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the Roman empire, the route along the line of the Vistula and Dnieper to the
south»east and to the estuaries of the Rhine to the south»west, indicates that, in
accordance with Jordanes’ statements, their original home is just Scandinavia.
Finally in this connection we may recall the above»mentioned Dani, who are
identical with the modern Danes. It is true that this people is not one ofthose
who left the Scandinavian region, but the information Jordanes has given about
them indicates, however, that they represent a similar tribal displacement from
north to south within Scandinavia itself. According to the interpretation of Jor»
danes’ words in the place referred to it is most probable on both internal and
external grounds, that they have proceeded from the tribe of the Svear and displaced
the Heruli from what is now Scania. As, according to older and mediæval
linguistic usage, the name Svear refers to a tribe dwelling on the north side of
Lake Mälar, it is there we must look for the point of departure of the under»
taking that led to the conquest of the Heruli and caused their appearance in the
continent of Europé.
Not only ancient tradition but modern scholarship as well bears witness to
Scandinavia as a »vagina gentium», a »womb of the peoples». I shall here only
mention in passing that contemporary philologists, archæologists, and anthropolo»
gists have gradually agreed that the original home of the Teutonic peoples was
in the region round the western Baltic and the south»east of the North sea, which
would thus comprise the Southern parts of the Scandinavian peninsula, the Danish
islands, Jutland, and North Germany between the Ems and the lower Oder.
Observations that archæological investigators consider they have made and that
I shall touch on briefly here, have a more direct connection with the subject
under discussion.
The Finnish archæologist A. M. Tallgren has observed that at the beginning
of the late bronze age about 1000 B. C. there was in east Russia at the big bend
of the Volga a type of axe that has been found at Lake Mälar and occurs there
and in the west of Finland. The middle Swedish axe has given rise to new
local forms in Russia. According to Tallgren’s view the extension of this axe
to the region of the Russian bronze age cannot be due merely to commercial
connections but to a Swedish colonization of East Russia.
The German archæologist Gustaf Kossinna* asserts that a special culture that
distinguishes the region between the lower Vistula and the lower Oder during the
oldest iron age (750—150 B. C.) is maintained by Germanic tribes who had
crossed the Baltic from the islands and mainland of Scandinavia. His view
seems to be accepted by a number of authorities. According to Kossinna these
tribes are identical with the later Vandals mentioned by the classical writers and
known from the history of the period of migrations. A part of these Vandals
was the tribe of the Silingi, whose name is seen in the name of Silesia. The
name Silingi has been connected with Selund, the oldest form of the name Sjælland.
During the two centuries immediately before the beginning of our epoch
there appear, according to Kossinna, two new Scandinavian tribes in the north»
east of Germany. These tribes are the Rugii and the Burgundians. The name
of the former is seen in the old Norwegian county Rogaland and the mod.
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