The Lake-Dwellings of Europe / Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888

by Robert Munro

LAKE PALADRU.

From time immemorial a legend prevailed among the inhabitants around Lake Paladru that a city had been buried in its waters—a catastrophe brought about by the maledictions of the monks of the neighbouring Carthusian establishment of Sylve Bénite. On the 24th September, 1864, M. Vallier, of Grenoble, and some friends arranged a boating excursion for the purpose of examining the lake as to the reported existence of piles in it, with the view of accounting for the currency of the above legend, and found no less than six different sites where piles were to be seen projecting more or less from the mud. These were supposed to be the remains of lacustrine villages of which the following particulars were ascertained:—

1. Station des Grands Roseaux.—This station was situated near the head of the lake, and about two hundred yards from shore; depth of water from one to two feet; piles sometimes three feet apart, and sometimes much less; over 150 were counted.

2. Stat. de l'Ile de Loyasse.—Two hundred and fifty yards from the former, and about 100 yards from shore. Only about twenty piles were counted.

3. Stat. de la Genevrière.—About 600 yards farther on and 70 yards from shore. About twenty piles counted.

4. Stat. de la Neyre.—About 200 yards from the preceding, and close to the shore.

5. Stat. du Plâtre.—About thirty piles counted in water from 10 to 13 feet deep.

6. Stat. du Puits des Carpes.—Fifty or sixty piles observed close to each other and about 20 yards from the shore.

These indications of pile-dwellings, though strengthened by further observations by M. Vallier in the following year, really contributed little to the elucidation of the problem as to the period to which they belonged; so that the work of M. Vallier, "La Légende de la Ville d'Ars sur les Bords du Lac de Paladru," leaves the question much in the same position as it was left by Professor Fournet, who had already suggested, in 1860,[48] that the legend of the buried city had its origin in the former existence of lake-dwellings. It remained to M. Ernest Chantre, of Lyons, to make the first practical investigations to clear up the mystery. To this line of research he was led by the encouragement and knowledge he had received at the first meeting of the International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology, held at Neuchâtel, in 1866, when he had an opportunity of being initiated by Professor Desor and others in lacustrine research. His first efforts, an account of which was published in the Matériaux for 1867, showed that two of the stations mentioned by M. Vallier belonged to the Iron Age. Learning then that engineering works were in progress for regulating the outflow of the waters of this lake, which would have the effect of lowering its level, M. Chantre deferred his proposed excavations till these more favourable conditions should be accomplished. His subsequent investigations, conducted in the autumn of 1870, were confined to the first-named station (Grands Roseaux), which, from his former experience, gave greater promise of archæological results. From it he had already picked up some bones of the ox, pig, stag, etc., the kernels of a species of small cherry and of two kinds of plums, fragments of pottery of a different kind from any found in the Swiss lake-dwellings, an iron knife, and a wooden comb. Owing to the lowering of the lake the station was now (1870) a foot above water, and it could be easily examined by the spade on terra firma. In the excavations which ensued the following strata were met with:—(1) Eight inches of peaty mud and roots of water plants; (2) About eighteen inches of peat containing bits of worked wood and bones; (3) Ten inches of peat containing bones, fragments of pottery, and a great variety of antiquities; (4) Underneath this peat was the whitish lake sediment known as shell-marl.

The area occupied by the piles and wooden beams was about 1,600 square yards in extent, and of a somewhat circular shape. The tops of the piles were water-worn, and projected above the mud from one foot to one foot and a half. They were made of the stems of trees from 10 to 16 feet long, and 7½ to 15 inches in diameter, some being squared and pointed with the hatchet, and most of them penetrated to the shell-marl. Their distance from each other varied very much. Many were observed to be in groups of four, rectangularly placed, with cross timbers stretching between them, thus forming a series of square or rectangular chambers. The cross-beams overlapped each other, and each had a cutaway cavity at the point of crossing, which kept it in position, precisely on the principle on which the Swiss chalets are constructed at the present day. The walls of the submerged compartments contained some four or five of these transverses, and the space enclosed varied from 7 to 30 feet long. In the larger spaces the uprights were not restricted to the corners, but occupied intermediate positions inside the enclosed area. Numerous tenons, mortises, pegs, and other portions of worked timbers, proved that these structures were erected by the hatchet and chisel alone, as none showed any evidence of the use of the saw; nor were there any iron nails found.

The woodwork was so abundant, that the removal of it became a regular employment; and for its discovery the mud was probed with iron rods.

In two places a double row of piles stretched to the shore, one 230 feet and the other 130 feet long, which, there can be little doubt, were the remains of gangways.

The industrial relics ([Fig. 93]) consisted largely of iron objects, among which were several knives (No. 3), an axe (No. 11), an · awl, a gimlet, part of a pair of shears (No. 2), a chisel, part of a lock (No. 8), chains (No. 7), several keys (No. 9), horseshoes (Nos. 5 and 6), a curry-comb (No. 10), a spur (No. 12), a lance (No. 4), and portions of a javelin.

Fig. 93.—Paladru. All ¹⁄₃ real size.

Of other materials there were two bone-counters (Nos. 14 and 15), a sharpening stone, the half of a leaden bracelet (No. 1), and a number of wooden objects, viz. two combs (No. 21), spoons (No. 19), pestles (No. 17), a bobbin (No. 20), and some perforated bits, like floats for nets (Nos. 13 and 16).

Pottery is of a greyish-black colour, well baked, and fashioned on the wheel, with an ornamentation of a very unusual character (Nos. 18, 22, 23, and 24). The only entire vessel was flask-shaped, having a hole in the middle of one of its sides (No. 24). Some pieces of cloth like Roman tissues, and a portion of a Roman vase, were also found.

The animals identified from the bones were the ox, sheep, goat, horse (a small race), pig, dog, and a large-sized otter. Among the remains of fruits were two species of cherry, two species of plums, peaches, walnuts, hazel-nuts, acorns, etc.

Oak was the only wood used in the construction of the submerged foundations, with the exception of one trunk of a chestnut tree; but ash, cornel-cherry, and box had been used for making utensils. (B. 193.)

In 1885, owing to the lowness of the water in the lake, further discoveries were made on this station (Grands Roseaux). Immediately in front of the lacustrine village, on its lake side, a triple row of piles was detected, which appeared to have acted as a breakwater; and on its site, along with some great oak-beams, were found various relics of a similar character to those already described. Among these were the following iron objects of the Carlovingian period—viz. 17 knives, 2 keys, a hook, a pair of shears, a stirrup, 2 spurs, a portion of the umbo of a shield, and some horseshoes of a small size. The other objects recorded were two portions of wooden spoons, fragments of a comb made of yew, and a piece of goatskin.[49]