Handles of the same kind, intended for palstaves, have been found in the Italian lake dwellings. In some discovered in the “palafitta” of Castione,[539] the notch is in the transverse direction to the shaft, as if the blade had been mounted as an adze, and not as an axe. In others the notch is longitudinal, and not transverse. In one instance the side branch has no notch, but there is a shoulder on it, as if it had served for a socketed celt. A looped palstave, mounted in a similar branched handle, has been found at the lake dwelling of Mœrigen,[540] on the Lac de Bienne. In this case also the loop is on the farther side of the shaft. That the flanged and winged celts and palstaves were, as a rule, destined to be mounted in the manner of hatchets or adzes, and not as spuds or spear-heads, is to some extent witnessed by the development of their form; the progressive increase in the size of the wings and flanges, more especially about the middle of the blade, appearing to be intended as a precaution against lateral strains, such as the blade of an axe undergoes, rather than against a mere thrust, such as that to which the head of a spear or lance is subject. Of course the stop-ridge is a preservative against the blade being driven back into its handle, in whatever way it is mounted. But the flanges, at first slight, then expanding at the middle of the blade, then becoming projecting wings, and finally being bent over, so as to form side sockets on each side of the blade, seem rather the result of successive endeavours to steady the blade against a sideways strain. This development can best be traced in the series of flat celts, flanged and winged celts, and palstaves, discovered in the South of France. Even the long narrow palstaves, which have so much the appearance of chisels, seem to have been mounted on crooked shafts. There is a long German[541] form with a narrow butt above the stop-ridge, and with but slight side flanges, which are continued down along the sides of the blade below the ridge, that seems much more like a chisel than a hatchet. The usual length of this form is about 6 inches, and the width at the edge about 1½ inches, that of the butt-end, including the side flanches, being about ¾ inch. [Illustration: Fig. 185.—Raron, Brigue. ½]