was less uniformity in the burial customs. In some of
the barrows in central France, and in the wolds of Yorkshire, the
interments include the arms and accoutrements of a charioteer, with his
chariot, harness and horses. In Scandinavia a custom, alluded to in the
sagas, of burying the viking in his ship, drawn up on land, and raising a
barrow over it, is exemplified by the ship-burials discovered in Norway.
The ship found in the Gokstad mound was 78 ft. long, and had a mast and
sixteen pairs of oars. In a chamber abaft the mast the viking had been
laid, with his weapons, and together with him were [v.03 p.0442] buried
twelve horses, six dogs and a peacock. An interesting example of the great
timber-chambered barrow is that at Jelling in Jutland, known as the barrow
of Thyre Danebod, queen of King Gorm the Old, who died about the middle of
the 10th century. It is a mound about 200 ft. in diameter, and over 50 ft.
in height, containing a chamber 23 ft. long, 8 ft. wide and 5 ft. high,
formed of massive slabs of oak. Though it had been entered and plundered in
the middle ages, a few relics were found when it was reopened, among which
were a silver cup, ornamented with the interlacing work characteristic of
the time and some personal ornaments. It is highly illustrative of the
tenacity with which the ancient sepulchral usages were retained even after
the introduction of Christianity that King Harold, son and successor of
Gorm the Old, who is said to have christianized all Denmark and Norway,
followed the pagan custom of erecting a chambered tumulus over the remains
of his father, on the summit of which was placed a rude pillar-stone,
bearing on one side the memorial inscription in runes, and on the other a
representation of the Saviour of mankind distinguished by the crossed
nimbus surrounding the head. The so-called Kings' Hows at Upsala in Sweden
rival those of Jelling in size and height. In the chamber of one, opened in
1829, there was found an urn full of calcined bones; and along with it were
ornaments of gold showing the characteristic workmanship of the 5th and 6th
centuries of the Christian era. Along with the calcined human bones were
bones of animals, among which those of the horse and the dog were
distinguished.

Comparing the results of the researches in European barrows with such
notices of barrow-burial as may be gleaned from early writings, we find
them mutually illustrative.

The Homeric account of the build