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
_Piles._--The piles were from 8 to 12 inches in diameter, singly
and irregularly placed, but sometimes in groups; some were hard and
black (oak), and others soft, but they bore no traces of any cutting
implements. In some instances they were surrounded with heaps of
stones. They penetrated deeply, and one which was pulled up measured
18 feet in length. No traces of a gangway stretching to the shore
could be discovered.
_Relic-bed._--Below a thin covering of vegetable-mould there was
a peaty bed about 16 inches thick, and underneath this, lake-marl
containing various kinds of fresh-water shells to the extent of 3
feet 4 inches. To this succeeded the _strato archeologico_ with its
various contents--decomposed organic matter, broken bones, fragments
of pottery, flint implements and other worked stones, bits of straw,
reeds, charcoal, clay plaster, burnt faggots, etc. This bed was about
12 inches thick, and its matrix was of a yellowish-black colour,
which, when cut into, had a doughy consistency and emitted a strong
sulphurous smell.
_Relics._--The rough stone implements were made out of the limestone
of the neighbouring hills, very seldom of sandstone, but more
frequently of flint from the spurs of the Alps. These flints were in
considerable numbers in the form of chips, nuclei, and unfinished
implements, very few of which were well formed; a few rudely-formed
arrow-points, lance-heads, knives, and saws or scrapers; pebbles of
limestone, probably hammer-stones; stone discs, 2 to 4 inches in
diameter (only one was perforated); also numerous sling-stones made of
sandstone, basalt, and serpentine; one fragment of granite, flattened
and polished on all the four sides, but only one small polished stone
celt. Many of the bones were worked, and there were tynes of staghorn,
sharpened at the top and perforated at the base; also pointers,
spear-heads, spatulæ, and splinters of all kinds.
The fragments of pottery were so plentiful that a handful of mud could
not be taken up without finding some pieces in it. Amongst some
thousands of fragments about 50 vessels in a more or less perfect
condition were picked out. They are all of a dark colour, with handles
attached, generally below the rim, and flat bases. Some of them have
everted lips, and many are ornamented with knobs, depressions, or
raised ridges (circular, wavy, or confluent). Some of the handles
approach the form known as _anse lunate_, others terminate in a round
button (_ansa mono-appendiculata_). One small bowl had two handles.
The paste was of two qualities: one fine, and the other mixed with
coarse bits of gravel, quartz, and carbonate of lime.
Numerous specimens of spindle-whorls. They are flat circular cakes of
clay, like small wheels, perforated and unornamented.
_Organic Remains._--Fruit of the water-chestnut (_Trapa natans_),
kernels of cherries, hazel-nuts, acorns, bramble seeds, etc.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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