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
On the western and more sheltered shores of Lake Garda Professor
Stoppani, of Milan, found traces of several stations, particularly in
the Gulf San Felice di Scovolo, three of which were situated close
to its northern shore, and two close to the Isola Lecchi on the
landward side of the island. As few relics were found--only a few
flint objects--and as the piles in all these stations were near the
shore and in comparatively shallow water, Stoppani concluded they
belonged to the Stone Age. These explorations were a sequence to the
first researches in Lake Varese, so auspiciously initiated by Desor
and Mortillet, and which Stoppani followed up by making an exploratory
tour of the lakes of North Italy. The observations of Stoppani,
however, have not been confirmed by any subsequent researches,
though this particular locality is pre-eminently the most fitted for
lake-dwellings in the whole of this extensive sheet of water. (B. 87.)
In 1879, under the skilful management of Cav. Stefano de Stefani (R.
Ispettore degli Scavi, Verona), dredging operations were resumed at
the old place in the harbour of Peschiera, which considerably added to
the number of relics from this station.
In the spring of the following year De Stefani transferred his
operations to an entirely new locality in the river Mincio, below the
railway bridge, where the stream divides into a number of separate
channels. Among the islands thus formed he had reason to suspect
the existence of pile-dwellings, and in this expectation he was not
disappointed, as he succeeded in finding not only the submerged piles
and transverse beams, but also a large number of flint, and some
bronze objects, and even a few Roman remains.
As both these investigations were undertaken by orders from the
Minister of Public Instruction and at the expense of Government
the relics were sent to enrich the prehistoric department of the
Kircherian Museum at Rome.
The people of Verona were greatly chagrined to find that these
successive discoveries, which had now attained much celebrity in
archæological circles, were constantly slipping out of their hands,
and that in their own local museum there was scarcely a single article
illustrative of the culture and social condition of these early
lake-dwellers. To rectify this state of matters and make some amends
for their past neglect the Academical Commission was induced to order
a fresh investigation under De Stefani, whose recent success was
characterised as "risultati splendidissimi." Again the excavations of
De Stefani were crowned with great success. In 1881 his attentions
were directed to Peschiera, which yielded him a considerable number
of articles, being the fourth important supply since its discovery
in 1851. In 1883 the station in the Mincio was subjected to further
explorations, and De Stefani's labours were rewarded by a rich
harvest of relics, mostly of the Stone Age, which included many flint
implements, as knives, hatchets, saws, arrow-points, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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