[CHAPTER IV.]
Palustrine Habitations or Marsh-Villages—Surveys made by MM. Strobel and Pigorini of the Terramares of Tuscany—The Terramares of Brazil.
Having described the lacustrine habitations which have been discovered in various parts of Europe, we must now mention the so-called palustrine habitations, as peculiar to the bronze epoch. This name has been given to that kind of village, the remains of which have been discovered round marshes and pools. Upper Italy is the locality in which these settlements have been pointed out.
The name of palustrine settlements, or marnieras, has been given to the sites of ancient villages established by means of piles on marshes or pools of no great size, which in the course of time have been filled up by mould of a peaty character, containing a quantity of organic and other detritus.
The discovery of those palustrine settlements is due to MM. Strobel and Pigorini, who have designated them by the name of terramares.
This term is applied by these savants to the accumulation of ashes, charcoal, animal bones, and remains of all kinds which have been thrown away by man all round his dwellings, and have accumulated there during the lapse of centuries. The name which has been given them was derived from the fact that they furnish a kind of earthy ammoniacal manure, known in the district by the name of terra mare.
These accumulations are the representatives of the Danish kitchen-middens; but with this difference, that instead of dating back to the Stone Age, the former belong to the bronze epoch.
Terramares are numerous in the districts of Parma and Modena; they are, however, almost entirely confined to the plain which extends between the Po, the Apennines, the Adda, and the Reno, forming an area of about 60 miles long, and 30 miles wide. In a general way, they form small mounds which rise from 6 to 12 feet above the level of the plain; as they go down some depth in the ground, their total thickness is in some places as much as 20 feet. Very few are seen having an area exceeding 9 acres.
Excavations which have been made in several spots enable a tolerably exact account to be given of the mode of construction adopted in these palustrine settlements. The marniera of Castione, in particular, has furnished us with valuable information on this point; and we shall describe this settlement as a type of the rest. Piles from 6 to 10 feet in length, and 4 to 6 inches in diameter (fig. 151), formed of trunks of trees, either whole or split, and pointed at the ends by some rough tool, were sunk to the depth of some inches in the bed of the hollow. Some of them still show on their tops the marks of the blows that they received when they were driven in. They were placed at intervals of from 18 inches to 6 feet; and connecting-beams from 6 to 10 feet in length, placed horizontally, and crossing one another, bound the piles together, and insured the solidity of the whole construction. On these cross-beams rested a floor (fig. 152) formed of joists 1 to 3 inches thick, 6 to 12 inches wide, and 5 to 7 feet long.