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
RECENT EXPLORATIONS.--While M. Vouga was one day making excavations
near a group of piles, which he considered to have been supports
for a bridge, he came upon the foundations of a wooden house, and
in the course of clearing it out he made the important discovery
that it had been situated on the brink of a deep channel, which had
subsequently become filled up with sand and gravel. The most natural
explanation was that this channel was an ancient river-bed which,
when the house was constructed, formed the outlet of the lake. With
this idea paramount in his mind, Vouga determined to trace out its
direction and bearings. About 20 yards farther up--_i.e._ in the
direction of the lake--he came upon the remains of a second wooden
house, with its foundation beams still _in situ_, and two of its
containing walls (which had evidently fallen over) lying one over
the other. Here the bank of the channel formed a steep descent of 10
feet deep. The floor of this structure was formed of two square-cut
beams, each over 16 feet in length and 8 inches in thickness, having
a series of closely-set mortised holes for transverse beams. Its
breadth was 9 feet 2 inches, and it lay 2½ feet below the surface,
and about 7 feet higher than the bottom of the river. The two sides of
the building were formed of three beams corresponding in length with
that of the flooring, and about 2½ feet apart, and having transverse
mountings and a trellis-work of branches. One of these had apparently
fallen into the river, as its end reached nearly to the bottom of
the channel. Pursuing his investigations still in the direction of
the lake, he came upon the remains of a third building, near which
were the piles of a second bridge. The space between the two bridges
was about 100 yards, and, judging from the position of the piles,
this bridge was directed to the same point as the former--probably
La Sauge, at the opposite corner of the lake. These bridges were
supported on a succession of parallel rows of oak piles 4 to 6 inches
in diameter, and placed at intervals of 3 to 20 yards; and each row
contained five or six piles, from half a foot to 3 feet apart. About
50 yards above the second bridge a fourth dwelling was encountered,
but it appeared to have been already pillaged of its contents. Near
this our explorer proceeded to clear a portion of the bed of the
river, and lying in the mud and gravel at a depth of 10 feet from the
original surface he found a large quantity of antiquities--swords,
lances, axes, chains, razors, various wooden implements, fragments
of a large vase, the entire wheel and other parts of a chariot,
together with the bones of men, horses, and oxen. A fifth building was
subsequently discovered between the third and fourth, so that we have
here the evidence of a row of five houses situated along the right
bank of the ancient river, and all within a distance of 200 yards.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account