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in a man’s grave, and probably served in this way for his coarser
work in leather, hides, or canvas.1.
Nos. CLX., CLXI.—Fragments of a sword, the fractures being old, and
pieces of iron.
No. CLXII.—A woman’s grave. A circular fibula, three amethystine beads
and three of clay, a fragment of blue glass.
Nos. CLXIII.—CLXV. Only a broken knife.
No. CLXVI.—A woman’s grave. A knife, a link of chain, and a broken key.
Fragments of an ivory ornament perforated with round holes at intervals: it
has probably
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formed a complete circle. Also a bone disk, and a
few beads, some of blue glass and some others of the double type.
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1. I append, by permission, an interesting
letter from M. Herbst, Deputy Keeper of the Museum of Northern Antiquities
at Copenhagen. Professor Stephens, from whom I was seeking
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information
respecting the antiquities of a people kindred to our own
Jutish population, applied to M. Herbst, who kindly communicated the
following valuable details :— "My dear Professor Stephens,—In
consequence of a letter from Mr. Brent at Canterbury, you have asked my
opinion of the original use of the ‘SYLE’ (awls), ‘SYNAALE’
(needles), and ‘TANGER’ (pincers), so frequently found in Northern
graves from the Bronze period. Allow me in allusion hereto first to
inform you how many, and under what circumstances, these articles are
preserved in the Old Northern Museum here.
"Of bronze awls, which are not always square at one end for
insertion in the haft or holder, and round at the other, the Museum has
about three hundred different specimens. Of these, sixteen have hafts in
the handles, eleven of bronze, four of bone, and one of amber. It also
has one awl of gold. Of needles, which are more or less flat with an
oblong eye at about the centre, it has twenty-four of bronze and three
of bone. Of pincers or tweezers the Museum possesses one solid
and elegantly-made specimen of gold, and about two hundred of bronze, a
couple of which have slides in a way reminding us of the tweezers or
pincers used by surgeons for underbinding veins, etc.
"As to how these objects were employed, we must call to mind a
couple of peculiar circumstances. In the clay urns, filled with burnt
bones belonging to the Bronze age, so frequently found in the barrows in
this
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