TORBIERA DI MOMBELLO
Between the villages of Mombello and Cerro, on the east shore of Lake Maggiore, and a few miles south of Laveno, there was a small turbary in which Dr. Carlo Tinelli discovered the remains of a palafitte. The peat was being excavated from 1844, but it was 20 years later before the remains of the palafitte were detected. The further progress of the peat-cutting was carefully watched by Tinelli and a priest, Guiseppe Della Chiesa, in the interests of archæology. Some of the piles were extracted, and were said to show marks of having been fashioned by stone implements.
The relics collected here are:—Flint objects in considerable abundance, among which were two saws, a lance-head, and a beautiful knife-flake ([Fig. 50], No. 1), now in the Museum at Varese; fragments of coarsely-made dishes without handles or ornamentation. Three canoes, roughly made and similar to those from Mercurago, were found at a depth of 8 feet. One of the canoes, 7 feet long, was presented to the Museum at Varese. Along with these objects were bones of the stag, goat, and roe. (B. 171.)