(1) Though many objects of stone and bronze were found on the former, yet in almost every case they were associated with others of a more recent type, including iron implements, etc.
(2) The food refuse contained most commonly the bones of the ordinary domestic animals, those of wild animals, such as reindeer, wild boar, stag, wild goat, and beaver, being but rarely met with.
(3) Many of the lake-dwellings were synchronous with the Burgwälle, a fact which was conclusively proved by their possessing the characteristic pottery of the latter, as was notably the case in the Persanzig lake-dwelling. Moreover, Virchow showed that some of the Burgwälle had direct communication with adjacent lake-dwellings, as in the Dabersee, Soldinersee, and Kloppsee.
Referring to this subject at a later date (1877), at the eighth Congress of the German Anthropological Society (B. 306), Virchow, while reviewing the further discoveries of lake-dwellings in North Germany, maintained the general correctness of his previous conclusions. These northern Pfahlbauten, according to him, were due to the immigration into the country of the Slavish people, and bear the same relation to the Burgwälle that the pile-dwellings in Italy do to the terremare. "Ich denke," says he, "wir werden uns entschliessen müssen, ganz im Gegensatze zu den süddeutschschweizerischen Pfahlbauten, die Einführung der nördlichen Pfahlbauten an die Einwanderung des Slavo-lettischen Stammes anzuknüpfen."
Virchow's opinion is not, however, universally accepted, as many of the local archæologists maintain that there are several lake-dwellings which have yielded relics that can only be explained on the supposition that they were founded during the earlier prehistoric ages. The chief examples relied on in support of their contention are those at Wismar, Spandau, Czeszewo, Objezierze, and Aryssee.
After carefully examining the relics from all these stations I must admit that much could be written on both sides of this controversy. Notwithstanding the number of typical objects of the Stone Age from Wismar and Gägelow, Dr. Lisch records that along with them were portions of querns. Now, querns are never found among the remains of the Swiss lake-dwellings, nor am I aware of their existence in any prehistoric remains in northern or western Europe prior to Roman times. The station at Spandau, if it be considered a true Pfahlbau, was undoubtedly of the Bronze Age. Czeszewo and Objezierze have yielded a considerable quantity of Stone Age relics, with scarcely any of the succeeding ages. Only one bronze object is said to have been found on the former, and from the latter there is in the Museum of Posen a bronze torque ([Fig. 98], No. 9), which was found at a little distance from the lake-dwelling. As regards the Aryssee and its neighbouring lakes of Czarni and Tulewo, with their respective lake-dwellings, all of which are of the Packwerk type, Professor Heydeck relies largely on the presence of pottery with string and finger ornamentation, as a proof of their antiquity, in addition to the ordinary stone celts, horn clubs, etc.; but yet along with them were found iron lance-heads and a blue glass bead (Czarnisee). Similarly in the Packwerk in the Kownatkensee, polished stone celts, pottery with finger marks and Schnurornament, and portion of a reindeer horn, were found associated with a bone skate, and the osseous remains of the domestic animals, as the horse, pig, ox, etc. In attempting, therefore, to estimate the chronological range of these lake-dwellings from an examination of their contents, which (being unnoticed in the early annals of the country) is the only available means, the mixed character of these relics presents a considerable difficulty—a difficulty which, as we shall afterwards see, is equally applicable to the Scottish and Irish crannogs. But, whatever doubts may be cast on their antiquity and early origin, there can be none as to the comparatively late occupancy of many of them. A bone skate and a comb made of square bits bound together by cross pieces, and showing that the teeth were cut by a saw after the pieces were put together, precisely as may be seen in the combs from the Scottish crannogs and the terp-mounds of Holland, were found by Virchow in the Dabersee Pfahlbau. Iron hatchets (Dabersee, Persanzigsee, and Alt Friesack), horseshoes, and other iron implements (Soldinersee), pottery of Slavish type (Bonin, Kloppsee, Persanzig, etc.), leather (Bonin), and even armour and bricks of the thirteenth century (Lübtowsee), leave no doubt as to their almost mediæval character.
Reindeer horns were found at Butzow, Soldinersee, and Kownatkensee; but these objects do not necessarily indicate great antiquity, as this animal, though not referred to in the early annals of North Germany, is stated to have been an inhabitant of the country in the time of Cæsar.
The undoubted contemporaneity of many of these lake-dwellings with the Burgwälle opens up a field of research of considerable importance to European archæology; but their exact chronological relationship still remains an obscure problem, owing chiefly to the mystery which surrounds the latter.
Burgwälle or Rundwälle is the general name given to the remains of a remarkable class of prehistoric constructions found scattered over the larger portion of middle and north-western Europe, embracing the southern parts of Russia around the shores of the Black Sea, Roumania, Bulgaria, Transylvania, Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, Poland, North Germany, France, Great Britain, and the southern parts of Scandinavia. Their foundations now only remain and these show that the structures were generally circular or oval, but sometimes square and semicircular. They may be divided into three kinds, according to the materials of which their foundations are constructed, viz.:—earth, stones or stones in vitrified condition (Erd-, Stein-und Schlackenwälle). Their sizes vary from 20 to 100 paces in diameter, and their height from 10 to 30 feet, and they contained one, two, or sometimes three walls. Those made of earth were circular and generally situated in swampy land, or in countries where stones were not readily accessible. The Steinwälle were in hilly districts and varied in form according to the nature of the ground. Sometimes they assumed the irregular outline of a promontory or peninsula in a lake, at other times, especially when placed on an overhanging cliff, they were mere semicircles. Those of vitrified materials are of special interest to Scottish archæologists owing to the number of vitrified forts in Scotland. They are not very numerous on the Continent, Saxony and Bohemia containing the largest number. In the former country eight are known, viz.:—Schafberg by Löbau, Rothstein by Sohland, Stromberg by Weissenberg, Landeskrone by Görlitz, Brandwall by Blumberg, Koschütz near Dresden, Burgberg by Lichtenberg, and Vorberg by Kirchberg. According to Jelinek, Bohemia is rich in Schlackenwälle, those best known being near Katovic, Bukovec, Litoradic, Hradiste von Hostem, Hradiste bei Strakonic, Hradec bei Domanic Burgberg, Vladar, etc. ("Schutz-und Wehrbauten." p. 102). Instances also occur in Silesia, Thuringian Forest, Rhine district, Brittany, and Normandy.
The Burgwälle, like their analogues in the British Isles, have not yet been systematically investigated. From the character of the relics found in those that have been explored in North Germany they are divided into Vorslavisch, Slavisch and Spätslavisch, a distinction which has been suggested by the unique character of Slavish pottery. These Slavish dishes are always without handles, but of well-burnt pottery, and when ornamented the ornamentation is in wavy lines running parallel to the rim forming the characteristic Wellenlinie.