The Civilisation of Sweden in Heathen Times. By Oscar Montelius.
Translated by the Rev. F. H. Woods. With 205 Illustrations. (Macmillan and Co.)—This translation, which has been made from the second edition of Professor Montelius' great work, and brought down to the year 1888, may be taken as the summary of Swedish antiquarian knowledge as regards that country's ancient civilisation. Professor Montelius has shown clearly enough the value of contemporary evidence as compared to even the Sagas, besides reaching back to legendary time. The Stone Age in Sweden, according to Montelius, ended about 1,500 B.C. ; the Bronze Age, about 500 B.C. ; and the Iron Age, about 1,200 A.D. What little history there is, may be gathered from the fact that the Earlier Runes appear only in the Later Iron Age, about 500 A.D. Thus our knowledge of Scandinavian life is confined entirely to hoards, " kitchen-middens," and the various graves, such as the " dolmens," " passage-graves," and " stone-cists " existing in " barrows " at the present day. And here we cannot but draw attention to the marvellous manner in which articles were preserved in peat. To the ordinary individual, a bog would seem an absurd place to pre- serve anything in. But the antiquarian knows better, and as some of the illustrations prove, an object so preserved is worth incalculably more than hundreds of unrecognisable fragments. To the archaeologist, the Stone and Bronze Ages have most interest, doubtless from the many evidences of dawning artistic taste. And, indeed, some of the flint implements are really beautiful ; a glance at Fig. 16, a flint dagger, will speak for itself. The manner in which flints were shaped was noticed by an Englishman in California, and both this art and that of making the haft-holes of axes is clearly explained by the writer. The Bronze Age produced many beautiful weapons, as swords, daggers, celts, and castings of other ornamental and useful objects, as torques, brooches, and " fibulae," besides massive gold ornaments. The transition between this and the end of the Earlier Iron Age produced some very fine bronze-work, both plain and gilded, and some fine gold rings. The Later Iron Age is famous for its gold ornaments,— some of the collars are indeed magnificent, three of them being unique. The brooches and " fibulae " of silver-gilt now reached the acme of rich workmanship, an observation also applying to the hilts of swords. The last period of the Iron Age is, of course, a matter of history ; it is known as the Viking Period, and its records are preserved to us in the Sagas, in the Viking ships, and the immense hoards of coins and ornaments buried for safety. The gold hoard at Thureholm, belonging to the period just before the Viking times, weighed some twenty-seven pounds. The bronze and silver work of this period is particularly elaborate and elegant. Professor Montelius' work has the advantage of being profusely illustrated,—a great advantage to English readers. He has confined himself to the antiquities and their teaching, without any elaborate divisions of times, except where, in the Iron Age, the great quantity of coins enabled him to make sub-periods with comparative ease. Thanks are due to the translator for the care and knowledge spent in the reproduction. We do not think that the word " gallery " suggests the gallery of a church or theatre.
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