As evidence that the inhabitants were in the habit of spinning and weaving, there are, besides the spindle-whorls and clay weights, bits of thread and cord, and one small fragment of coarsely-made linen tissue (No. 9). According to Professor Sordelli, this was made from wild flax (Linum angustifolium), of which he found the seeds and fibres in abundance, but no trace of the cultivated species. On the other hand, there were two kinds of wheat and the six-eared barley. Among the food-remains were the wild apple, acorns, hazel-nuts, stones of the cornel cherry, poppy-seeds, etc.
But the most remarkable feature of Lagozza is, that no animal bones of any description were found—not a tooth, or horn, or bone of any kind. Neither were there any warlike weapons, with the exception of the few questionable arrow-points. Castelfranco therefore suggests that the inhabitants of Lagozza might have been vegetarians. (B. 354, 359b, 372d´, 387, 409, 452, 456, and 459c.)
LAKE GARDA.
In 1851, while the harbour of Peschiera was being deepened, numerous bronze implements, associated with piles deeply buried in the bed of the lake, were found at a particular spot near the north mole of the fortress; but no special attention was paid to them. The bronze objects were laid aside by the workmen, and it is said that a quantity of them, weighing some 15 or 20 pounds, was sold as old metal. Of this find a very few were sent to the K. K. Antiken Cabinet in Vienna. In 1860 further deepening of the harbour became necessary, and again similar objects were found in the dredged-up stuff. These operations were conducted under the supervision of M. Lorenz and Col. von Silber, who, in the interests of archæology, collected and preserved the bronze objects. Subsequently, on its being suggested that this was a palafitte like those recently discovered in the Swiss lakes, Col. von Silber forwarded an assortment of the relics to Dr. Keller at Zürich, with the following explanatory notice of the circumstances in which they were found:—
"In deepening the entrance of the harbour at Peschiera for the newly-built gunboat, which was done by means of a mud-machine (called a 'paternoster') to a depth of 7 or 8 feet below the usual level of the water, the workmen found amongst the mud and sand brought up by the machine a great number of bronze implements. These were carefully preserved, for the sake of archæology, by Mr. Lorenz, the marine engineer, now residing at Pola, and myself. I was so uninitiated in this science, that when I found that the greater part of the objects had been taken up from a space of a very few square fathoms, I had the notion that a ship, laden with bronze, had been wrecked here, and it was not till a conversation which I had with Dr. Freudenberg, of Bonn, that I was led to believe that a lake-dwelling probably existed on this spot. This idea was corroborated by the fact that just in this place the working of the mud-machine was very much impeded by a number of burnt piles which were quite covered with the mud. Unfortunately, I fancied at first that these piles came from the fishermen's huts, which abound in this neighbourhood at the present day, so that I paid no attention to their position or arrangement. The piles which were drawn up were, on an average, 4 or 5 feet long, quite hidden under the sand, and burnt to such a degree that it is quite impossible for me to say with certainty what kinds of wood they were made of. I imagine, however, that the wood was chiefly that of the stone oak (Quercus ilex). The piles were 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
"Besides the bronze implements one of stone was found, which I believe to be a sling-stone. Lately, when reading the reports of the Swiss lake-dwellings, I remember the occurrence of a great number of pieces of burnt clay found in the mud. These pieces were of a blackish colour, remarkably thick, and without any definite form. I do not doubt that they have been fragments of the clay covering the huts of the lake-dwellings." (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 364.)
These discoveries induced the eminent archæologist, Dr. E. Freiherr von Sacken, to visit Peschiera for the purpose of investigating into the reported Pfahlbau. In addition to his own special researches he had correct details of the results already obtained from Captain von Kostersitz, who was present, and carefully watched the excavations during the years 1860-1-2, and from these he drew up an admirable report, published in 1864 (B. 75), which clearly proved that there was here a true pile-dwelling of the Bronze Age.
In this report the following sectional description of the sedimentary strata is given:—
(1) In a depth of about 5 feet of water there was first a sandy layer from 2½ to 3 feet thick in which no relics were found.
(2) Beneath this layer of sand was the relic-bed, from 2 to 3½ feet thick, composed of a mossy deposit containing the remains of plants, organic débris, the industrial objects already referred to, and the tops of numerous piles.