(3) Underlying the relic-bed was a thick bed of stiff loam and sand, into which the piles deeply penetrated. These piles were generally of pine and oak, the former predominating in the proportion of two to one.
The dimensions of the lake-dwelling were not accurately ascertained, but the area covered by the dredging operations exceeded 10,000 square yards, and in most of this space piles were found. No stone implements were found, with the exception of the polished discoidal stone sent to Dr. Keller; but the number of bronze objects amounted to 250, most of which were sent to Vienna.
Professor Franz Unger made a careful study of the organic remains, and amongst the various fruits, plants, and wood identified by him the most interesting are rye (Secale cereale) and the vine (Vitis vinifera). The former has not yet been found in any of the terremare or lake-dwellings of North Italy.
The osseous remains represented the ordinary domestic animals—dog, sheep, goat, ox, horse, and pig—as well as the stag, roe, wild boar, etc.
Besides the bronze objects there were fragments of pottery and one or two Roman coins—one of Trajan and one of Domitian.
Meantime archæologists were on the look out for palafittes in other parts of the lake. It appears that as early as 1861 Cav. Martinati detected piles at a place called Rocca di Garda, near Bardolino, on the eastern shore of the lake, which he considered to be the remains of a pile-dwelling. Dr. Alberti also discovered similar evidence in two localities farther south, Il Bor and Porto di Pacengo, which he described in a letter to Martinati in 1864. (B. 77 and 355.) This stimulated the Accad. d'Agricoltura, Arti, e Commercio di Verona to appoint a Commission to investigate the matter; but their labours were soon afterwards discontinued owing to the political disturbances of 1866, and it was not till ten years later that these proposed archæological researches were resumed and the Commission re-constituted. Although on this occasion no bronze objects were found, it cannot be said that the explorations were altogether devoid of interest, as the existence of the reported palafittes was not only confirmed, but a considerable quantity of the osseous remains of the ordinary domestic animals, fragments of pottery (including handles known as anse lunate), and a wooden spoon were collected. But the Commission soon abandoned the work as profitless. Then it was that Mr. Alberto Cavazzocca, of Verona, commenced to search Il Bor on his own account, and succeeded in a couple of seasons in securing from it a small collection of antiquities, including objects of stone and bronze.
On the western and more sheltered shores of Lake Garda Professor Stoppani, of Milan, found traces of several stations, particularly in the Gulf San Felice di Scovolo, three of which were situated close to its northern shore, and two close to the Isola Lecchi on the landward side of the island. As few relics were found—only a few flint objects—and as the piles in all these stations were near the shore and in comparatively shallow water, Stoppani concluded they belonged to the Stone Age. These explorations were a sequence to the first researches in Lake Varese, so auspiciously initiated by Desor and Mortillet, and which Stoppani followed up by making an exploratory tour of the lakes of North Italy. The observations of Stoppani, however, have not been confirmed by any subsequent researches, though this particular locality is pre-eminently the most fitted for lake-dwellings in the whole of this extensive sheet of water. (B. 87.)
In 1879, under the skilful management of Cav. Stefano de Stefani (R. Ispettore degli Scavi, Verona), dredging operations were resumed at the old place in the harbour of Peschiera, which considerably added to the number of relics from this station.
In the spring of the following year De Stefani transferred his operations to an entirely new locality in the river Mincio, below the railway bridge, where the stream divides into a number of separate channels. Among the islands thus formed he had reason to suspect the existence of pile-dwellings, and in this expectation he was not disappointed, as he succeeded in finding not only the submerged piles and transverse beams, but also a large number of flint, and some bronze objects, and even a few Roman remains.
As both these investigations were undertaken by orders from the Minister of Public Instruction and at the expense of Government the relics were sent to enrich the prehistoric department of the Kircherian Museum at Rome.