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
_Wooden Objects._--Small spades precisely similar to those used by
children while amusing themselves by digging the sand on the seashore.
Numbers of large casks the staves of which are kept together by three
iron hoops. In diameter these casks are not more than an ordinary
herring barrel, but in length they are from six to seven feet, and
about one-third from the top there is a small square hole 4 or 5
inches in diameter. The ends of the staves at the top rim of some are
much decayed, but the rest is perfectly sound, and for this reason
they are supposed to have stood in water with only the upper parts
exposed. They have been found in almost all the _terpen_ examined,
usually at regular distances, and deeply buried. One, 6 feet high, was
found resting inside a vat 3 feet deep, and its highest point was over
two yards below the surface of the mound. Canoes and small paddles may
also be mentioned as occasional relics.
_Nondescript Objects._--Cock spurs; egg-shells of the domestic fowl
and goose, some of which, singularly enough, were, when found, still
unbroken; shells of various kinds of sea-urchins, star-fishes, and
mussels; amber beads, also this material in the unworked form;
amorphous vivianite; large quantities of the _débris_ of flax; one
curious object is a flute made of the shank bone of a small animal;
one small fictile dish has four feet, and a few others are in the form
of three cups attached. At Aalzum, on the occasion of my visit, among
the articles purchased by Mr. Battaerd were a mitten and some sort of
head-dress like a felt wide-awake. The mitten had only one stall, for
the thumb.
In the _terp_ called Beetgum there was found an urn, like those
from the dolmens of the Drenthe, containing some burnt bones. Human
bones are sometimes found, but they are supposed to have belonged to
secondary burials. At Aalzum a grave was found containing a body and
along with it was a fibula of the Merovingian period, with a flat back
containing a beautiful mosaic pattern of variegated glass and amber.
_Fauna._--Osseous remains representing the following animals:--Horse,
ox (several varieties--_Bos taurus_, _primgenius_, _longifrons_,
_brevicornis_), cat, dog, sheep, wild boar, deer, roe, and fallow
deer. Among the skulls of these animals (of which there are many) are
one or two of the four-horned sheep. It may be of interest to note
that the osseous remains of this animal were among those identified by
Sir W. R. Wilde as coming from the crannog of Lagore (page 351).
WARFEN (EAST FRIESLAND).
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