_Relics._--More trustworthy knowledge of the social conditions and general culture of the terramaricoli is to be derived from a study of the remains of their villages than if they had come within the scope of the earliest written records. The ordinary _débris_ here accumulated, such as the more imperishable portions of food refuse, stray objects, etc., are arranged in chronological sequence like geological strata, the more recent being on the surface, and the oldest at the bottom. Wherever an object of human industry happened to drop there it remained, marking in all time coming its relative place in the duration of the community. The industrial remains show that these people founded their dwellings in the early Bronze Age. The existence of a few flint implements and other objects of the Stone Age is quite in harmony with the usual overlap of the relics of dying customs in the transition period. That the weaving of cloth was largely practised by them is proved by the extraordinary variety and abundance of spindle-whorls and loom-weights. They made ornamental buttons of terra-cotta, horn, and bone; as well as pins, combs, and other objects of the latter materials. Wood was also largely used in the manufacture of a great variety of things, as handles, dishes, spoons, floorings, etc. (B. 328e.) That they worked their implements and ornaments of bronze is proved by the number of foundry objects collected, as bronze slag, stone moulds, etc. (=Fig. 83=, Nos. 14 to 17). We have already seen that the terramaricoli had an extensive knowledge of the ceramic art. The vessels in daily use were no less varied and elegant in shape than our modern jugs, teapots, cups, bowls, basins, saucers, flower-vases, etc. Some had everted rims and the majority flat bases. The ornamentation consisted of parallel and wavy ridges, knobs (sometimes perforated), triangles, and crosses of incised grooves, circular or semicircular impressions, etc. But most characteristic are the appendages attached to the tops of the handles (=Fig. 84=, Nos. 21 and 22), which were of the most varied and fanciful forms. These remarkable handles are not found on pottery beyond the area circumscribed by the terremare. Nor is the fully-developed _ansa lunata_ found in the lake-dwellings within this area, with the exception of the stations at Peschiera, Mincio and Il Bor, in the south-east corner of Lake Garda. Rudimentary forms of these handles, such as those from the lake-dwellings of Polada (=Fig. 67=, Nos. 13 and 14), Arquà Petrarca and Fimon (=Fig. 66=), are also found in the western district of the Po valley (=Fig. 48=, No. 16). The terremare would, therefore, appear to be somewhat posterior to the earlier lake-dwellings. But, on the other hand, the later lake-dwellings (Peschiera and Mincio) were posterior to the terremare. Not only does the pottery of the palafitte at Peschiera include the characteristic _anse lunate_ (=Fig. 65=, No. 26), but among its bronze