Pile-work has also been discovered in former lakes now transformed into peat-bogs. We must place in this class the peat-bog of Wauwyl, canton of Lucerne (five settlements).
We will mention, in the last place, the settlement at the bridge of Thièle, on the water-course which unites the lakes of Bienne and Neuchâtel. This settlement must once have formed a portion of the Lake of Bienne, at the time when the latter extended as far as the bridge of Thièle.
The lacustrine villages of Switzerland do not all belong to the same period. The nature of the remains that they contain indubitably prove that some are far more ancient than others. The vestiges have been discovered of three successive epochs—the polished-stone epoch and the epochs of bronze and of iron.
The lacustrine settlements of Switzerland, when considered under the heads of the various pre-historical epochs to which they belong, may be divided in the following way:—
The Stone Age:—The Lake of Constance (about thirty settlements); the Lake of Neuchâtel (twelve settlements); the Lake of Geneva (two settlements); the Lake of Morat (one settlement); the lakes of Bienne, Zurich, Pfæffikon, Inkwyl, Moosseedorf, Nussbaumen, Wanger, &c.; the settlements of Saint-Aubin and Concise, the peat-bog of Wauwyl, and the settlement at the Bridge of Thièle.
The Bronze Epoch:—The Lake of Geneva (twenty settlements); the Lake of Neuchâtel (twenty-five settlements); the Lake of Bienne (ten settlements); also the lakes of Morat and Sempach.
The Iron Epoch:—The lakes of Neuchâtel and Bienne.
It may appear strange that the primitive inhabitants of Switzerland should have preferred aquatic dwellings to habitations built on terra firma, which could certainly have been constructed much more easily. Further on in our work we shall have something to say as to the advantages which men might derive from such a peculiar arrangement of their dwellings; but we may now remark that this custom was somewhat prevalent among the earliest inhabitants of Europe. Ancient history furnishes us with several instances of it. Herodotus, speaking of the Pæonians, of the Lake Prasias, in Thrace, says:—
"Their habitations are built in the following way. On long piles, sunk into the bottom of the lake, planks are placed, forming a floor; a narrow bridge is the means of access to them. These piles used to be fixed by the inhabitants at their joint expense; but afterwards it was settled that each man should bring three from Mount Orbelus for every woman whom he married. Plurality of wives, be it observed, was permitted in this country. On these planks each has his hut with a trap-door down into the lake; and lest any of their children should fall through this opening they took care to attach a cord to their feet. They used to feed their horses and beasts of burden on fish. In this lake fish was so abundant that if a basket was let down through the trap-door it might be drawn up a short time afterwards filled with fish."
Sir J. Lubbock, repeating the statement of one of his friends who resides at Salonica, asserts that the fishermen of the Lake Prasias still inhabit wooden huts built over the water, as in the time of Herodotus. There is nothing improbable in this, since the town of Tcherkask in Russia is constructed in a similar way over the River Don, and Venice itself is nothing but a lacustrine city built during historic times over a lagune of the Adriatic sea.