During all this time the relations between Scandinavia and Rome appear to have been scarcely less extensive. Although the Romans never succeeded in penetrating Scandinavia, the discovery of coins, vases in bronze and glass, and other objects of art, is sufficient to prove that Scandinavian art was greatly influenced by intercourse with Rome during the first part of the 2nd century of our era. In the early stages of society, communication by sea offered greater facilities for traffic than land journeys, and for this reason the Island of Gotland, now so isolated and rarely visited except by antiquaries, appears to have served as a portal for the entry of Roman and Oriental goods and civilization into Scandinavia.[44] After the fall of the Roman empire, Scandinavia was left to its own resources, aided by occasional intercourse with Byzantium, until in the later iron age, extending from the 8th century to the middle of the 11th century, another line of communication was established with the East, still entering Scandinavia mainly through the Island of Gotland. Mr. HILDEBRAND records the discovery of 20,000 Arab coins in Sweden and Gotland, and traces the channel of their transmission by Russian finds from the states near the Caspian, through Russia to the shores of the Baltic, and thence, thanks to the commerce established by the inhabitants of Gotland, over to that island. From Gotland, and probably also by direct intercourse with Russia, the Mahomedan coins were spread over Scandinavia, being more common in the eastern provinces of Sweden than in the west or in Norway. The greater part of these coins appear to have come into Sweden between the years 880 and 955, but the latest belongs to the year 1010. On the line of communication here indicated, iron keys of the kind adapted both to the tumbler lock and the spring padlock have been discovered in the governments of Vladimir and Jaroslav, in the graves of the Neriens,[45] dating about the 8th century A.D., showing that in all probability it was by this line that the use of these locks were imported into Sweden. The key of the padlock found here was of the form of the Roman key, (fig. 21C, Plate V.), the Indian one (fig. 46C, Plate VI.), and the modern one from Cairo (fig. 47C, Plate VI.). It also resembles that of the Swedish lock (fig. 26C, Plate V.), and belongs to the most primitive form of the mechanism. [44] 'La Suède Prehistorique,' by O. MONTELIUS. [45] "Antiquités du Nord Finno-Ougrien," par J. R. ASPELIN, 'Age du Fer,' iii., figs. 977, 980, 981.