seem to have come to the Scandinavian countries at the same time
as the antiquities that indicate the earliest influence of Boman
culture. The runic characters are only found in short inscriptions,
of which the language has proved to be a Germanic dialect.
Both cremation and burial without cremation are found throughout
the iron- age. Generally a barrow was raised over the dead.
One peculiar method of burial, only met with in the later iron
age, is the laying of the body, either burnt or uhburnt,-in a boat
or ship, covered with a round, or oval barrow. Bemains of grave-
ships of this kind have been found in various barrows in Norway,
and in two cases, the barrows have been made of potter’s clay, in
which the wood has been so well preserved, that the ship is almost
unimpaired (the ships from Tune and Gokstad, in the Museum
of antiquities in the Kristiania University).
The largest collections of antiquities are in Kristiania, Bergen
and Trondhjem.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Antiquités norvégiennes arrangées et décrites par O. Ryoh. P. 1 -—2. 'Kristiania.
1885.
O. R y g h . Om Helleristninger i Norge. Kristiania. 1873.
* Om den ældrc Jernaîder i Norge. Kjn’benbavn. 1869.
« Om den yngre Jernaîder i Norge. ï . Kjnbenhavn. 1877.
A. L o ra h o e . Om Spor a f romersk Kultwr i Norges oeldre Jêrnalder. Kristiania.
1873.
. « Den yngre Jémalders Svoerd. (Résumé in French.) Bergen. 1889.
J. U s d s e t . Jernaîder ens Begyndélse i Nord-Europa. Kristiania. 1881.
« E ra Norges oeldre Jernaîder. Kjebenhavn.' 1880.
N. N ico lay sen . LangsMbet f r a G-oJcstad ved Sandefjord. Kristiania. 1882: (In
English and Norwegian.)
O. Mo n te l itjs. Les temps préhistoriques en Suède 'et dans les autres pays Scandinaves.
Paris. 1895.
HISTORY
No r w a y , whose name in its ancient language was Norvegr or
Noregr, was once of somewhat larger estent than it is at
present. The Swedish provinces, Jemtland, Herjedalen and Baa-
huslen were Norwegian until the middle of the 17th century. Ein-
mark was originally a Norwegian tributary land, reaching to the
White Sea, and also including the Kola Peninsula. By immigration
from Bussia, it early became partially dependent upon the rulers
of that country; and the consequence of this was a contraction of
its boundaries towards the NE.
Norway was inhabited long before all tradition and all history.
The probability is that its colonisation was effected by the progenitors
of the Norwegian people, who were) established there at
the opening of the historic period. According to the old tradition,
the country was divided among a number of mutually independent
tribes, under chieftains who directed the worship of gods, and took
the chief command in war. In all the' tribes, the people’s liberty
was carried to the furthest extent. The free men settled their
legal disputes, and passed laws. Outside the community and
the laws stood the unfree men, the thralls. The religious conception
was the same as that which prevailed in Germanic
heathendom.
The earliest organised political community must have originated
in the regions round the Trondhjem Ejord, where the Tronder
tribes had early united in a peasant community consisting of 8
small shires (fylkèr) each of which settled its own affairs at its
own Thing; but they were also united in wider associations, with
a common worship and administration of justice.