Weapons, Instruments, and Utensils contained in the various
Lacustrine Settlements in Europe, enabling us to become acquainted
with the Manners and Customs of Man during the Bronze Epoch.
We have just spoken of the discovery and investigation of the
_lacustrine habitations_ found in various parts of Europe, and also of
the _palustrine villages_ of Northern Italy. These rich deposits have
thrown a considerable light on the primitive history of the human race.
With the elements that have been thus placed at our disposal, it will be
possible to reconstruct the domestic life of the tribes of the bronze
epoch, that is, to describe the weapons, instruments, and utensils which
were proper to the every-day proceedings of this period.
In order to give perspicuity to our representation or account, we have
classed the lacustrine habitations under the head of the _bronze _epoch.
But we must by no means forget that these lacustrine villages contained
other objects besides those belonging to the bronze epoch; there were
also found in them a number of articles which must be referred to the
preceding period, that is, the polished-stone epoch.
It is a question indifferent to our purpose, whether the lacustrine
villages were constructed during the Stone Age, as inferred from the
presence in some settlements of stone objects only, or whether the
habitations were built during the bronze epoch, some of the articles
made of stone and dating back to the preceding period being still
preserved in use. For it is certain that the larger number of lacustrine
settlements do not go back beyond the bronze epoch. But as certain
objects made of stone form a portion of the implements found in these
ancient habitations, we must commence by describing these relics of the
Stone Age; although we shall considerably abridge this description, so
as to avoid repeating those details which we have already given in the
preceding chapters.
The stone weapons and instruments are found to consist, in Switzerland
as elsewhere, of hatchets, spear-heads and arrow-heads, hammers, saws,
knives and chisels.
The hatchets and hammers are made of various materials, as flint,
quartzite, diorite, nephrite, jade, serpentine, &c. But the other
weapons and implements are, nearly all of them, of flint.
The hatchet was in continual use, not merely as a weapon but as a tool;
thus, very numerous specimens of it are found in the Swiss lakes.
The hatchets, however, are generally speaking, small in size. Their
length varies from 2 to 8 inches, and their width, at the cutting edge,
from 1-1/2 to 2 inches. Fig. 155 represents one of the flint hatchets.
They are the same shape as the Danish hatchets during the polished-stone
epoch.
[Illustration: Fig. 155.--Stone Hatchet from the Lacustrine Habitations
of Switzerland.]
The most simple plan of fixing a handle to the small-sized hatchets,
which were in fact chisels, consisted in inserting them into a piece of
stag's horn, hollowed out for this purpose at one end. In this way they
obtained a kind of chisel which was very ready of use. Fig. 156
represents this kind of handle.
[Illustration: Fig. 156.--Stone Chisel with Stag's-horn Handle from the
Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.]
There was also another mode of fixing handles to these instruments. The
shaped flint was previously fixed in a holder of stag's horn. This
holder was itself perforated through the middle with a round hole, in
order to receive a wooden handle. It then became a complete hatchet.
Fig. 157 represents one of these hatchets fitted with a handle, in a way
similar to many of the specimens in the Museum of Saint-Germain.
[Illustration: Fig. 157.--Flint Hammer, fitted with a Stag's-horn
Handle.]
This mode of insertion into a handle is frequently met with during the
polished-stone epoch, as we have already stated upon the authority of
Boucher de Perthes (see fig. 112).
There was also another way of adapting for use the stone chisels and
hammers. The following is the mode employed. The flint was inserted into
a short holder of stag's horn, hollowed out at one end for this purpose,
the other end of the piece of horn being cut square. This squared end,
which was thinner than the rest of the holder, was fitted into a wooden
handle, which had been perforated with a hole of the same shape and
size.
M. Desor, in his 'Mémoire sur les Palafittes,' supplies the following
sketch (fig. 158), as representing these double-handled hatchets.
[Illustration: Fig. 158.--Stone Hatchet, with double Handle of Wood and
Stag's Horn.]
It is very seldom that hatchets of this type are met with in a complete
state in the lacustrine habitations of Switzerland; the handles have
generally disappeared. In other localities, where the hatchets are very
plentiful, very few holders are found. Is it not the case that in these
spots the stone was the special object of work and not the handles?
There were, in fact, in Switzerland, as in France and Belgium, workshops
devoted to the manufacture of these articles. The large number of
hatchets, either just commenced or defective in workmanship, which have
been found in some of the principal lacustrine settlements leave no
doubt on this point.
The finest and most carefully-wrought instruments are the hammers and
double, or hatchet-hammers. Most of them are made of serpentine. One of
the ends is generally rounded or flattened, whilst the other tapers off
either into a point or a cutting edge, as represented in figs. 159 and
160, taken from M. Desor's work. They are perforated with a round hole
intended to receive a handle of wood. This hole is so sharply and
regularly cut out, that it is difficult to believe it could have been
made with nothing better than a flint tool. Metal alone would appear to
be capable of effecting such finished work. This is one of the facts
which tend to the idea that the lacustrine settlements, which have been
ascribed to the Stone Age, belong rather to the bronze epoch.
[Illustration: Fig. 159-160.--Serpentine Hatchet-hammers, from the
Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.]
Fig. 161 represents another hatchet-hammer obtained from the Swiss
lakes.
[Illustration: Fig. 161.--Another Hatchet-hammer, from the Lacustrine
Habitations of Switzerland.]
The knives and saws have nothing remarkable about them. They are mere
flakes of flint, long and narrow in shape, the cutting edge or teeth
being on the widest side. There are some which are fitted into handles
of stag's horn, as represented in fig. 162, taken from M. Desor's work.
[Illustration: Fig. 162.--Flint Saw fitted into a piece of Stag's Horn.]
They must have been fastened into the handles by means of bitumen, for
traces of this substance have been found on some of the handles. The
same plan was adopted in order to fix the hatchets in their holders.
The spear-heads (fig. 163) are very skilfully fashioned; their shape is
regular, and the chiselling very perfect, although inferior to that
observed in Denmark. They are made level on one side, and with a
longitudinal middle ridge on the other.
[Illustration: Fig. 163.--Flint Spear-head from the Lacustrine
settlements of Switzerland.]
The arrow-heads are very varied in shape (fig. 164). In delicacy of
workmanship they are in no way inferior to the spear or javelin-heads.
[Illustration: Fig. 164.--Various shapes of Flint Arrow-heads, from the
Lacustrine settlements of Switzerland.]
The cutting of these small objects must have required much labour and
skill. Some are toothed on the edges, which must have rendered the
wounds inflicted by them much more dangerous. The greater part of these
arrow-heads are made of flint, but some have been found the material of
which is bone, and even stag's horn.
The arrow-heads were fixed into the shafts by means of bitumen. This
plan is represented in figs. 165 and 166, which are given by M.
Mortillet in his 'Promenades préhistoriques à l'Exposition Universelle.'
[Illustration: Fig. 165.--Arrow-head of Bone fixed on the Shaft by means
of Bitumen.]
[Illustration: Fig. 166.--Stone Arrow-head fixed on the Shaft by means
of Bitumen.]
Sometimes they were merely attached to the shaft by a ligature of string
(fig. 167).
[Illustration: Fig. 167.--Arrow-head fixed on the Shaft by a Ligature of
String.]
A few relics have been discovered of the bows which were used to impel
these arrows. They were made of yew, and roughly cut.
Tools and instruments of bone seem, like those made of flint, to have
been much in use. In addition to the arrow-heads which we have just
mentioned, there have also been found piercers, or bodkins of various
shapes (figs. 168 and 169), chisels for working in wood (fig. 170), pins
with lenticular heads (fig. 171), needles perforated sometimes with one
eye and sometimes with two, and occasionally hollowed out round the top
in a circular groove, so as to attach the thread.
Figs. 168, 169, 170 and 171 are given by M. Desor in his 'Mémoire sur
les Palafittes.'
[Illustration: Fig. 168.--Bone Bodkin, from the Lacustrine Habitations
of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 169.--Bone Bodkin, from the Lacustrine Habitations
of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 170.--Carpenter's Chisel, from the Lacustrine
Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 171.--Bone Needle.]
It is probable that, as during the reindeer epoch, garments were sewn by
means of the needle and the bodkin, the latter piercing the holes
through which the needle passed the thread.
That kind of needle which has a hole in the middle and is pointed at the
two ends, which is found in large numbers in the lacustrine settlements,
must doubtless have been used as a hook for fishing. When the fish had
swallowed the bait, the two points stuck into the flesh, and it was
then easy to pull out the captive. Some of these fish-hooks are carved
out of boars' tusks.
Stag's horn was likewise employed for several other purposes. A kind of
pick-axe was sometimes made of it (fig. 172); also harpoons (fig. 173),
harpoons with a double row of barbs (fig. 174), and small cups of
conical shape (fig. 175), perforated with a hole in the upper part so
that they could be suspended if required.
[Illustration: Fig. 172.--Pick-axe of Stag's Horn.]
[Illustration: Fig. 173.--Harpoon made of Stag's Horn, from the
Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 174.--Harpoon made of Stag's Horn, from the
Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 175.--Vessel made of Stag's Horn.]
The taste for personal adornment was not foreign to the nature of the
primitive people of Switzerland. Canine teeth and incisors of various
animals, rings and beads made of bone or stag's horn, all united in a
necklace, formed one of their most usual adornments.
They also made use of hair-pins and bone combs. These pins were finished
off with a knob, and combined elegance and simplicity in their shape;
they would, indeed, be no disfigurement to the _coiffure_ of the women
of modern times.
Such were the instruments, utensils and tools, used for the purpose of
domestic life, which have been found in the lacustrine habitations of
Switzerland belonging to the Stone Age. We will now pass on to the
objects of the same character, peculiar to the bronze epoch.
The quantity of bronze objects which, up to the present time, have been
collected from the Swiss lakes is very considerable. The finest
collection in the country, that of Colonel Schwab, contained in 1867,
according to a catalogue drawn up by Dr. Keller, no less than 4346
specimens.
Most of these objects have been cast in moulds, as is evident from the
seams, the traces of which may be observed on several of the specimens.
Among the most remarkable of the relics of the bronze epoch which have
been recovered from the Swiss lakes, the hatchets or celts are well
deserving of mention. They are from 4 to 8 inches in length, and weigh
from 10 to 15 pounds. Their shapes are varied; but all possess the
distinctive characteristic of being adapted to fit longitudinally on
their handles, and not transversely, as in the Stone Age. It is but
seldom that they are not furnished with a hole or ear, so as to furnish
an additional means of attachment.
We have in the first place the hatchet with wings bent round on each
side of the blade, so as to constitute a kind of double socket, intended
to receive a handle divided in the middle and bent into an elbow. This
is the most prevalent type. Sometimes, as may be noticed in fig. 176,
the upper end is pierced with an eye, doubtless intended to hold a band
for fixing firmly the curved handle. This arrangement is peculiar to the
hatchets of large size, that is, to those which had the most strain put
upon them.
Another type which is very rare in Switzerland--only one specimen of it
existing in the Museum of Neuchâtel--is that (fig. 177) in which the
wings, instead of bending back upon the blade perpendicularly to the
plane of the cutting edge, turn back in the same plane with it, or in
the thickness of the blade.
[Illustration: Fig. 176.--Bronze Winged Hatchet, from the Lacustrine
Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 177.--Winged Hatchet (front and side view), from the
Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.]
There is also the hatchet with the ordinary socket, either cylindrical
(fig. 178) or angular. This shape is very common in France, where they
are known by the name of _celts_.
[Illustration: Fig. 178.--Socketed Hatchet from the Lacustrine
Habitations.]
[Illustration: Fig. 179.--Knife Hatchet (front and side view), from the
Lacustrine Habitations.]
M. Morlot has given the name of _knife-hatchets_ (fig. 179), to those
instruments, the perforated ears of which are scarcely, if at all
developed, and could by no means serve to give firmness to a handle. It
is probable that these instruments were grasped directly by the hand;
and that the mere rudiments of wings which may be noticed, were merely
intended to substitute a rounded surface for a sharp ridge. Figures 176,
177, 178 and 179, are taken from M. Desor's 'Mémoire sur les
Palafittes.'
Next to the hatchets we must mention the chisels for wood-work (fig.
180), which are cut out to a great nicety, and in no way differ from our
present chisels, except in the mode of fitting to the handle, which is
done by means of a socket.
[Illustration: Fig. 180.--Carpenter's Chisel, in Bronze.]
[Illustration: Fig. 181.--Hexagonal Hammer.]
[Illustration: Fig. 182.--Knife with a tang to fit into a Handle, from
the Lacustrine settlements of Switzerland.]
There has also been discovered a kind of prismatically shaped hexagonal
hammer (fig. 181), likewise provided with a socket, the length of which
is about 3 inches. This hammer forms a portion of the collection of
Colonel Schwab.
The knives are the most numerous of all the sharp instruments. The
workmanship of them is, in general, very skilfully executed, and their
shape is very elegant. Some of them have a metallic handle; but the
greater part terminate in a kind of tang intended to fit into a handle
of wood or stag's horn, as represented in fig. 182, taken from M.
Desor's 'Mémoire sur les Palafittes.'
We also find knives furnished with a socket (fig. 183). The blade
measures from 4 to 8 inches in length, and is often adorned with
tracings; in some instances the back of the blade is very much
thickened.
[Illustration: Fig. 183.--Socketed Knife, from the Lacustrine
settlements of Switzerland.]
Together with the knives we must also class the sickles or reaping
hooks. These implements have been collected in somewhat large quantities
in the settlements of Auvernier and Cortaillod (Lake of Neuchâtel). They
are of good workmanship, and frequently provided with ridges or ribs in
the metal of the blade. Fig. 184, given by M. Desor in his work,
represents a sickle of this kind which was found by the author at
Chevroux.
[Illustration: Fig. 184.--Bronze Sickle, found by M. Desor at Chevroux.]
The largest of these sickles does not exceed 6 inches in length. They
were fitted into a wooden handle.
We cannot of course describe all the bronze objects which have been
recovered from the Swiss lakes. After having mentioned the preceding,
we shall content ourselves with naming certain saws of various
shapes--razors, actual razors, indicating no small care given to
personal appearance--bodkins, or piercers--needles, with eyes either at
the end or some distance from the end, articles of fishing tackle, such
as single and double fishing-hooks (figs. 185 and 186), with a plain or
barbed point--harpoons, various small vessels, &c.
[Illustration: Fig. 185.--Bronze Fish-hook, from the Lacustrine
settlements of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 186.--Double Fish-hook, from the Lacustrine
settlements of Switzerland.]
We shall dwell, although briefly, on the various objects of personal
ornament which have been found in the Swiss lacustrine settlements of
the bronze epoch.
We will mention, in the first place, the hair-pins, &c. which have been
recovered from the various lakes. The most curious fact about them is,
that no one has ever found two exactly alike both in shape and
dimensions. We borrow from M. Desor's work the four following figures
representing various shapes of pins. Some have a round head (fig. 187),
and others a flat (fig. 188), or cylindrical head (fig. 189); others,
again, are finished off with a twisted end to which is attached a
movable end (fig. 190).
[Illustration: Fig. 187.--Hair-pin, found by M. Desor in one of the
Swiss Lakes.]
[Illustration: Fig. 188.--Hair-pin, found by M. Desor in one of the
Swiss Lakes.]
[Illustration: Fig. 189.--Hair-pin with cylindrical Head.]
[Illustration: Fig. 190.--Hair-pin with curled Head.]
The round-headed pins are sometimes massive in shape and unornamented,
that is, exactly similar to the bone pins of the Stone Age; sometimes,
and even more frequently, they are perforated with one or more round
holes and adorned with a few chasings.
The flat-headed pins differ very much in the diameter of the button at
the end, which is sometimes of considerable size. There are some, the
head of which is nothing more than a small enlargement of the pin, and
others, in which there are two or three of these enlargements, placed a
little way apart and separated by a twist. Their sizes are very various,
and in some cases are so exaggerated, that it is quite evident that the
objects cannot have been used as hair-pins. In Colonel Schwab's
collection, there is one 33 inches long, and M. Troyon has mentioned
some 20 and 24 inches long.
At the _Exposition Universelle_ of 1867, in the collection sent by M.
Desor, the visitors' admiration might have been called forth by some of
the pins which had been repolished by the care of the learned Swiss
naturalist. They were certainly very elegant, and ladies of the present
day might well have decorated themselves with these ornaments, although
they dated back to an era so many thousands of years ago.
Among many savage tribes, the dressing of the hair, especially among the
men, is carried to an excessively elaborate pitch. The head of hair of
an Abyssinian soldier forms a species of lofty system of curls which is
meant to last a whole lifetime. He carries with him a long pin,
furnished with a thick button, owing to the impossibility of reaching
his skin through his _coiffure_ with the extremities of his fingers.
In the same way the New Zealanders wear an enormous "chignon," 2 feet
high and ornamented with ribbons.
The Chinese and the Japanese also devote excessive attention to the
dressing of their hair.
It is, therefore, probable that the inhabitants of the lacustrine
villages, both men and women, devoted an immense amount of care to the
cultivation of their _coiffure_. In the tombs of the bronze epoch, pins
have been found 2-1/2 feet in length, with large knobs or buttons at the
end, similar to those used by the Abyssinian soldiers of our own day.
The combs, which resembled those of the present New Zealanders, although
6 inches long, had only six to eight teeth, and must have been better
fitted to scratch their heads than to dress their hair.
Bracelets, too, have been found in some considerable numbers in the
Swiss lakes. They are very varied in their shapes, decidedly artistic in
their workmanship, and often set off with carved designs.
Some (fig. 191) are composed of a single ring of varying width, the
ends of which almost meet and terminate by a semi-circular clasp; others
(fig. 192), are a combination of straight or twisted wires ingeniously
joined to one another.
[Illustration: Fig. 191.--Bronze Bracelet, found in one of the Swiss
Lakes.]
[Illustration: Fig. 192.--Another Bronze Bracelet.]
We also find certain rings, cylindrical in shape, and made all in one
piece (fig. 193), which were probably placed round the legs.
[Illustration: Fig. 193.--Bronze Ring.]
Some of these ornaments remain, even up to the present day, in a perfect
state of preservation. In an urn which was recovered from the settlement
of Cortaillod, six specimens were discovered, the designs of which
appeared quite as clearly as if they had only just been engraved. There
is one point which must be remarked, because it forms an important
_datum_ in respect to the size of the Swiss people during the bronze
epoch; this is, that most of the bracelets are so small that they could
scarcely be worn nowadays. They must, therefore, have been adapted to
very slender wrists--a fact which naturally leads us to believe that all
the other limbs were small in proportion. This small size in the
bracelets coincides with the diminutiveness of the sword-hilts which
have been found in the lacustrine habitations of Switzerland.
Earrings, also, have been found in great numbers in the Swiss lakes.
They are either metallic plates, or wires differently fashioned; all,
however, testifying to a somewhat developed degree of taste.
Next after these trinkets and objects of adornment we must class certain
articles of a peculiar character which must have been pendants or
appendages to bracelets.
All these ornaments are, in fact, perforated at the top with a circular
hole, intended, no doubt, to have a thread passed through it, by which
it was hung round the neck. Some of them (fig. 194) are small triangular
plates of metal, frequently ornamented with engraved designs; others
(fig. 195), are in open-work, and include several branches, each
terminated by a hole similar to that at the top. Some, again, assume the
form of a ring not completely closed up (fig. 196), or rather, perhaps,
of a crescent with wide and almost contiguous horns. In the same class
may be placed the rings (fig. 197) to which were suspended movable
ornaments in the shape of a double spiral.
[Illustration: Fig. 194.--Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine
Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 195.--Another Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine
Habitations of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 196.--Bronze Ring, from the Lacustrine Habitations
of Switzerland.]
[Illustration: Fig. 197.--Another Ornamental Ring.]
The four bronze objects, representations of which we have just given,
are designed from the sketches supplied by M. Desor in his 'Mémoire sur
les Palafittes.'
Some few trinkets of gold have been found in the lacustrine settlements
of the bronze epoch; but this sort of "find" is very rare. They are in
the form of earrings, and may be seen in the collection of Colonel
Schwab.