Over the vast territory drained by the Danube there are some further
lacustrine remains indicative of lake or pile dwellings, but which
are probably only a small fraction of what could be revealed with
careful and systematic research. In 1872 Jeitteles published a notice
of pile structures discovered in the town of Olmütz (B. 221); and
more recently at Nimlau, in the same neighbourhood, similar wooden
structures were detected in a pond. In this case there were five rows
of oak piles associated with cross-beams; each row was five feet
apart, and the whole was covered with mud to the extent of nearly two
feet.[29]
[Illustration: =Fig. 41.=--NEUSIEDLERSEE AND KEUTSCHACHERSEE (10). All
½ real size.]
In 1874 Count Béla Széchenyi (B. 283) made some important discoveries
at the south end of the bed of the Neusiedlersee, which can hardly be
explained on any other hypothesis than that they were the industrial
_débris_ of a lake-dwelling. This is a large lake of brackish water
measuring about 72 miles in circumference, but so shallow that in its
deepest part it attains only a depth of 10 or 12 feet. It terminates
at its south-east side in a swamp called Hanság, ("floating turf"), of
greater extent than the lake itself. It appears to be subject to great
fluctuations in its extent, so much so that in 1854 its area commenced
to decrease till in a few years later its bed became completely dried
up. Cultivation of the land occupied by it was then begun, but the
water has since returned. It was in 1874, on land reclaimed from this
lake in these circumstances, that Count Széchenyi found, scattered
over the surface, bits of pottery, stone celts, flint implements, etc.
On making systematic investigations of these finds, along with some
of his scientific friends, he found that in two spots these relics
were met with in greater profusion, and that, corresponding with these
productive areas, there was a substratum of blackish mould which
became more clearly defined by the rankness of its vegetation. These
were supposed to have been the sites of habitation, and accordingly
excavations were undertaken to clear up the matter, but they revealed
nothing new. Only the same classes of relics were found as on the
surface, with the exception of a few bones very much decayed. No piles
were observed, and after digging to the depth of about three feet
water came into the trenches and so stopped further progress in this
direction. About 100 square yards were explored, during which the
following relics were collected:--31 perforated stone axes or hammers,
of which only two were whole; 96 plain stone axes, of which about
two-thirds were well formed, the rest being more or less fragmentary;
six stone chisels, and 14 worked stones or polishers, corn-grinders,
etc.; a net-sinker and two small beads, together with a few scrapers
and flint-flakes; and pottery to the amount of 200 to 300 fragments,
among which only three vases were still entire. Illustrations of some
of these relics are given on =Fig. 41=, Nos. 1 to 9.
The osseous remains were much decayed, but among them the following
animals were identified, viz. stag, urus, ox, pig, and horse
(represented only by two teeth).
Flints were comparatively rare, but the stone implements were varied
both in form and material, being made of such materials as serpentine,
diorite, basalt and schist.
The pottery, though rude, appeared to have been partly made on the
wheel, but yet had finger-nail marks and other curved impressions as
ornamentation. All sorts of handles were used, from mere perforations
for strings to the most perfectly made handle. The paste was mixed
with coarse materials.
The non-appearance of piles and organic matter may probably be
accounted for by their rapid decomposition from alternate exposure to
air and water.
Further notices of these finds were given by Count Wurmbrand (B. 259),
Dr. Much (B. 318), and Von Luschan (B. 365).