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have been accidentally found in the ground, where they have been
lost, or buried by their former owners as in a place of security.
Several such have been found under large stones, or on
inclines covered with débris. Things are seldom found in bogs here.
Discoveries of remains from the stone age are far more numerous
in Norway than of those from the bronze age; but as already
mentioned, a great many of our stone articles must have belonged
to the bronze age. Moreover, stone objects keep much better in
the earth than bronze, which, in unfavourable circumstances, may
disappear altogether. Stone things, on the contrary, are almost
imperishable. In this case, therefore, it would be wrong to infer
the size of the population from the number of things found. In
Norway the distribution of the population during the bronze age
was very much as it was in the stone age.
Among the permanent memorials from the bronze age, we have
the rock engravings, rough drawings, scratched upon stone. They
are most frequently found on the solid rock, on slightly sloping,
so-called «svaberg» (smooth mountain-side); less frequently they occur
upon large loose stones. Two classes of figures can be clearly
distinguished. The first class consists of figures that are not actual
representations of things in nature, but which must have a
symbolic significance. The second class comprises representations of
actual things in nature. It is evident from these pictures, that
navigation has played a very important part, and that farming was known.
The bronze age probably lasted in Norway until 300 or 400
vears before the birth of Christ.
The knowledge of iron also came to the Scandinavian countries
from the south, namely, from the countries nearest — on the
north side — to the Alps. The iron age is generally reckoned as
lasting until about the year 1050 A. D., i.e. until the time when
Christianity was established in the country, and, as a consequence,
the heathen burial custom of burying weapons and implements
with the body ceased. The iron age is divided into two great
main divisions, viz. the early iron age until about 800 A. D., and
the later iron age, or the viking period, from 800 to about 1050.
The early iron age is further divided into three sub-divisions,
according to the various influences that have prevailed in the
Scandinavian countries, namely, the pre-Roman, the Roman, and the
post-Roman or middle iron age. In the first part, the Roman influence
has not yet reached the north, in the second it is very perceptible,
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