Primitive Man

by Louis Figuier

The floor was covered with beaten earth to a thickness of 10 to 12 inches. Fragments of this kind of paving were found scattered about in two sandy heaps, almost entirely devoid of other débris, whilst the adjacent earth, of a blackish colour, contained a large quantity of relics of all kinds. It is probable that the huts of the inhabitants of the marniera were situated upon these sandy heaps, and that the dark-coloured earth is the final result of the accumulation of refuse and various kinds of detritus on the same spot.

It is not known whether the layer of beaten earth extended over the whole surface of the floor, or was confined to the interior of the habitations. In the former case, it is probable that it was rammed down with less care on the outside than on the inside of the huts, as is shown by the discovery of a storehouse for corn, the floor of which is formed by nothing but a layer of sandy earth placed upon the planks. This storehouse, which, from the use to which it was put, could not have been used as a dwelling by any one, measured 13 feet in length, and 10 feet in width. It contained carbonised beans and wheat, spread in a layer of about 4 inches thick.

MM. Strobel and Pigorini found no remains of huts in the marniera of Castione: probably because, having been built entirely of wood, they were completely destroyed by fire, numerous traces of which may still be detected. In addition to the carbonised corn and fruit already mentioned, many other objects bearing the evident marks of fire were, in fact, collected at Castione. The floor-slabs, the tie-beams, and the tops of the piles were often found to be half consumed.

But although at Castione there is no evidence forthcoming in respect to huts, information which bears upon this point has been obtained at other spots. MM. Strobel and Pigorini have ascertained that the palustrine dwellings bore a great similarity to those on the Swiss lakes. The sides were lined with boughs, and the interior was daubed with clay. In Italy, just as in Switzerland, certain fragments of the clayey coating which have been hardened and preserved by fire have enabled us to draw these inferences.

At Castione several beds of ashes and charcoal containing remains of meals, pointed out the sites of the domestic hearths, round which they, doubtless, assembled to eat their food. Another bed of charcoal, mixed with straw, wheat, and pieces of burnt pottery, was found in a peculiar situation—it was embedded in a bank of calcareous pebbles vitrified on the surface; this bank was about 5 feet wide, and about 8 inches in thickness. The explorers thought that it was, perhaps, a place which had been devoted to the fusion of metals.

On the edge of the basin of the marsh, a kind of rampart or defensive work was discovered, composed of slabs as much as 16 feet in length, laid horizontally one over the other. These slabs were tied down by stakes driven in obliquely, and likewise placed one above the other, their ends being inserted between the slabs.

This last discovery, added to other indications, led MM. Strobel and Pigorini to the supposition that the pile-work of Castione, and doubtless also those in all the marnieras, were in the first place constructed as places of defence, and were subsequently converted into fixed and permanent residences. The basin of the marsh having been gradually filled up by the accumulations of débris resulting from the presence of man, the habitations were built on a solid foundation, and a great portion of the former floor was done away with, which would account for so little of it now remaining.

The objects discovered in the terramares and marnieras do not essentially differ from those found in the pile-works of Switzerland. They are almost all worn or broken, just as might be expected from finding them in rubbish heaps. There are a great quantity of fragments of pottery of a greyish or dark-coloured clay mixed with grains of quartz, imperfectly baked, and made without the aid of a potter's wheel. The ornamentation is, in general, of a very simple character, but the shapes of the ears, or handles, are very varied. Some of the vessels are furnished with a spout or holes for the liquid to flow out. The terramares also contain supports for vessels with round or pointed bottoms.

In the marniera of San Ambrogio a slab of pottery was found, elliptical in shape, and about half an inch in thickness, concave on one side and convex on the other, and pierced with seventeen circular holes about a quarter of an inch in diameter. The idea was entertained that this object was used as a kind of fire-grating, for it bore traces of the long-continued action of fire.