Glass.—Beads, blue, green and variegated; also glass slag.
Metal Objects.—A few bronze dishes (No. 5), one a tripod with projecting handle (No. 15). Figurines of men and animals; the hand of a Roman statue, apparently a female and about full size; Roman fibulæ; some three or four double spirals; a small pair of shears (No. 8), and a few bracelets with clasping-hooks. All these are of bronze. Among objects of iron are shears, hammers, bridle-bits ([Fig. 101]), slag, etc. A leaden bar or pig weighing 17 kilogrammes and marked with three crosses, so, "XXX", was found at Achlum.
Coins.—Anglo-Saxon coins very abundant: at Hallum 180 sceattæ were found in a jar; Byzantine money in gold; Roman imperial money, generally in silver, but sometimes in gold; Frankish coins. The proprietors of Aalzum found a few silver coins in this terp with the following inscription: "+ HLOTHARIVS. IMP. DORE STATVS MON (eta)," which defines their date to be between 840 and 855 A.D.[69]
Fig. 101.—Terpen. Iron Bridle-bit, 1⁄4 real size.
Wooden Objects.—Small spades precisely similar to those used by children while amusing themselves by digging the sand on the seashore. Numbers of large casks the staves of which are kept together by three iron hoops. In diameter these casks are not more than an ordinary herring barrel, but in length they are from six to seven feet, and about one-third from the top there is a small square hole 4 or 5 inches in diameter. The ends of the staves at the top rim of some are much decayed, but the rest is perfectly sound, and for this reason they are supposed to have stood in water with only the upper parts exposed. They have been found in almost all the terpen examined, usually at regular distances, and deeply buried. One, 6 feet high, was found resting inside a vat 3 feet deep, and its highest point was over two yards below the surface of the mound. Canoes and small paddles may also be mentioned as occasional relics.
Nondescript Objects.—Cock spurs; egg-shells of the domestic fowl and goose, some of which, singularly enough, were, when found, still unbroken; shells of various kinds of sea-urchins, star-fishes, and mussels; amber beads, also this material in the unworked form; amorphous vivianite; large quantities of the débris of flax; one curious object is a flute made of the shank bone of a small animal; one small fictile dish has four feet, and a few others are in the form of three cups attached. At Aalzum, on the occasion of my visit, among the articles purchased by Mr. Battaerd were a mitten and some sort of head-dress like a felt wide-awake. The mitten had only one stall, for the thumb.
In the terp called Beetgum there was found an urn, like those from the dolmens of the Drenthe, containing some burnt bones. Human bones are sometimes found, but they are supposed to have belonged to secondary burials. At Aalzum a grave was found containing a body and along with it was a fibula of the Merovingian period, with a flat back containing a beautiful mosaic pattern of variegated glass and amber.
Fauna.—Osseous remains representing the following animals:—Horse, ox (several varieties—Bos taurus, primgenius, longifrons, brevicornis), cat, dog, sheep, wild boar, deer, roe, and fallow deer. Among the skulls of these animals (of which there are many) are one or two of the four-horned sheep. It may be of interest to note that the osseous remains of this animal were among those identified by Sir W. R. Wilde as coming from the crannog of Lagore ([page 351]).