The relics were collected between and around these piles, and uniformly all over the area. They consisted of a remarkable series of bronze implements and weapons, together with a few of stone and horn. There were also found the bones of tame and wild animals, a human brachycephalic skull and some other human bones, a portion of a canoe, and a very small quantity of pottery of an indeterminate character. The bones were very much broken, but, notwithstanding, they were identified as belonging to the following animals, viz.:—stag, roe, hare, bear, ox, horse, pig, and dog. It is noteworthy that the reindeer and elk were both unrepresented.
Relics.—It is, however, the relics that distinguish this lacustrine find from others in North Germany, and these I shall now describe shortly:—three swords with handles ([Fig. 97], Nos. 8, 9, and 10), one sword-blade attached by rivets (No. 11); an ornamented commandostab (No. 18), and a small button-like object, ornamented with a running scroll of double spiral; three daggers have rivet-marks and one has a tang (Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 12); one dagger, still in its bronze handle (No. 13), has its butt end ornamented with concentric circles and spirals characteristic of the Scandinavian archæological area; two lance-heads with sockets (Nos. 4 and 17), one of which is ornamented with lines and crossbars (No. 17); one socketed celt (No. 3); five paalstabs (Nos. 1 and 2); and a piece of bronze wire.
Fig. 97.—Spandau. Nos. 8 to 11 = 1⁄6, and the rest 1⁄3 real size (socket of No. 17 = 2⁄3).
Of stone objects there were two round grindstones or polishers (No. 15) and some sharpening stones, a polished perforated stone (No. 16), a portion of a hammer of greenstone, and a round stone ball 4 inches in diameter, like a cannon-ball.
Five staghorn axe-heads, a disc of horn perforated, a portion of a horn spear, five bits of rough unornamented pottery, and a large perforated ball of clay. Fragments of a canoe showing a length of 10 feet. Report goes that an iron implement, and a portion of a dish like earthenware of the twelfth century, were found; but probably they had no connection with the bronze objects above described. It is noteworthy that all the relics are of a military character, there being among them no spindle-whorls, combs, hair-pins, fibulæ, bracelets, or any other objects that can be said to belong to domestic life. For this reason this lacustrine abode is generally supposed to have been a military fort like La Tène. (B. 384 and 396.)
(c) POSEN AND POLAND.
Objezierze.—In the province of Posen there are several localities to be recorded which have yielded unequivocal indications of lake-dwellings, two of which, viz. Objezierze and Czeszewo, are supposed by local archæologists to date as far back as the Stone Age. The former existed in a swamp now filled up with peat, which has thus preserved and concealed piles and other remains recently brought to light by peat-cutters. The relics collected from this place are now deposited in the Posen Archæological Museum, and among them I have noted the following:—A few remarkably fine knife-flakes of flint, one of which is 7½ inches long, a perforated bead, four large clay rings ([Fig. 98], No. 8), and three flint celts of the Scandinavian type (No. 7). In the same turf moor and in the vicinity of the lake-dwelling was found a large bronze torque ornamented as shown in No. 9.[56]
Czeszewo (Kr. Wagrowice).—Although for many years the existence of piles in a particular spot in this lake was known to fishermen, it was not till 1871 that their true nature was recognised by Professor Lepkowsky of Krakow. The lake was surrounded by marshy borders and peat bogs, and at various times its level was lowered, which thus considerably reduced its area. Firewood being scarce in the district, the fishermen were in the habit of pulling out the piles, and in this way the structures were greatly damaged before a competent archæologist saw them. The site of the Pfahlbau was near a large tumulus constructed close to the original lake margin. The area occupied by the piles was in the form of a segment of a circle, the base of which was 250 paces long and its greatest breadth 75. Transverse beams from 10 to 12 feet long were found interspersed among the uprights, which were supposed to have bound the latter together, though neither wedges nails, nor mortises were detected. It was observed that the uprights had their tops charred and that the portions remaining were longer the farther they were placed from the shore, and hence it was supposed that the dwelling had been destroyed by a conflagration.