Primitive Man

by Louis Figuier

Fig. 262.—Razor.

The specimens of pottery belonging to this date do not testify to any real progress having been made beyond the workmanship of the bronze epoch; the clay is still badly baked, and of a darkish colour. It certainly is the case, that along with these remains a quantity of fragments of vessels have been picked up, and even entire vessels, which have been made by the help of the potter's wheel and baked in an oven, and consequently present the red colour usual in modern earthenware. But archæologists are of opinion that this class of pottery does not date back beyond the Roman epoch; and this opinion would seem to be confirmed by the existence, in the midst of the piles at the settlement of La Tène, of a mass of tiles, evidently of Roman origin. The conclusion to be drawn from these facts is, that many of the pile-works in the Swiss lakes continued to be occupied when the country was under the Roman rule.

One of the characteristics of the iron epoch is, as we have before stated, the appearance of coin or money. In 1864, M. Desor recovered from the Lake of La Tène five coins of unquestionable Gallic origin. They are of bronze, and bear on one side the figure of the horned horse, and on the other a human profile. In fig. 232, we gave a representation of these curious specimens of coin found by M. Desor in the lacustrine settlements of the Lake of Neuchâtel. The marks of the mould still existing on each side show that these coins were cast in a series, and that after the casting the coins were separated from one another by means of the file.

Coins of a similar character have been discovered, as we before observed, at Tiefenau, near Berne, with others bearing the effigy of Diana and Apollo, and the imprint of Massilia, The latter date from the foundation of Marseilles, and could not, therefore, be anterior to the sixth century before the Christian era; it is probable that those discovered along with them must be referred to nearly the same epoch.

Such are the relics of instruments, tools, weapons, &c., made of iron and recovered from the lacustrine settlement of La Tène, that is, from the Lake of Neuchâtel. We must add that, near Berne, at a spot which is designated by the name of the "Battle-field of Tiefenau," because it appears to have been the theatre of a great conflict between the Helvetians and the Gauls, a hundred swords and spear-heads have been picked up, similar to those found at La Tène; also fragments of coats of mail, rings, fibulæ, the tires of chariot-wheels, horses' bits, and lastly, Gallic and Marseillaise coins in gold, silver, and bronze. This field of battle appears, therefore, to have been contemporary with the settlement at La Tène.

In addition to these valuable sources of information—La Tène and Tiefenau—Switzerland also possesses tumuli and simple tombs, both constituting records useful to consult in respect to the iron epoch. But on this point, it must be remarked that it is often difficult, with any degree of security, to connect them with the two preceding sites; and that considerable reserve is recommended in attempting any kind of identification.

Upon the whole, the Iron Age, looking even only to its earliest period, is the date of the beginning of real civilisation among European nations.

Their industrial skill, exercised on the earliest-used materials, such as iron and textile products, furnished all that was required by the usages of life. Commerce was already in a flourishing state, for it was no longer carried on by the process of barter only. Money, in the shape of coin, the conventional symbol of wealth, came into use during this epoch, and must have singularly facilitated the operations of trade. Agriculture, too, had advanced as much as it could at this earliest dawn of civilisation. The remains of cereals found in the lake-settlements of Switzerland, added to the iron instruments intended to secure the products of the cultivation of the ground, such as the scythes and sickles which we have previously depicted (figs. 254 and 255), are sufficient to show us that agriculture constituted at that time the chief wealth of nations. The horse, the ass, the dog, the ox, and the pig, had for long time back been devoted to the service of man, either as auxiliaries in his field-labours, or as additions to his resources in the article of food. Fruit-trees, too, were cultivated in great numbers.