This interesting little book on the early remains which are found in the barrows and tumuli of Denmark, may be said to owe its origin to the magnificent collection of national monuments preserved in the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen. This collection, which is believed to be without its equal in Europe, was commenced so recently as the year 1807, when the exertions making by some of the most learned Archæologists of Denmark, to rescue from destruction the remains discovered from time to time, in the early sepulchral monuments scattered over the country, had the good fortune to attract the attention of the government, and a commission was issued for the express purpose of securing the immediate transmission of all such antiquities as might be discovered to Copenhagen, where a wing of the castle has been specially appropriated to their preservation and arrangement.
The volume before us may be regarded in the first place, as an attempt to encourage the feeling now expressed amongst all classes of the community in Denmark, of the value and interest attached to such remains in a national and historical point of view, by furnishing them with a popular sketch of the contents and importance of their unrivalled collection:—and secondly, as the precursor of a more extensive work on a subject, of which the interest, as the editor very properly remarks, is not confined to Denmark, but extends to all the countries of Europe, and in an especial degree to such as are of Germanic race.
How valuable the contents of the work before us will be found to English Archæologists, would readily be learned from a slight glance at its contents, did not our knowledge of the connections which formerly existed between England and Denmark, render such evidence superfluous. But to resume our notice. It is well observed by the accomplished author, that many of the difficulties which impeded the labours of earlier antiquaries, in connection with this subject, arose from the error into which they fell of supposing that all the remains discovered in the various graves and barrows had originally belonged to one period and to one race. This error (pardonable enough when we consider the imperfect knowledge attained by those by whom it was committed) gave rise to many absurd theories and speculations which are now very properly exploded. Thus instead of looking upon celts, hammers, and other implements of stone, as sacrificial instruments, in which light they were formerly regarded, we now know that they belong to the earlier periods of history, and are in all probability remains of the primitive inhabitants of the countries in which they are found.
In this handbook of the Archæology of Barrows and Tumuli, for such M. Worsaae's little volume might, with great propriety, be designated, he
