandinavian finds.
Two weighty arguments as to the origin of Beowulf have been based upon archæology. In the first place it has been urged by Dr Clark Hall that:
"If the poem is read in the light of the evidence which Stjerna has marshalled in the essays as to the profusion of gold, the prevalence of ring-swords, of boar-helmets, of ring-corslets, and ring-money, it becomes clear how strong the distinctively Scandinavian colouring is, and how comparatively little of the mise-en-scène must be due to the English author[[713]]."