During the last few days of these operations the dredging machine was shifted in a north-eastern direction, and here objects of bronze were turned up, such as hatchets, hair-pins, knives, buttons, spirals, beads, rings, etc.
It would thus appear that there were two stations—one of the Stone Age, and the other of the Bronze Age; or that a portion of the former survived during the Bronze Age.
It was in the vicinity of this station that Captain Pillichordy in 1832 dredged up a canoe and two beautiful bronze swords, only one of which is now known to exist in the Museum of Neuchâtel. In September, 1889, Dr. Evans showed me, among many other objects from the Swiss lacustrine dwellings, a sword from Concise, purchased by him in Paris in 1887, which at once struck me as being the other weapon which so mysteriously disappeared in 1832. The handle and the tip of the blade of this sword are here represented ([Fig. 11], No. 24), and when compared with the drawings of its supposed fellow at Neuchâtel (B. 34, Pl. iii. 35; B. 119, 2nd ed., Pl. cii. 17; B. 31, Pl. xi. 11; and B. 252, Pl. v. 10), their remarkable similarity will be at once seen. That in Dr. Evans's collection has a total length of 26½ inches. The blade is of yellow bronze 21 inches long, and terminates in a somewhat rounded point.
In the months of January and February, 1885, a portion of the station hitherto unexamined became dry, and a great many objects were found, including bronze pins ([Fig. 11], Nos. 2, 3, 8, 10, and 11), hatchets, bracelets, sickles, knives, pendants (Nos. 9 and 13), tin wheels (No. 4), wooden combs (No. 7), and vases, etc. Among the more remarkable objects described and figured by Mr. Vouga (B. 414d) are:—A necklace made of rolled bands of bronze, forming tubes, and ornamented with hollow lines (No. 1). Some of these tubes are of gold, and interspersed with them are three buttons of bronze and a number of small blue beads. Two bracelets or closed rings, ornamented (No. 6); a ring with a prominence inside; and a curiously-wrought pendeloque (No. 12). These objects are mostly in the possession of private collectors.
Fig. 11.—Concise and Corcelettes (5, and 14 to 23) Nos. 21 and 22—1⁄4, the rest = 1⁄2 real size.
Onens.—Two stations are situated near the village of Onens—one (Stone Age) to the east of the village, and the other (Bronze Age) to the south. The former, now entirely on dry land, has been little explored, being for some time covered with vegetation. "Je crois," says M. de Meuron, "cependant qu'elle a dû être importante d'après son étendue et la quantité de cailloux éclatés que recouvrent le sol. Cette station appartient à moi; mais la végétation y est devenue si belle que je la laisse pour les générations futures." (B. 462, p. 47.)
On the bronze station several remarkable pendeloques in the form of thin discs of bronze were found some years ago, which are now deposited in the Museum at Neuchâtel; and since this discovery it has been partially explored by M. Morel-Fatio, Dr. Brière, and others. M. de Meuron states that he is in possession of a few objects from this station, viz. hatchets, chisels, bracelets, and a magnificent lance-head 10 inches in length. From Onens comes the leaden cake with suspension loops similar to those from Wollishofen ([Fig. 4], No. 24). Illustrations of some of the bronze discs are given on [Fig. 189], Nos. 1 to 3.
Corcelettes.—Two groups of piles were observed by the early explorers, one to the east and the other to the west of the village of Corcelettes, and a number of antiquities both of the Bronze and Iron Ages were collected. The station, however, was never systematically examined till the lowering of the waters in 1876, when it was found to be one of the most prolific and interesting in Lake Neuchâtel. The portion since then investigated is described by Dr. Gross as lying immediately before the village, and 2 kilomètres from Grandson. It extended about 200 mètres in length and 100 in breadth. The relic-bed was thinly covered with sand, and varied much in thickness, from a maximum of 3 feet in the centre, to the margin where it thinned out. The bronze relics collected here are thus estimated by Dr. Gross at the twelfth meeting of the German Anthropological Society:— [10] 60 hatchets, 4 hammers, 30 sickles, 60 to 70 knives, 10 swords (three of which are complete), 150 entire armillæ and many fragments, 20 lance-heads, 12 discs (phalères), 300 to 400 hair-pins, 3 vessels, 11 moulds (one of bronze and 10 of sandstone), besides a quantity of smaller objects, as buttons, pendants, rings, etc. Together with beads of glass and amber, small tin wheel-shaped objects, there were some 300 entire vessels of pottery, some ornamented with tin strips, crescents, etc.