Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age — John Shaqi
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
Including those found in the Viking cemetery at Pierowall, in Westray,
Orkney, the total number of these brooches found in Scotland is
thirty-two. The total number of Celtic brooches that I was able to
enumerate was fourteen. The difference is striking, and the fact that
the foreign form occurs in larger numbers than the native form is so
opposed to what is naturally expected, that the explanation becomes of
some interest. It is simple, but significant. The largeness of the
larger number is an archæological result of Paganism. The smallness of
the smaller number is an archæological result of Christianity. The
effect of Paganism was that those who had brooches were buried with
them. The effect of Christianity was that brooches ceased to be buried
with those who had them. The tendency of the one system was to take
all the brooches ultimately into the soil with the remains of the
generations that wore them; the tendency of the other system was to
keep the brooches from going underground. Hence we see that the
preponderance of these foreign relics in the soil of Scotland (which
is almost destitute of native relics of the same age and purpose) is
an archæological result which is directly dependent on the difference
between Paganism and Christianity.
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I now proceed to notice other instances in which burials with
grave-goods of a similar character, though differing more or less in
certain special features, have been observed. It is but recently that
they have attracted attention, and the interest and significance of
their peculiar phenomena is only beginning to be understood.
[Illustration: Fig. 36.—Sword-hilt of the Viking time, from a
Grave-mound in the island of Eigg (7¼ inches in length).]
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