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.
[CHAPTER V.]
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 1½ 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Fig. 159-160.—Serpentine Hatchet-hammers, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 161 represents another hatchet-hammer obtained from the Swiss lakes.
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.
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.
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.
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.'
Fig. 165.—Arrow-head of Bone fixed on the Shaft by means of Bitumen.
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).
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.'
Fig. 168.—Bone Bodkin, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 169.—Bone Bodkin, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 170.—Carpenter's Chisel, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
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.
Fig. 172.—Pick-axe of Stag's Horn.
Fig. 173.—Harpoon made of Stag's Horn, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 174.—Harpoon made of Stag's Horn, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
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.
Fig. 176.—Bronze Winged Hatchet, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
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.
Fig. 178.—Socketed Hatchet from the Lacustrine Habitations.
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.
Fig. 180.—Carpenter's Chisel, in Bronze.
Fig. 181.—Hexagonal Hammer.
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.
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.
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.
Fig. 185.—Bronze Fish-hook, from the Lacustrine settlements of Switzerland.
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).
Fig. 187.—Hair-pin, found by M. Desor in one of the Swiss Lakes.
Fig. 188.—Hair-pin, found by M. Desor in one of the Swiss Lakes.
Fig. 189.—Hair-pin with cylindrical Head.
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 2½ 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.
Fig. 191.—Bronze Bracelet, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.
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.
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.
Fig. 194.—Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 195.—Another Bronze Pendant, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 196.—Bronze Ring, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
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.
[CHAPTER VI.]
Industrial Skill and Agriculture during the Bronze Epoch—The Invention of Glass—Invention of Weaving.
The manufacture of pottery, which appears to have remained stationary during the Stone Age, assumed a considerable development during the bronze epoch. The clay intended for making pottery was duly puddled, and the objects when moulded were baked in properly formed furnaces. At this date also commences the art of surfacing articles of earthenware.
The specimens of pottery which have been found in the settlements of man of this period are both numerous and interesting; entire vessels have indeed been discovered. We notice indications of very marked progress beyond the objects of this kind manufactured in the preceding age. They are still fashioned by the hand and without the aid of the wheel; but the shapes are both more varied in their character and more elegant. In addition to this, although in the larger kind of vessels the clay used is still rough in its nature and full of hard lumps of quartz like the material employed in the Stone Age, that of the smaller vessels is much finer, and frequently covered with a black lead coating.
Most of these vessels are characterised by a conical base, a shape which we had before occasion to point out in the stag's-horn vessels of the Stone Age. If, therefore, it was requisite to place them upright, the lower ends of them had to be stuck into the earth, or to be placed in holders hollowed out to receive them.
Some of these supports, or holders, have been discovered. They are called torches, or torchères, by French archæologists.
Figs. 198 and 199 give a representation of a bronze vessel from the lacustrine habitations of Switzerland with its support or torchère.
Fig. 198.—Earthenware Vessel with Conical Bottom, from the Lacustrine Habitations of Switzerland.
Fig. 199.—Earthen Vessel placed on its support.
In a general way, the vessels made with conical bases have no handles; but others, on the contrary, are provided with them (fig. 200). They are nearly always ornamented with some sort of design, either mere lines parallel to the rim, triangles, chevrons, or rows of points round the handle or the neck. Even the very roughest specimens are not altogether devoid of ornamentation, and a stripe may often be observed round the neck, on which the fingers of the potter have left their traces.
Fig. 200.—Fragments of an Earthen Vessel with a Handle.
These vessels were intended to contain beverages and substances used for food. Out of one of them M. Desor took some apples, cherries, wild plums, and a large quantity of nuts. Some of these vessels, perforated with small holes, were used in the manufacture of cheese. Dishes, porringers, &c., have also been found.
Relics of the pottery of the Stone Age are very frequently recovered from the Swiss lakes; but vessels in an entire state are seldom met with. It is, however, stated as a fact, that considerable accumulations of them once existed; but, unfortunately, the importance of them was not recognised until too late. An old fisherman of the Lake of Neuchâtel told M. Desor that in his childhood he had sometimes amused himself by pushing at these old earthen pots with a long pole, and that in certain parts of the lake there were real mountains of them. At the present day, the "old earthen pots" are all broken, and nothing but pieces can be recovered.
These relics are, however, sufficient to afford a tolerably exact idea of the way in which the primitive Swiss used to fashion clay. They seem to denote large vessels either cylindrical (figs. 201 and 202) or bulbous-shaped with a flat bottom, moulded by the hand without the aid of a potter's wheel. The material of which they are composed is rough, and of a grey or black colour, and is always mingled with small grains of quartz; the baking of the clay is far from satisfactory.
Fig. 201.—Vessel of Baked Clay, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland.
Fig. 202.—Vessel of Baked Clay, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland.
The ornamentation is altogether of an ordinary character. It generally consists of mere lines traced out in the soft clay, either by the finger, a pointed stick, or sometimes a string was used. There are neither curves nor arabesques of any kind; the lines are almost always straight.
A few of the vessels are, however, decorated in a somewhat better style. Some are provided with small projections perforated with holes, through which might be passed a string for the purpose of hanging them up; there are others which have a row of studs arranged all round them, just below the rim, and others, indeed, in which hollows take the place of the studs. Several have been met with which are pierced with holes at different heights; it is supposed that they were used in the preparation of milk-curd, the holes being made to let out the whey. The vessels of this period are entirely devoid of handles; this ornament did not appear until the bronze age.
Mill-stones, or stones for crushing grain, are not unfrequently found in the Swiss lakes.
At some date during the period we are now discussing we must place the discovery of glass. Glass beads of a blue or green colour are, in fact, found in the tombs of the bronze epoch. What was their origin? Chemistry and metallurgy combine to inform us that as soon as bronze foundries existed glass must have been discovered. What, in fact, does glass consist of? A silicate with a basis of soda and potash, combined with some particles of the silicates of iron and copper, which coloured it blue and green. As the scoria from bronze foundries is partly composed of these silicates it is indubitable that a kind of glass was formed in the earliest metal-works where this alloy was made. It constituted the slag or dross of the metal works.
Thus, the classic tradition which attributes the invention of glass to certain Phœnician merchants, who produced a mass of glass by heating on the sand the natron, that is soda, brought from Egypt, ascribe too recent a date to the discovery of this substance. It should properly be carried back to the bronze epoch.
The working of amber was carried out to a very great extent by these peoples. Ornaments and objects of this material have been discovered in great abundance in the lacustrine settlements of Switzerland.
On the whole, if we compare the industrial skill of the bronze age with that of the preceding age, we shall find that the later is vastly superior to the earlier.
The art of weaving seems to have been invented during the stone age. We have positive and indisputable proofs that the people who lived during this epoch were acquainted with the art of manufacturing cloth.[36] All the objects which we have thus far considered do not, in fact, surpass those which might be expected from any intelligent savage; but the art of preparing and manufacturing textile fabrics marks out one of the earliest acquisitions of man's civilisation.
In the Museum of Saint-Germain we may both see and handle some specimens of woven cloth which were met with in some of the lacustrine settlements in Switzerland, and specially at Robenhausen and Wangen. This cloth, which is represented in fig. 203, taken from a specimen in the Museum of Saint-Germain, is formed of twists of interwoven flax; of rough workmanship, it is true, but none the less remarkable, considering the epoch in which it was manufactured. It is owing to the fact of their having been charred and buried in the peat that these remains of pre-historic fabrics have been kept in good preservation up to the present time.
Fig. 203.—Cloth of the Bronze Age, found in the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland.
Balls of thread and twine have also been found; likewise ends of cord, and ropes made of bark, nets with large and moderately-sized meshes, which we have previously represented, and lastly some fragments of a basket of straw or osier.
Ribs of animals, split through and tapering off at one end, have been considered to be the teeth of the cards or combs which were used for unravelling the flax. The whole comb was formed of several of these bones joined firmly together with a band.
Fig. 204.—The First Weaver.
There were also found in the Swiss lakes a large number of discs made of baked earth perforated with a hole in their centre, of which we here give a representation (fig. 205), taken from one of the numerous specimens in the Museum of Saint-Germain. These are ordinary spindle-whorls.
Fig. 205.—Spindle-whorls made of baked Clay, found in the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland.
Also, terra cotta weights pierced with a hole through the centre were intended to support the thread of flax in the weaving loom. The thread passed through the hole and was stopped by a knot at its extremity. We think that this interpretation of the use of these objects can hardly be called in question.
We also find in the lacustrine settlements woven fabrics, threads, strings, combs used for carding the flax, and spindle-whorls; the co-existence of all these objects proves that the invention of the art of weaving may be fixed at this date. The loom of the weaver may, therefore, be traced back to the most remote ages.
Acting upon this idea we have given a representation of weaving in pre-historic times.
The weaving-loom is so simple a matter that the men of the bronze age were enabled to produce it in nearly the same form as that in which it exists in the present day for the manufacture of plain kinds of cloth in various districts of the world where the art is still in a barbaric condition. The loom being upright, not horizontal as with us, the terra cotta weights just mentioned were used to keep the threads of the warp stretched. This seems to be the only difference. But, as we again repeat, the weaver's loom, on the whole, must have differed but very slightly from that of the present day. Its productions bear testimony to the fact.
Metal weapons and implements were at first obtained by means of exchange. But very soon the art of manufacturing bronze became prevalent in Switzerland, and foundries were established there. No doubt can be entertained on this point, as a mould for celts or hatchets has been found at Morges and also a bar of tin at Estavayer.
During this epoch the shape of the pottery became more advanced in character, and ornamentation was the rule and not the exception. After the indispensable comes the superfluous. Taste in ornamentation made its appearance and soon developed itself in ceramic objects of an elegant style. Articles of pottery now assumed more pleasing outlines, and were ornamented with various designs. Progress in artistic feeling was evidently manifested.
The simplicity and monotony of ornamentation during this epoch is especially remarkable. Art was then confined to the mere representation of a certain number of lines and geometrical figures. They were similar to those represented in fig. 206, and were applied to all kinds of objects—weapons, vases, utensils and trinkets. None of them attempt any delineation of nature; this idea does not seem to have entered into the head of man during the bronze epoch. In this respect they were inferior to their predecessors, the inhabitants of the caves of Périgord, the contemporaries of the mammoth and the reindeer.
Fig. 206.—Principal Designs for the ornamentation of Pottery during the Bronze Epoch.
During the period we are now considering, commercial intercourse had assumed an activity of a totally different character from that manifested during the Stone Age. It became necessary to procure tin, which was indispensable for the manufacture of bronze. As no tin ore could be found in Switzerland, the inhabitants, doubtless, went to Saxony in order to obtain it. The traffic must have been carried out by means of barter, as is customary among all infant nations.
Flint, which likewise did not exist in Switzerland, was necessarily procured from the surrounding countries which were more fortunate in this respect. No country was more favoured on this point than France; commerce must, therefore, have existed between the two countries.
At Concise, in Switzerland, some pieces of white coral were found, and at Meilen, on the banks of the Lake of Zurich, some fragments of amber; from this we may conclude that during the bronze epoch the inhabitants of Switzerland traded with the inhabitants of the shores of the Mediterranean and the Baltic.
Among the other specimens of foreign productions, we must not omit to mention graphite, which was used to surface pottery, amber beads, and even a few glass trinkets suitable for female adornment.
We will now pass on to the system of food adopted by man during the bronze epoch.
Researches made in various lacustrine settlements have furnished us with very circumstantial information upon the system of food customary among the earliest inhabitants of Switzerland. From them we learn that these men did not live solely upon the products of fishing and hunting, but that they possessed certain ideas of agriculture, and also devoted themselves to the breeding of cattle. We shall enter into a few details as to this eminently interesting aspect of their history, taking as our guides Professors Heer and Rütimeyer, the first of whom has carefully examined the vegetable remains, and the second the animal relics which have been found in the lacustrine settlements of Switzerland.
At Meilen, Moosseedorf, and Wangen, some charred cereals have been found, viz., barley and wheat. The latter was the most abundant, and, at Wangen in particular, there were several bushels of it, either in ears or in thrashed corn collected in large heaps. These grains are almost the same shape and size as the wheat of the present time. Several ears of six-rowed barley (Hordeum hexastichon) were found, which differ from our common barley in having smaller grains arranged in six rows. De Candolle is of opinion that this is the species which was cultivated by the ancient Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans.
This corn was preserved in large earthen vessels, as may be gathered from the contents of some of them, still in an entire state.
What preparation did the corn undergo in order to render it fit for human food? On this subject we have tolerably exact data to go upon.
The grain was bruised by hand, either between two stone discs or mill-stones, or in a mortar by means of a round pestle. In almost all of the lacustrine villages, some of these mill-stones made of granite or sandstone have been met with, a few of which are as much as 2 feet in diameter. M. Heer is of opinion that the grain was parched before being pounded, and then placed in vessels and slightly soaked. In this state it was fit for eating.
At the time of the conquest of the Canary Islands by the Spaniards, it was remarked that the natives prepared their corn in this manner; and in the present day the inhabitants of the same regions still feed on parched grain.
Nevertheless, the earliest inhabitants of western Switzerland also made real bread, or rather wheat-cakes, for leaven was not then known. Charred fragments of these loaves have been found, the grain of which is badly ground, thus affording us the opportunity of recognising the species of corn of which they are composed. These fragments are flat, and indicate that the whole cake was of a circular form. No doubt, after being bruised and wetted, the grain was made into a sort of dough, which was baked between two heated stones—a process we have previously described as having been practised in the Stone Age.
In order to cultivate cereals, it was, of course, necessary for the ground to undergo some preliminary preparation. It was at least necessary to break it up so as to mellow it, and to make furrows in which to sow the seed. We are reduced to mere conjecture as to all the details of these operations, for no agricultural implements have been discovered in any of the settlements of man belonging to the bronze epoch. Perhaps, as M. Heer suggests, they made use of the stem of a tree with a projecting crooked branch, and adapted it so as to perform the functions of the plough.
Wild fruits and berries formed a considerable portion of the food of the earliest lacustrine peoples; and, from certain indications which have been brought to our notice, we have reason to believe that several varieties of trees were the objects of their intelligent culture; in short, that they were cultivated in orchards and gardens. The settlement of Robenhausen on the Lake of Pfæffikon, has furnished us with the most valuable information on this point. The lacustrine villages of Wangen (Lake of Constance), and Concise (Lake of Neuchâtel) have also been the scenes of curious discoveries.
In all of these settlements a large number of charred apples have been met with, cut in two, and sometimes four pieces, and evidently stored up for the winter. These apples are no larger than walnuts, and in many of the Swiss forests a species of apple still exists which appears to be the same sort as those found in the lacustrine settlements. Pears have been discovered only in the settlement of Wangen; they were cut up and dried just like the apples.
In the mud of the lakes, stones of the wild plum and the bird-cherry, or Sainte-Lucie plum, were found; also the seeds of blackberries and raspberries, the shells of beech-nuts and hazel-nuts, and several species of the water-chestnut, which is now only to be met with at two points of the Swiss Alps.
We must also add that M. Gilliéron collected in the settlement of the Isle of Saint-Pierre, oats, peas, lentils, and acorns, the latter evidently having been intended for the food of swine. This discovery is an important one, because oats had, hitherto, never been met with anywhere.
We shall complete this list of names by enumerating the other vegetables which have been ascertained to have existed in the lake settlements, the berries and seeds of some of which were used as food, &c. They are the strawberry, the beech, the yew, the dog-rose, which is found in hedges, the white and yellow water-lily, the rush, and the forest and the marsh pine. There are no traces of the vine, rye, or hemp.
Fig. 207, representing the cultivation of gardens during the bronze epoch, is intended to sum up and delineate materially all the ideas we have previously suggested concerning the agricultural and horticultural knowledge possessed by man during the bronze epoch. A gardener is tilling the ground with a horn pick-axe, a representation of which we have previously given. Others are gathering fruit from trees which have been planted and cultivated with a view of increasing the stock of food.
Fig 207.—The Cultivation of Gardens during the Bronze Epoch.
The sheep and oxen which may be noticed in this figure indicate the domestication of these animals and of their having been reared as tame cattle. The dog, the faithful companion of man, could scarcely have been omitted in this assemblage of the auxiliary or domestic animals of the bronze epoch.
The bones which have been found in the lacustrine settlements of Switzerland have enabled us to reconstruct with some degree of accuracy the fauna of this epoch, and to ascertain what species of animals were then in subjugation to the yoke of man.
Professor Rütimeyer is of opinion that the whole of these bones may be referred to about seventy species of animals—ten of which are fish, three reptiles, twenty birds, and the rest mammiferous animals.
The remains most commonly met with are those of the stag and the ox, the former wild, and the latter domestic. Next in order comes the pig, remains of which are also very abundant; then follows the roe, the goat, and the sheep, all of which are much less common. The remains of the fox are met with almost as often as those of the latter species, and in spite of the fœtid smell of this animal it certainly was used for food—a fact which is proved by its bones having been split open and notched with knives. It is, however, very probable that this kind of sustenance was turned to as a last resort only in cases when no other more suitable food could be obtained.
The long bones which have been found in lakes, like those met with in caves and kitchen-middens, have been split in order to extract the marrow. Just as in the kitchen-middens, the softer parts are always gnawed, which shows us that the dog had been there.
The repugnance which is felt by so many nations for the flesh of the hare is a very curious fact, and shows us how difficult it is to root out certain prejudices. This repugnance may be traced back as far as pre-historic ages. Neither the diluvial beds, the caves, the kitchen-middens, nor the lacustrine settlements have, in fact, furnished us with any traces of the hare. Even in the present day, the Laplanders and Greenlanders banish this animal from their alimental list.
Among the Hottentots the women eat it but not the men. The Jews, too, look upon it as unclean, and many years have not elapsed since the Bretons would hardly endure to hear it spoken of.
The antipathy which is thus shown by certain modern nations to the flesh of the hare has, therefore, been handed down to them from the primitive ages of mankind.
The researches of Prof. Rütimeyer have led to the conclusion that there existed in Switzerland during the Stone Age six species of domestic animals—the ox, the pig, the goat, the sheep, the dog, and the horse, the latter being very rare. There were, also, three specimens of the bovine race; the two wild species of the ox genus, namely, the urus and the bison, both very anciently known, had been increased by a third, the domestic ox.
The bones belonging to the Stone Age seem to point to the existence of a larger proportion of wild beasts than of domestic animals; and this is only what might be expected, for the art of domesticating animals was at this epoch still in its infancy, but a commencement had been made, and the practice continued to spread rapidly during the following age.
In fact, agriculture and the breeding of cattle made considerable progress during the bronze epoch. There were brought into use various new breeds of cattle. The ox became a substitute for the bison; the sheep was bred as well as the goat; and all these animals were devoted to the purpose of providing food for man.
Fig. 208.—A Feast during the Bronze Epoch.
We may here pause for a moment and contemplate, with just pride, this marvellous resuscitation of an era long ago buried in the darkness of bygone ages.
By means of the investigations of science, we know that the primitive inhabitants of Switzerland dwelt in wooden villages built on lakes; that they were hunters, fishers, shepherds, and husbandmen; that they cultivated wheat, barley, and oats; that they brought into a state of servitude several species of animals, and devoted to the requirements of agriculture the sheep and the goat; that they were acquainted with the principal rudiments of the baker's art; that they stored up apples, pears, and other fruits or berries for the winter, either for their own use or that of their cattle; that they understood the art of weaving and manufacturing flaxen fabrics; that they twisted up cord and mats of bark; and, lastly, that as a material for the manufacture of their implements and weapons they availed themselves of stone, bronze, animals' bones, and stag's horn.
It is equally certain that they kept up some kind of commercial intercourse with the adjacent countries; this must have been the case, if it were only for the purpose, as before mentioned, of procuring flints, which are not found in Switzerland; also amber and white coral, numerous relics of which have been met with in the settlements of Meilen and Concise.
Though there may still remain many an obscure page in the history of mankind during the bronze epoch, it must, nevertheless, be confessed that, as far as Switzerland is concerned, a bright light has of late years been thrown on that branch of the subject which refers to man's mode of existence in these regions during the bronze epoch.