Page:Prehistoric Times.djvu/27

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IRON IN NORTHERN EUROPE
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place, range from 60 A.D. to 197 A.D.; so that these two great "finds" may be regarded as almost contemporaneous.

Fig. 1.–Ancient Danish arrow-head, with owner's mark. Fig. 2.—Modern Esquimaux arrowhead, with owner's mark. In my collection, one-half natural size. Fig. 3.—Owners' marks from various ancient Danish arrows.

Not only are the weapons in these finds all of iron, but their forms and the character of the ornamentation are very different from those of the Bronze Age; resembling in some respects Roman arms, in others they are quite peculiar, and evidently representative of Northern art.

Many of the arrows had owners' marks on them (figs. 1 and 3) resembling those on the modern Esquimaux arrows (fig. 2). The Nydam swords also bear seven inscriptions; three of them are illegible, the others are "ricus," "riccim," "cocillus," and "umored." On the