§
m
li
DESCRIPTIONS OP CBANIA.
the workmen uncovered a skeleton, wMch was not more than 2 feet below the surface in a sandy
soil, although probably interred at a greater depth. The skeleton appears to have been extended,
and was without cist or coffin, yet the interment had been conducted in a regular and orderly
manner. The head pointed to the N.W. Across the breast was laid an iron double-edged
sword, its hilt disposed towards the right hand. On the right side and beneath the sword was
an iron lance-head. A small bronze ring-pin, covered with cerugo, and four fragments of bone
were found by the body.
On the 11th of January 1841, Mr. J. Huband Smith gave an account of this discovery, at
a Meeting of the Royal Irish Academy. He compared the sword and other objects with similar
ones found in the townland of Lagore, near Dunshaughlin, in the county of Meath, and referred
them to that remote period when the use of bronze was superseded by ii-on for weapons,
regarding the Dunshaughlin antiquities as the older of the two *.
The distinguished Danish antiquary, Mr. J. J. A. Worsaae, claims the long heavy iron
swords with guards which have been found in many places in Ireland (differing from the swords
of the Anglo-Saxons, whose antiquities do not occur in that island, and agreeing so closely with
those in the Northern Museums that they might be believed to have been made by the same
hands) as relics of the Scandinavian conquerors. Another particular by which the two types
may be distinguished is the heavy iron pommel, well seen in the Lame example +. Worsaae
refers to the Icelandic historian Snorre Stm-leson, who " relates that in the beginning of the
eleventh century a desperate naval battle was fought between the Orkney Jarl Einar and the
Irish king ' Konofogr ' in TJlfrek's (or Ulfkel's) Piord, on the coast of Ireland. The situation of
this fiord or firth was entirely unknown until it was lately discovered that in a document issued
by the English-Irish king John, in the year 1210, the firth Lough Lame * * * was at that time
still called ' Wulvrichefor«', which agrees most accurately with the Icelandic name ' Ulfreksf
j o r S r ' " t - Worsaae's very probable inference, founded upon the relation of the historian, is that
the Larne grave contained one of the Ostmen slain in this battle.
We will next subject the human relic of the warrior, recovered from his solitary grave on
the shore of a strange land, to another ethnic test which the Danish antiquary did not dream of.
The skuU is smaU and régulai, has a long, slender, elevated, aquiline nose, closely corresponding
with such as prevail in the northern counties of England, where Scandinavian blood predominates
; a narrow, long orthognathous face, an upright square forehead, yet neither decidedly
broad nor high, having a frontal suture ; a long oval outline in the vertical aspect, with distinct
parietal tubers ; a globose tumidness in the supra-occipital region, and a large foramen magnum.
It is probable that it has belonged to a tall man, who was slain in the vigorous period of his
age, perhaps about 30 years §.
* Proc. Roy. Irish Acad., 1840, TOI. ii. p. 40.
f Others of these iron swords with heavy pommels and crossguards,
which are regarded as later than the fifth century,
have been met with in Lincolnshire and those parts of England
frequented by the Northmen. They are strictly Scandinavian,
and discovered both in Sweden and Denmark. We noticed a
very perfect example in the National Museum of Antiquities
at Stockholm, which is 37 in. long. Two others, in a less
entire state, are contained in the King's Armoury at the palace,
of Ulriksdal. These are figured in the very beautiful work
56.
describing this collection, for a copy of which the writer is
obliged to His Majesty's gracious politeness. (Hans Majestät
Konung Carl XVs Vapensamling, pi. 26, Nos. 187, 192. The
former is considered to be of the tenth century.)
I Danes and Norwegians in England, &c., p. 311.
§ Our thanks are due to Dr. E. Perceval Wright, F.L.S.,
of Trinity College, for affording us the opportunity of figuring
this well-authenticated cranium of a Norsemen, which is preserved
in the Museum there. A doubt may be expressed
whether the lower jaw attached to it is its proper one.
(2)
ANCIENT NORSE—LARNE, IRELAND.
We have been at much pains in describing two other ancient Scandinavian skuUs depicted
in this work, in order to authenticate their derivation, and, with this view, have quoted the
results arrived at by Retzius from the long-continued study of the crania of the northern countries.
The antiquarian history of the Lame example, so remarkably confirmed, is in itself conclusive
as to its genuineness. Yet its craniological features, when minutely exammed, are
found to be not less decisive in stamping its true ethnical type. Its resemblance to that from
Nisibost, PL 48, is very striking. Hence by every mode of investigation we are led to the same
result *. We may safely take it to be the relic of an Ostman.
MEASUREMENTS.
Horizontal circumference . . . 20'7 inches. Occipital Region.—
Longitudinal diameter . . . . 7-3 „
Frontal Region.—Length . . 4-7 „
Breadth . . 4-7 „ Intermastoid arch
Height . . 4-4 „ Internal capacity
Parietal Region.—Length . 4-9 „
Breadth . . 5-2 „ Breadth .
Height . . 4-6 „
Breadth
Height
4'8 inches.
4'5 „
4-1 „
This skuU from Lough Larne, together with that of Dunan (or Donatus), was selected by
Mr. John Grattan for exhibiting and testing the properties and uses of his new craniometer.
The latter was the first among the Ostmen who was bishop of DubUn. His body was discovered
several years ago, in making some repaü-s in the Cathedral of Christ Chui-ch. fragments of his
mitre, which was made of a rich silk and gold tissue and lined with cotton, adhered to the skull.
Even portions of short white hau- were discovered upon it. Mr. Grattan carefuUy describes the
crania, gives elaborate tables of their measurements, and also outline figures of both, in a profile
and two other aspects t-
* Since the Descriptions of Plates 27 and 48 were written, with ten Swedish sknlls, recent and medieval. These may be
the great kindness of Prof. Baron von Düben and Herr M. said to substantiate the views taken in the pages referred to.
Gustaf Retzius, Candidatus Med. et Phil., has supplied us t Ulster Journal of Archeology, vol. i. p. 198.
(J. B. D.)
56.