In different parts of the lakes of Bienne and Neuchâtel there are pile-works which contain iron objects intermingled with the remains of preceding ages. But there is only one lacustrine settlement in Switzerland which belongs exclusively to the earliest period of the Iron Age--that of La Tène on the Lake of Neuchâtel. Most of the objects which have been met with in this lacustrine settlement have been recovered from the mud in which they had been so remarkably preserved, being sheltered from any contact with the outer air. There are, however, many spots in which piles may be seen, where objects of this kind have not been found; but if subsequent researches are attended with any results, we shall be forced to attribute to the settlement of La Tène a considerable degree of importance, for the piles there extend over an area of 37 acres. The remains of all kinds which have been found in this settlement are evidently of Gallic origin. It is an easy matter to prove this by comparing the weapons found in this settlement with those which were discovered in the trenches of Alise-Sainte-Reine, the ancient _Alesia_, where, in its last contest against Cæsar, the independence of ancient Gaul came to an end. M. de Rougemont has called attention to the fact that these weapons correspond very exactly to the description given by Diodorus Siculus of the Gallic weapons. Switzerland thus seems to have been inhabited in the earliest iron epoch by Gallic tribes, that is to say, by a different race from that which occupied it during the stone and bronze epochs; and it was this race which introduced into Switzerland the use of iron. Among the objects collected in the lake settlement of La Tène, weapons are the most numerous; they consist of swords and the heads of spears and javelins. Most of them have been kept from oxidation by the peaty mud which entirely covered them, and they are, consequently, in a state of perfect preservation. The swords are all straight, of no very great thickness, and perfectly flat. The blade is from 31 to 35 inches in length, and is terminated by a handle about 6 inches long. They have neither guards nor crosspieces. Several of them were still in their sheaths, from which many of them have been drawn out in a state of perfect preservation, and even tolerably sharp. Fig. 247 represents one of the iron swords from the Swiss lakes, which are depicted in M. Desor's memoir. [Illustration: Fig. 247.--Iron Sword, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.] On another sword, of which we also give a representation (fig. 248), a sort of damascening work extends over almost the whole surface, leaving the edges alone entirely smooth. [Illustration: Fig. 248.--Sword with Damascened Blade, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.]