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and in the third, the antiquities exhibit a great resemblance to
those that occur in the Frankish, Burgundian, and Anglo-Saxon
graves from the later period of migration, but display to a still
greater extent than these, a barbaric development, deviating farther
and farther from the Roman patterns that had previously
influenced them. By the year 800, new influences again assert
themselves, with the commencement of the viking expeditions to the
West from the Scandinavian countries. These expeditions and the
close connection with Western Europe resulting from them, have
contributed more than anything else to give to the later iron age its
peculiar stamp here in the north. The influence from these countries
is very clearly apparent in the remains of this period.
With the close of the later iron age, the principal task of
prehistoric archæology is concluded. From that time the written
historical sources gain in fulness and trustworthiness, while the
archæological sources are dried up. The introduction of the Christian
form of burial has resulted in the almost total absence of
antiquities from the period that followed. What there are go principally
to illustrate the written history; they no longer possess an
independent significance.
In the stone and the bronze ages, Norway was poor in
prehistoric remains as compared with Sweden and Denmark. This
dissimilarity is already lost in the early iron age. As regards the
number of discoveries of antiquities, Norway is now not very far
behind Sweden and Denmark. From this it may be concluded that,
the population has made more rapid progress in the beginning of
the iron age in Norway than in the neighbouring countries. Not
until the iron age did Norway have a population that corresponded
to her ability at that time to afford sustenance to human beings.
Norway is very abundantly furnished with antiquities from
the later iron age. Although this period comprises a much shorter
time than the early iron age, yet the number of known discoveries
of antiquities from the later iron age is about twice as many as
those from the early iron age. The graves, moreover, are generally
richer in remains than those of Sweden and Denmark, especially
as regards weapons and all kinds of implements, the latter especially
being far more abundantly represented in Norway than in the
neighbouring countries.
The first indication of the use of letters appears in the early
iron age. The runes, which are based upon the Latin alphabet,
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