Palustrine Habitations or Marsh-Villages--Surveys made by
MM. Strobel and Pigorini of the _Terramares_ of Tuscany--The
_Terramares_ of Brazil.
Having described the _lacustrine_ habitations which have been discovered
in various parts of Europe, we must now mention the so-called
_palustrine_ habitations, as peculiar to the bronze epoch. This name has
been given to that kind of village, the remains of which have been
discovered round marshes and pools. Upper Italy is the locality in which
these settlements have been pointed out.
The name of _palustrine settlements_, or _marnieras_, has been given to
the sites of ancient villages established by means of piles on marshes
or pools of no great size, which in the course of time have been filled
up by mould of a peaty character, containing a quantity of organic and
other _detritus_.
The discovery of those _palustrine settlements_ is due to MM. Strobel
and Pigorini, who have designated them by the name of _terramares_.
This term is applied by these _savants_ to the accumulation of ashes,
charcoal, animal bones, and remains of all kinds which have been thrown
away by man all round his dwellings, and have accumulated there during
the lapse of centuries. The name which has been given them was derived
from the fact that they furnish a kind of earthy ammoniacal manure,
known in the district by the name of _terra mare_.
These accumulations are the representatives of the Danish
kitchen-middens; but with this difference, that instead of dating back
to the Stone Age, the former belong to the bronze epoch.
_Terramares_ are numerous in the districts of Parma and Modena; they
are, however, almost entirely confined to the plain which extends
between the Po, the Apennines, the Adda, and the Reno, forming an area
of about 60 miles long, and 30 miles wide. In a general way, they form
small mounds which rise from 6 to 12 feet above the level of the plain;
as they go down some depth in the ground, their total thickness is in
some places as much as 20 feet. Very few are seen having an area
exceeding 9 acres.
Excavations which have been made in several spots enable a tolerably
exact account to be given of the mode of construction adopted in these
palustrine settlements. The _marniera_ of Castione, in particular, has
furnished us with valuable information on this point; and we shall
describe this settlement as a type of the rest. Piles from 6 to 10 feet
in length, and 4 to 6 inches in diameter (fig. 151), formed of trunks of
trees, either whole or split, and pointed at the ends by some rough
tool, were sunk to the depth of some inches in the bed of the hollow.
Some of them still show on their tops the marks of the blows that they
received when they were driven in. They were placed at intervals of from
18 inches to 6 feet; and connecting-beams from 6 to 10 feet in length,
placed horizontally, and crossing one another, bound the piles together,
and insured the solidity of the whole construction. On these cross-beams
rested a floor (fig. 152) formed of joists 1 to 3 inches thick, 6 to 12
inches wide, and 5 to 7 feet long.
[Illustration: Fig. 151.--Vertical Section of the _Marniera_ of
Castione.]
[Illustration: Fig. 152.--Floor of the _Marniera_ of Castione.]
Fig. 153 gives the plan of the tie-beams and piles of the _marniera_ of
Castione, taken from the author's work.[34] These slabs or joists were
not fixed in any way; at least, no trace now exists of any fastening.
They seemed to have been provided by splitting trunks of trees by means
of wooden wedges, a number of these wedges having been found in the
peaty earth. Neither the saw nor the gimlet appear to have been
employed; but the square holes have been cut out by means of the chisel.
The timber that was used was principally ash and oak.
[Illustration: Fig. 153.--Plan of the Piles and Cross-beams in the
_Marniera_ of Castione.]
The floor was covered with beaten earth to a thickness of 10 to 12
inches. Fragments of this kind of paving were found scattered about in
two sandy heaps, almost entirely devoid of other _débris_, whilst the
adjacent earth, of a blackish colour, contained a large quantity of
relics of all kinds. It is probable that the huts of the inhabitants of
the _marniera_ were situated upon these sandy heaps, and that the
dark-coloured earth is the final result of the accumulation of refuse
and various kinds of _detritus_ on the same spot.
It is not known whether the layer of beaten earth extended over the
whole surface of the floor, or was confined to the interior of the
habitations. In the former case, it is probable that it was rammed down
with less care on the outside than on the inside of the huts, as is
shown by the discovery of a storehouse for corn, the floor of which is
formed by nothing but a layer of sandy earth placed upon the planks.
This storehouse, which, from the use to which it was put, could not have
been used as a dwelling by any one, measured 13 feet in length, and 10
feet in width. It contained carbonised beans and wheat, spread in a
layer of about 4 inches thick.
MM. Strobel and Pigorini found no remains of huts in the _marniera_ of
Castione: probably because, having been built entirely of wood, they
were completely destroyed by fire, numerous traces of which may still be
detected. In addition to the carbonised corn and fruit already
mentioned, many other objects bearing the evident marks of fire were, in
fact, collected at Castione. The floor-slabs, the tie-beams, and the
tops of the piles were often found to be half consumed.
But although at Castione there is no evidence forthcoming in respect to
huts, information which bears upon this point has been obtained at other
spots. MM. Strobel and Pigorini have ascertained that the palustrine
dwellings bore a great similarity to those on the Swiss lakes. The sides
were lined with boughs, and the interior was daubed with clay. In Italy,
just as in Switzerland, certain fragments of the clayey coating which
have been hardened and preserved by fire have enabled us to draw these
inferences.
At Castione several beds of ashes and charcoal containing remains of
meals, pointed out the sites of the domestic hearths, round which they,
doubtless, assembled to eat their food. Another bed of charcoal, mixed
with straw, wheat, and pieces of burnt pottery, was found in a peculiar
situation--it was embedded in a bank of calcareous pebbles vitrified on
the surface; this bank was about 5 feet wide, and about 8 inches in
thickness. The explorers thought that it was, perhaps, a place which had
been devoted to the fusion of metals.
On the edge of the basin of the marsh, a kind of rampart or defensive
work was discovered, composed of slabs as much as 16 feet in length,
laid horizontally one over the other. These slabs were tied down by
stakes driven in obliquely, and likewise placed one above the other,
their ends being inserted between the slabs.
This last discovery, added to other indications, led MM. Strobel and
Pigorini to the supposition that the pile-work of Castione, and
doubtless also those in all the _marnieras_, were in the first place
constructed as places of defence, and were subsequently converted into
fixed and permanent residences. The basin of the marsh having been
gradually filled up by the accumulations of _débris_ resulting from the
presence of man, the habitations were built on a solid foundation, and a
great portion of the former floor was done away with, which would
account for so little of it now remaining.
The objects discovered in the _terramares_ and _marnieras_ do not
essentially differ from those found in the pile-works of Switzerland.
They are almost all worn or broken, just as might be expected from
finding them in rubbish heaps. There are a great quantity of fragments
of pottery of a greyish or dark-coloured clay mixed with grains of
quartz, imperfectly baked, and made without the aid of a potter's wheel.
The ornamentation is, in general, of a very simple character, but the
shapes of the ears, or handles, are very varied. Some of the vessels are
furnished with a spout or holes for the liquid to flow out. The
_terramares_ also contain supports for vessels with round or pointed
bottoms.
In the _marniera_ of San Ambrogio a slab of pottery was found,
elliptical in shape, and about half an inch in thickness, concave on one
side and convex on the other, and pierced with seventeen circular holes
about a quarter of an inch in diameter. The idea was entertained that
this object was used as a kind of fire-grating, for it bore traces of
the long-continued action of fire.
The other objects most commonly found were weights made of baked earth,
and perhaps used for the weaving-loom, much worn in the place where the
cord passed through on which they were hung; _fusaiolas_, or
spindle-whorls, very varied both in shape and size, likewise made of
baked earth; large mill-stones with a polished surface. Next, we have
poniards or spear-heads, hatchets, and hair-pins, all made of bronze.
The _marniera_ of San Ambrogio has furnished a mould indicating that
bronze was melted and cast in this district.
An attentive study of the bones of animals contained in the _terramares_
has led to the following information being obtained as to the _fauna_ of
Upper Italy during the bronze epoch.
With respect to the mammals which lived in a wild state, the existence
has been ascertained of a species of stag of much greater size than the
present variety, and about equal to that of the lacustrine settlements
of Switzerland (fig. 154); also of a wild-boar, much more powerful than
that of Sardinia or even of Algeria, the roe, the bear, the rat, and the
porcupine. In different spots have been found stags' horns and bones,
and also sloe-stones which have retained the impression of the teeth of
some small rodent. The bear, the wild-boar, the stag and the roe, have,
at the present day, disappeared from the country. The porcupine, too,
has migrated into regions further south, which leads to the supposition
that the temperature of the provinces of Parma and Modena is a little
lowered since the date of the bronze epoch.
[Illustration: Fig. 154.--The Chase during the Bronze Epoch.]
It is to be remarked that in these settlements, contrary to what has
been noticed in Switzerland, in the lacustrine habitations belonging to
the Stone Age, the remains of wild animals are met with much more rarely
than those of domestic animals; this must be consequent on a superior
and more advanced stage of civilisation having existed in Italy. Among
the domestic species found we may mention the dog, two breeds of which,
of different sizes, must have existed; the pig of the peat-bogs, the
same variety as that of which the bones were discovered in Switzerland;
the horse, the remains of which, although rare, testify to the existence
of two breeds, one large and bulky, the other of slighter and more
elegant proportions; the ass, of which there are but few bones, could
not, therefore, have been very common; the ox, the remains of which are
on the contrary very abundant, like the dog and the horse, is
represented by two distinct breeds, the more powerful of which appears
to have descended from the _Bos primigenius_ or _Urus_; lastly, the
sheep and the goat, the remains of which can scarcely be clearly
distinguished on account of their great anatomical resemblance.
When we compare the present _fauna_ with that of which we have just
given the details, we may perceive several important modifications. Thus
the pig of the peat-bogs, one breed of oxen, and a breed of sheep (the
smallest) have become entirely extinct; and the common sheep, the goat,
the horse, and the ass have assumed much more important dimensions. With
regard to the wild species of mammals, we have already said that some
have become less in size, and others have disappeared. Hence results one
proof of a fact which is beyond dispute, although often called in
question, namely, that the intelligent action of man working by means of
domestication on wild natures, will ultimately succeed in ameliorating,
reclaiming, and perfecting them.
The skulls and the long bones found in the _terramares_ are almost
always broken for the purpose of extracting the brain and the marrow, a
very ancient usage which had endured to this comparatively late epoch.
But instead of being split longitudinally, as was the case in preceding
epochs, they are generally broken across at one end. The _terramares_
and the _kitchen-middens_ have this peculiarity in common--that all the
dogs' skulls found in them have been intentionally broken; a fact which
proves that in Italy, as in Denmark, this faithful guest or servant of
man was occasionally, in default of some better food, and doubtless with
much regret, used as an article of subsistence.
No remains of fish have been found in these _marnieras_; from this, MM.
Strobel and Pigorini have justly concluded that the inhabitants of these
pile-works were not fishermen, and that, at all events, the water which
surrounded them was shallow and of limited extent.
The species of birds, molluscs and insects, the remains of which have
been found in the _terramares_, are likewise determined. The existence
of the domestic fowl and the duck, no doubt living in complete liberty,
has been duly recognised; but it is thought that the appearance of these
species must not be dated further back than the _end_ of the bronze
epoch, and perhaps even the beginning of that of iron.
The examination of the insect remains has enabled us to ascertain that
the refuse food and rubbish must have lain for some little time in front
of the doors of the habitations before it was pushed into the water; for
in it, flies, and other insects of the kind, found time to be born, to
mature, and to undergo their whole series of metamorphoses; a fact which
is proved by the perforated and empty envelopes of their chrysalides.
We mention this last fact as one of the most curious instances of the
results which science and inference may, in combination, arrive at when
devoted to the novel and interesting study of some of the earlier
stages in man's existence. But, on the other hand, it gives us but a
poor idea of the cleanliness of the Italian race during the bronze
epoch. It would seem to us that a feeling of the dignity inherent in the
body of man, and the cares that it so imperiously claims, would have
been now more strongly developed than at a period when men dwelt
confined in caves. This, however, is not the case. But have we, in the
present day, any right to be astonished when we see, even now, the
prevalence, in some of the great cities of America, of certain practices
so disgusting in character and so opposed to the public health?
Osculati, an Italian traveller, relates that at all the street corners
in the city of Guayaquil, in the republic of Ecuador, heaps of filth are
to be seen which exhale an insupportable odour. Similar heaps exist at
the very gates of Mexico, where, at the present time, they form small
hills. These facts ought to render us indulgent towards the neglect of
cleanliness by our ancestors during the bronze epoch.
Such were the animal remains collected in the _terramares_. The
vegetable remains consisted of grains of carbonised corn, broken nuts,
acorns, halves of burnt apples, stones of the dog-berry, plums and
grapes.
In concluding our consideration of the palustrine settlements, we may
add, that some have recently been discovered in Moravia and Mecklenburg.
At Olmutz, a city of Moravia, M. Jeitteler, a learned Viennese, has
found piles sunk into the peat, along with various bronze and stone
objects, ornamented pottery, charcoal, charred wheat, numerous animal
bones, and a human skeleton of a brachycephalous race. All the facts
lead to the belief that this will not be the last discovery of the kind.
We must also state that the _terramares_, or deposits of the remains of
habitations on the edge of marshes, are not peculiar to Europe
exclusively. On the coast of Africa (at San Vicente) M. Strobel found
remains of an exactly similar nature; and Dr. Henrique Naegeli, a
distinguished naturalist of Rio Janeiro, has testified to the existence
on the coast of Brazil of like deposits, which he proposes to subject to
a thorough examination.[35]
FOOTNOTES:
[34] 'Les Terramares et les Pilotages du Parmesan;' Milan, 1864.
(Extract from the 'Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze naturali.')
[35] 'Matériaux pour l'histoire positive et philosophique de l'Homme,'
by G. de Mortillet. Paris, 1865: vol. i. p. 397.