Among the most curious and beautiful ornaments that have been discovered in the north are the gold bracteates, which occur in great numbers, but are seldom found in graves, and which were used, as we can see from the loop attached to them, as an ornament to be worn hanging from the neck; that they were held to be protective amulets, and were used by the temple priests in religious ceremonies, is probable. They are formed by embossing or stamping upon a disc, and the gold is extremely thin. The peculiarity of their designs, and the mystic and symbolic signs which are used upon them, such as the _svastica_, the _triskele_, the _cross_, the _triad_ in dots, birds, snakes, &c., peculiar shapes of animals, and the head-dress of men, are very remarkable; and the sign in the shape of an S, found also on objects of the bronze age, makes them specially interesting. We must receive with a great deal of caution the interpretation put upon these signs by some of the archæologists who have tried to unravel their meaning, and have taken the _svastica_ for the sign of Thor, for this sign has been found in Greece by Schliemann and other antiquarians; the _triskele_, or the triad with dots, to mean Odin, Vili, Ve, or Odin, Hœnir and Löd; the birds to be the ravens of Odin; the human heads to be representations either of Thor, Odin, or Frey; the animals to be the goat of Thor, and Odin’s horse, Sleipnir. That the representations with the sacred signs and the figure upon them had some peculiar meaning there is, I think, no doubt; but what they really meant is a mystery which has not yet been unravelled. [Illustration: Fig. 1273.—Bracteate—with man’s head and horned animal below—found at Helsingborg, Sweden. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1274.—Bracteate—with man’s head with helmet, and horned animal—found at Raflunda, Scania, Sweden. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1275.—Bracteate—horse (?) apparently loaded with treasure, probably the horse _Grani_ mentioned in Volsunga Saga—found at Eskatorp, Halland, Sweden. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1276.—Bracteate—warrior with spear, a two-horned animal, and runes, found in Zeeland, Denmark. ] The runic characters stamped upon these ornaments show them to be peculiarly northern, and to belong to a rune-writing people. [Illustration: Fig. 1277.—Bracteates forming part of a necklace found at Faxö, Sjælland, Denmark. Real size. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1278.—Bracteate—man’s head with symbolic signs, a hand, &c.—Lolland, Denmark. Real size. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1279.—Bracteate—man, and two-horned animal, and runes—in Stockholm Museum. Real size. ] Bracteates. [Illustration: Fig. 1280.—Real size.—Scania. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1281.—Real size.—Scania. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1282.—Real size.—Zeeland. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1283. ] [Illustration: Fig. 1284.—Reverse. ]