The Lake-Dwellings of Europe: Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888Munro, Robert
History
The Lake-Dwellings of Europe: Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888
Munro, Robert
Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Bibliography; Lake-dwellers and lake-dwellings -- Europe
The Lake of Starnberg lies about 18 miles to the south of Munich,
close to the spurs of the great Alpine chain of mountains. The
coast is an undulating upland, interspersed with woods, villas,
pleasure-grounds, and pretty villages--a passing glimpse of which,
together with a constant view of the snow-clad mountains in the
distance, renders a trip on this lake one of the most enjoyable
attractions to Munich. At its northern end, where its surplus water is
carried off by the Würm, it is only about a mile in breadth, but as
we sail southwards it expands considerably, and ultimately attains a
breadth of three or four miles, with a total length of 12 miles. About
four miles up on its western side there is a low but prettily wooded
island, called Rosen Insel since 1850, because it was then purchased
by the King of Bavaria. Here a royal residence was built on the ruins
of an old ecclesiastical establishment, and when its foundations
were being dug various sepulchral remains of a mixed character were
met with--prehistoric, Roman, and mediæval. Tradition says that the
island was originally the site of a heathen temple and a sacred
burying-place, which was subsequently appropriated by the Christians
and used for similar purposes.
When Professor Desor visited the locality in 1864 in search of
lake-dwelling remains, he found on the western margin of this island
numerous piles, associated with some antiquities of the lacustrine
kind so largely found in the Swiss lakes, from which he concluded that
this was the site of a pile-village, and suggested that the whole
island might be of an artificial nature. During the following year
some further excavations were made, but no important results ensued
beyond corroborating the opinion of Desor.
[Illustration: =Fig. 36.=--STARNBERG. All ½ real size.]
In 1874, however, advantage was taken of the low state of the water,
and extensive excavations were made under the superintendence of Mr.
v. Schab, the Government law-officer at Starnberg. Numerous shafts
were dug on the margin of the island, and in all cases a relic-bed
was encountered containing antiquities, apparently of very different
ages. Not only was there abundance of the usual relics of the Stone
Age, but also some of bronze, iron, glass, amber, etc. The collection
of objects then made is thus summarised in Mr. v. Schab's report (B.
291):--Of staghorn 187, bronze 158, stone 69, bone 48, wood 7, iron 6,
glass 3, and amber 1. The collection is deposited in the Ethnological
Museum of Munich, from which I have had the privilege of taking most
of the accompanying illustrations (=Figs. 36= and =37=). There appear
to be more objects in the case in the Museum from the Starnberg
lake-dwelling than Von Schab describes, as, for example, the bronze
socketed celt (=Fig. 36=, No. 9), but on the other hand it is well
known that some have fallen into private hands.
[Illustration: =Fig. 37.=--STARNBERG. Nos. 1 = ⅙, 13 = ¼, and the
rest = ½ real size.]
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