IRON EPOCH.
As the _Iron Epoch_ fairly establishes civilization, and belongs almost
wholly to the historical epoch, it will be here briefly noticed, and
then dismissed after giving a quotation from Dr. Keller. The bronze had
not only prepared the way for the iron epoch, but also gave a great
impulse to succeeding ages. The art of metallurgy assumed a new
importance and gave new life to every movement that tended to the
assistance of man. The works of bronze gave way to those of iron. A
knife made of iron is represented in Fig. 18. Knives of this pattern
were, however, made of bronze, and served for the same purpose. The
workshops of this age were so numerous that four hundred of them have
been discovered in one province. The potter's wheel was invented; money
was introduced, and agriculture greatly nourished.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. A KNIFE OF THE IRON EPOCH.]
Some of the Swiss lake-dwellings of Neuchatel and Bienne belong to this
epoch. Dr. Keller, in summing up some of his observations, has made use
of the following language: "The phenomenon of the lake-dwellings, so
important in the history of civilization, the time of their first
establishment, their original design, their development, and their final
extinction, in spite of many accumulated facts, is in many respects
clouded in doubt.... It is certain from the very beginning of this
peculiar mode of living to the latest period of its existence, while
outward circumstances remained the same, a quiet advance to a better
development of the conditions of life may be observed, in which there
was neither retrogression nor any sudden advance by the intervention of
foreign elements. The general diffusion of metals in a country which had
none, is explained simply by the barter which existed throughout Europe
in the very earliest ages. The question why the inhabitants of a
lake-dwelling of the stone age abandoned their settlements, while those
of another, not many hours' or many minutes' walk distant, remained
quietly living on their platforms, is of no greater importance than the
inquiry why, during the middle ages, so many localities have
disappeared, the names and situations of which are known to us. The
presence of objects of industry on the area of the lake-dwellings has
nothing in it very surprising, if we consider what misfortunes villages
of straw-covered huts were exposed to, in which not only the houses
themselves, but even the platforms on which they stood, were formed of
very combustible materials. It is possible, if we are to take Caesar's
account literally, that when the Helvetii, whose arrival in the country
is neither mentioned in history nor shown by archaeology, withdrew, the
lake-dwellings then existing were, as a whole, burned down; but there
can also be no doubt that some remained standing, or were rebuilt after
the return of the population. Their continuing down to the Roman time is
only astonishing to any one who imagines that at this time the whole
population had gone over to the Roman manner of life, while the proof
lies before him that the lower class adhered to their own manners and
customs till the entrance of the German races."[79]