Lacustrine Habitations of Upper Italy, Bavaria, Carinthia and
Carniola, Pomerania, France, and England--The _Crannoges_ of
Ireland.
It was difficult to believe that Switzerland alone possessed the
monopoly of these pile-work-constructions. It was certainly to be
supposed that the southern slopes of the Alps, which were all dotted
over with large and beautiful lakes, must likewise contain constructions
of a similar character; this, at least, was M. Desor's opinion. After
the numerous pre-historic discoveries which had been made in
Switzerland, the Zurich professor proceeded in 1860 to explore the lakes
of Lombardy, being well convinced that there too he should find remains
of lacustrine habitations.
The hopes he had formed were not deceived. Ere long, in fact, M. Desor
obtained from the peat-bogs round Lake Maggiore piles and other objects
similar to those found in the Swiss lakes. These researches were
continued by MM. Gastaldi and Moro, who discovered in the peat-bogs
round this lake several ancient villages built upon piles.
In the Lake of Varese, also in Lombardy, which was examined in 1863 by
MM. Desor, G. de Mortillet, and the Abbé Stoppani, were discovered five
settlements, some of which were of the Stone Age. Subsequently, the Abbé
Ranchet pointed out four others, which raise to the number of nine the
pile works found in this lake. In order to render due honour to MM.
Keller and Desor, who have contributed so much to the investigation and
popularity of lacustrine antiquities, the Abbé Stoppani gave the name of
these _savants_ to two of the settlements.
One of these isles is very curious, as it is inhabited up to the present
day. It is called _Isoletta_ ("small island"), and the Litta family
possess a _château_ upon it.
In the peat-mosses of Brianza, a portion of Lombardy situated to the
north of Milan, the remains of lacustrine constructions have been
discovered, together with bones, fragments of pottery, pieces of
charcoal, and carbonised stone; also weapons, both of bronze and flint.
The Lake of Garda has been searched over by various explorers, who have
discovered in it the sites of several lacustrine habitations. The
authors of these discoveries are Dr. Alberti, of Verona, and MM.
Kosterlitz and Silber, two Austrian officers, who presented all the
objects which they collected to the antiquarian museums of Vienna and
Zurich. The traces of pile-works were first perceived when the works
were in progress which were excavated by the Austrians in 1855 round the
fortress of Peschiera; which proves, at least, that fortresses may
occasionally serve some useful purpose.
A settlement of the Stone Age, which was examined by M. Paolo Lioy, is
situated in a small lake in Venetia, the length of which does not exceed
half a mile, and the depth 30 feet; we allude to the Lake of Fimon, near
Vicenza. M. Lioy discovered oaken piles partially charred, which proves
that the village had at one time been burnt down; also slabs of timber
roughly squared, a canoe hollowed out of a trunk of oak, cakes of clay
which had come from the sides of huts, and still bore the imprint of the
reed-stalks, and no doubt formed a kind of coating inside the huts;
various instruments made of bone, flint, sandstone, granite, and stag's
horn; rings or spindle-weights made of burnt earth, numerous fragments
of rough pottery, merely dried in the sun, and, among all these remains,
a dozen entire vessels.
There were also found stores of acorns, nuts, and water-chestnuts, the
fruit of the sorb-tree, some sloe-stones, &c. A large quantity of animal
bones certified to the existence of the bison, the stag, the wild boar,
the fox, and several other doubtful species. All the long bones were
broken, as is usually the case, for the extraction of the marrow, but
not with the ordinary regularity; they had merely been cracked by blows
with stones.
The investigation of lacustrine antiquities which had been inaugurated
in Switzerland could hardly stop short in its path of progress. Attempts
were made to discover _palafittes_ in other countries, and these
attempts met with success.
Thanks to the initiative action taken by M. Desor, and the liberality of
the Bavarian Government, pile-works of ancient date have been discovered
in six of the Bavarian lakes. Most of them go back to the Stone Age,
but some belong to the bronze epoch. Among the latter we may mention the
_Isle of Roses_, in the Lake of Starnberg, which is, in fact, an
artificial island, like the Isoletta in the Lake of Varese. We have
previously stated that this island has never ceased to be inhabited, and
that a _château_ now exists on it.
The movement spread from one place to another. Austria made it a point
of honour not to remain in the rear of Bavaria, and Professor
Hochstetter was commissioned by the Academy of Sciences at Vienna to
undertake a search for _palafittes_ in the lakes of Carinthia and
Carniola.
These explorations were not without result. In four lakes of Carinthia,
Dr. Hochstetter discovered piles, remains of pottery, bones, nuts, &c.
In the Lake of Reutschach, which was the most closely investigated, he
discovered shallows formed by stones, similar to the _steinbergs_ of
Switzerland. The marshes of Laybach have also furnished instruments of
stag's horn, a perforated stone, and a canoe.
Next to Austria, Prussia took the matter up. Specimens of pile-work were
discovered in several provinces of this kingdom; among these were
Brandenburg and Pomerania, a district rich in marshes. In the environs
of Lubtow the lacustrine constructions have the same characteristics as
those of Robenhausen, on the Lake of Pfæffikon (Switzerland). Two
distinct archæological strata may be distinguished; in the lower are
found, all mingled together, bronze and stone instruments, fragments of
pottery, wheat, barley, and charred peas; the upper stratum belongs to
the iron age.
We have not as yet said anything about France; lacustrine dwellings
have, however, been discovered in some of the departments which border
on Switzerland.
The Lakes of Bourget and Annecy, in Savoy, contain several of them. The
former of these lakes was thoroughly explored by M. Laurent Rabut,
author of an article on the 'Habitations Lacustres de la Savoie,' which
obtained a silver medal at the competition of the learned societies in
1863. In the Lake of Bourget, M. Rabut ascertained the existence of five
or six settlements of the bronze epoch, three of which, those of
Tresserve, Grésine and Châtillon, have been distinguished as furnishing
numerous ancient relics.
The Lake of Paladru (Isère) which has been searched by M. Gustave
Vallier, has afforded similar results. Pile-works are thought to exist
in some other small lakes in the same district--those of Sainte-Hélène,
on the left bank of the Isère, Saint-Martin-de-Belville, and
Saint-Marcel, near Moutiers. Pile-works have also been discovered on the
site of an ancient lake on the banks of the Saône; and in a totally
different district, at the foot of the Pyrenees, as many as five have
been pointed out.
Everything therefore leads us to believe that if we searched with care
the peat-mosses and pools which are very common in a good many of the
French departments, we should discover the vestiges of various
pre-historic epochs.
In order to complete the enumeration of the lacustrine constructions of
Europe, we may state that they have been found in Denmark in the Lake of
Maribo, and in England in the county of Norfolk.
With these constructions we must also connect the _crannoges_ or
artificial islands of Ireland, the first of which was discovered in 1836
by Sir W. R. Wilde, a member of the Royal Academy of Dublin. Since this
date various investigations have been made of these objects, and, at the
present time, no less than fifty _crannoges_ have been discovered,
distributed among the various counties of Ireland.
[Illustration: Fig. 150.--Vertical Section of a _Crannoge_ in the
Ardakillin Lake.]
Most of these islets were composed of heaps of stones held together by
piles, nearly in the same way as in the _ténevières_ in Switzerland; but
the _crannoges_ differ from the latter in being raised above the water.
Some of them, however, are formed by a collection of vertical piles and
horizontal joists, constituting an external inclosure, and even internal
compartments, inside which all kinds of remains were collected. This
kind are called _stockaded_ islands. They are generally of an oval or
circular shape, and their dimensions are always kept within rather
narrow limits. In his work on 'Pre-historic Times,' Sir John Lubbock
gives the above sketch of a _crannoge_ in the Ardakillin Lake.
Captain Mudge, of the Royal British Navy, has described a hut which he
found at a depth of 16 feet, in the Drumkellin marsh. Its area was about
5 feet square, and its height 10 feet; it included two stories, each
about 4-1/2 feet high. The roof was flat, and the hut was surrounded by
a fence of piles, doubtless intended to separate it from other adjacent
huts, the remains of which are still to be perceived. The whole
construction had been executed by means of stone instruments, a fact
that was proved by the nature of the cuts that were still visible on
some of the pieces of wood. Added to this, a hatchet, a chisel, and an
arrow-head, all made of flint, were found on the floor of the cabin, and
left no doubt whatever on this point. This, therefore, was in fact a
habitation belonging to the Stone Age. Some nuts and a large quantity of
broken shells were scattered over the ground. A large flat stone,
perforated with a little hole in the middle, was found on the spot; it
was probably used to break the nuts by means of round pebbles picked up
outside.
From some of these settlements considerable masses of bones have been
obtained, which have, alas, been utilised as manure. Sir John Lubbock
tells us that the _crannoge_ of Dunshauglin alone has furnished more
than 150 cartloads of bones. These bones belong to the following
species:--the ox, the pig, the goat, the sheep, the horse, the ass, the
dog, the fox, the roe, the fallow-deer, and the great Irish stag, now
extinct. If all other proof were wanting, the presence of the remains of
this latter animal would be sufficient to indicate that certain
_crannoges_ date back to the Stone Age; but as in this case we evidently
have to do with the polished-stone epoch, it is also proved that the
gigantic antlered stag existed in Ireland at a much later date than on
the continent.
Various historical records testify to the fact, that the _crannoges_
were inhabited up to the end of the sixteenth century. They then
constituted a kind of fortress, in which petty chiefs braved for a long
time the royal power. After the definitive pacification of the country
they were completely abandoned.