Fig. 199.—Objects of La Tène types for comparison. Nos. 1, 7, 8, 12 and 16 = 1⁄4; 2 = 1⁄6; and the rest (including the designs on No. 7) = 1⁄2 real size.
During the excavations for the "Correction des Eaux du Jura," some remarkable discoveries were made, especially while deepening and rectifying the lower Thielle between Nidau and Meyenried. Immediately below the village of Port the débris of a pile-village was encountered, to which I have already alluded. Above this village the dredgers came in contact with a row of piles which Dr. v. Fellenberg concluded to have been the supports of a bridge. These piles were from 8 to 12 inches thick, and near them were collected over 100 weapons of the La Tène types, including swords, spears, etc. Another locality was a little below Brügg, where traces of two bridges were encountered, one of the Gallo-Roman period and the other supposed to be of later date. Near the former a large collection of antiquities was made, including objects, not only of the La Tène type, but also others of Etruscan and Roman origin. Amongst the La Tène objects collected during these operations are swords and sheaths (one of the latter being of bronze), spear-heads, axes, sickles, etc., which are identical with those figured from La Tène. One of the spear-heads is ornamented with incised lines producing two designs, one on the right side of each surface, as shown in [Fig. 199], No. 7.
In France similar antiquities have been collected on the Helvetico-Romano battle-fields, such as Alise St. Renne (Alesia of Cæsar), and Mont Beuvray (Bibracte), as well as in some graves in northern France, particularly in the valleys of the Marne and the Aube. Some of these graves were evidently the final resting place of Gaulish chiefs, and contained in addition to the body a complete suite of military equipments. For comparison I have given here some illustrations of these discoveries. No. 1 represents the famous bronze helmet known as the Casque de Berru, described by Bertrand, which is particularly interesting on account of the ornamental designs which it displays.[146] No. 2 is a similar helmet ornamented with a kind of fretwork, and along with it in the same grave were a great many objects, weapons, ornaments, the bronze mountings of horses' harness, and the débris of a chariot.[147] A few of these are here illustrated, viz. an iron spear (No. 8), a sword and its sheath both of iron (No. 16), two bronze fibulæ (Nos. 10 and 11), a gold bracelet (No. 13), a bronze horse-bit (No. 12), and some specimens of mountings for a chariot (Nos. 14 and 15), and harness (No. 9).
Characteristic finds of this period have also been found in Savoy, the Alpine Passes, and North Italy. In the Museums of Bologna, Este, Milan, Turin, etc., are deposited the contents of numerous warrior-graves, which show unmistakable examples of the characteristic swords and scabbards and other objects of La Tène civilisation. Its central home, however, appears to have been the middle and upper Rhine districts, Baden, Bavaria, and eastwards to Bohemia and Laibach. Northwards sporadic examples are found as far as the Baltic.
One of the most important finds of this character in Europe was discovered, investigated, and described some ten years ago.[148] Near the village Stradonic in Bohemia there is a truncated eminence known under the name "der Berg Hradischt," which, owing to the precipitous nature of its slopes, is only accessible on one side. By nature this rocky eminence is admirably adapted for a military camping place, and that it was occupied in such a capacity in prehistoric times is evident from the mass of industrial remains of all ages found at various depths on its summit. Among these, however, by far the largest number were of the La Tène type, including a large quantity of money precisely similar to that found on La Tène. Gold pieces were particularly numerous, some 200 being found in one place. Others were of silver and potin, some imitating the coins of Philip of Macedon, and others bearing impressions of the fantastic horse with the long tail and horn ([Fig. 92], Nos. 5 to 8). Roman coins were also present, but very sparingly. Among industrial and ornamental remains were fragments of glass bracelets of a yellow, blue, or red colour (Nos. 3 and 4), pincers, torques, grotesque figures of animal heads, iron axes, bridle-bits, etc. Upwards of 100 dice pieces of bone (Nos. 17 and 18). The characteristic fibulæ were of iron and bronze, the former, however, predominating. I have here placed side by side two bronze fibulæ precisely alike except in dimensions, one (No. 5) being from La Tène and the other (No. 6) from Hradischt. The former is after Vouga (B. 428, Pl. xvi. 17), who describes it as of the Hallstadt type, and probably of an older date than the ordinary La Tène objects. The presence of two objects so similar in style and ornamentation in such distant localities not only proves that they are forms of fibulæ then prevalent, but also becomes a striking confirmation of the contemporaneity of oppidum La Tène and the occupation of the camp on Hradischt. That they were the same people who occupied both places there can be little doubt.
The repeated incursions of the Gauls into North Italy, prior to its conquest by the Romans, so often referred to in classical writers, have been strikingly confirmed by recent archæological researches. In the cemeteries of Benacci, Villanova, and Marzabotto, in the vicinity of Bologna, the Gallic element has been for some time recognised by many of the most competent archæologists. During the excavations at Benacci three series of graves were observed, at different depths, the contents of which clearly prove that they were the cemeteries of different races. The first, or uppermost, were burials of the Roman period. Underneath them was a group of twelve graves which, from the long iron swords and characteristic fibulæ found along with the bodies, are now universally accepted as Celtic or Gaulish. Below these, again, was a third group which in every respect corresponded with the Etruscan cemetery of Villanova.[149] Helbig assigns the date of the Celtic graves at Marzabotto to the end of the fifth or beginning of the fourth century B.C. (B. 335, p. 35.)
In 1878 Castelfranco investigated a cemetery at Soldo, in the Brianza district, in which, among other things, he found the following relics:—A bronze fibula and an iron knife, precisely similar to those here figured from the Starnberg lake-dwelling ([Fig. 36], No. 22, and [Fig. 37], No. 1); an iron shears like those from La Tène: a Celtic silver coin; a vase with the word VITILIOS scratched on it in rude graffiti, which Fabretti ascribes to a Celtic source ("La direi celtica per la desinenza, come pure per la forma del T"). See B. 343, pp. 6 to 28, and Pl. i.
More recently (1886) the same author described several groups of cemeteries scattered over Lombardy, particularly on the left side of the Po, in which he found characteristic examples of the La Tène civilisation—swords, spears, knives, fibulæ, saws, shears, nodulated rings, etc.[150]
During the earlier discoveries of objects of this peculiar phase of art there was considerable diversity of opinion as to the people and period to which they should be referred. The Tiefenau "find" was assigned by Mr. Albert Jahn to the old Helvetians ("Canton Bern"), while Baron de Bonstetten referred it to the German races who invaded Helvetia in the fourth century. M. Veschère de Reffye, in describing the discoveries at the ancient fortress of Alesia, assigned the weapons found in the trenches, which turned out to be of the same character as those of La Tène, to the Helvetians.[151] Acting on this suggestion, Desor expressed the opinion that the La Tène iron weapons and other implements were introduced into Switzerland by the Helvetians, who hailed from Germany, and entered the country as conquerors. Dr. Keller, apparently prejudiced by his preconceived notion that the lake-dwellings of the Stone and Bronze Ages were due to the Celts, had a difficulty in believing that the advanced civilisation of La Tène was a direct evolutionary product of the Bronze Age; but yet he would not agree with the opinion that these civilisations indicated different races.