LITMIR.BIZ

       Some objects of bronze or iron. Gökstad ship. See Vol. ii., Frontispiece and pages 162 to 168.

      The warrior had been buried according to his position in life; remains at least of twelve skeletons of horses were found in different parts of the mound on each side of the ship; there were also remains of skeletons of several dogs. The bones and feathers of a peacock were inside the ship, the prow of which, like that of the Tune boat, looked towards the sea as if ready for a voyage.

      One of the finest discoveries, illustrating the use of a ship as a pyre for the burial of the dead warrior, was in a mound 12 feet high and 92 feet in diameter, opened in 1874 in Moklebust Eids parish, Bergen Stift, Norway.

      Among the objects were a vast number of rivets or clinch-nails, and a great number of shield-bosses belonging to shields which adorned the sides of the ship; perhaps several warriors had been burned together. On the bottom of the mound, on the level of the ground, was a layer of charcoal and burned soil intermingled with small pieces of bone, which extended nearly to the sides, but was heaviest in the middle. Separated from this by a layer of light shore-sand was another similar layer.

      Inside an oval about 28 feet in length and 14 feet in width these two layers were interspersed with burned bone-splints, clinch-nails, and spikes.²¹⁶ In the eastern half of the charcoal layer were found six shield-buckles; and in the western half, shield-buckles scattered about in various ways, sometimes singly, sometimes close to one another. In nearly every one of them lay a clinch-nail, evidently placed there intentionally, just as some of the shield-buckles were filled with bone fragments and charcoal.

      A little to the west of the centre of the mound was found a large bundle of strongly-bound and intentionally bent weapons and other implements. Right under this bundle was a bridle-bit of iron, and under this, in a hole dug below the natural level of the ground, a whole collection of shield-bosses, which all lay with their convex sides downward, and formed a covering for a large bronze kettle, represented above, without any other protection but the above-mentioned bosses.

      Fig. 768.—Bronze kettle filled with burnt bones mixed with ashes, charcoal, &c., and covered with twelve shield-bosses; nearly ⅓ real size. Moklebust.

      Fig. 769.—Handle of kettle; real size. Moklebust.

      In the middle of the bones lay an arrow-point 6 inches long; also six draughtsmen and three dice of bone. The draughtsmen were ball-shaped; on one side a small part was cut off, so as to give a flat surface, in the middle of which there was a small hole (fitting the pegs in the board itself, as seen from other finds of boards with pegs which were undoubtedly made thus for use at sea, so as to keep the pieces in position).

      Fig. 770.—Enamelled bottom of kettle on p. 340 (inside),⅔ real size; found in a mound, Moklebust.

      Fig. 771.—Enamelled bottom (outside), of most brilliant colours, real size. Moklebust.

      It seems as if the men of this warrior had dragged his ship ashore, placed the corpse therein with all his weapons and one or more horses, and had adorned it and hung their shields on its sides, hoisted the sails, and then let the flame consume the whole. The bones were then gathered and placed in the urn, and the twelve shield-bosses placed over it, provisions placed at its side, and the whole covered with a mound. But right over the urn the bridle had been placed, so as to be near at hand; then his weapons and the remains of the ship’s chest, and then the two layers of other remains from the pyre.

      Fig. 772.

      Fig. 773.

       Bronze figure representing a man; with inscription. Found with a bronze kettle containing burnt bones, a double-edged sword bent, several spear-heads, a shield boss, melted pieces of glass, &c.; earlier iron age. Norway.

      CHAPTER XX.

       RELIGION.—WORSHIP, SACRIFICES, ETC.

       Table of Contents

      Odin’s religion—Sun worship—The Three Annual Sacrifices—The Atonement Boar and Bragi Toast—The Victory Sacrifice—Temple Priests—Animals for Sacrifices—Sacrificial ceremonies—Divination—Chips—Drawing of lots—Consecration of land and property—Worship of Thor—Sign of the Hammer—The Svastica—Story of Framar.

      The earlier Edda or Sagas which relate to us the traditions about Odin and the Asar do not give any description of the sacred ceremonies or rites they performed.

      From the Ynglinga Saga we learn that the hero Odin of the North sacrificed after the manner of the Asar, and that the sacrifices made by him, Njörd, Frey, and Freyja, were to a power worshipped by them, but we are not told who the god or power was. It probably was in some instances the sun, represented perhaps by the eye of the earlier and mythical Odin of the Völuspa—who, as we have seen, pledged his eye for a drink from the well of Urd; we know that the worship of the sun was widely spread at one period in the history of the world.²¹⁷ How the change from the worship of this unknown power to the worship of Odin and the other gods took place we are not told; but it may, we think, be taken for granted that many of the ceremonies and beliefs mentioned in the Sagas were of very ancient origin.

      It is only by a study of all the Sagas that we gain a knowledge of the beliefs, religious ceremonies, mode of worship and superstitions of the people of the North, which are often minutely described. It is somewhat difficult for the present generation of English people, living in Great Britain and other countries, to realise that no more than eight centuries ago many of their forefathers believed and practised the rites

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