In these circumstances I resolved to proceed de novo, and to construct my story of the lake-dwellings from whatever trustworthy sources I could lay my hands on. In order to carry out this intention my wife and I perambulated the whole of Central Europe with note and sketch books in hand, visiting, as far as practicable, the sites of lake-dwellings, and searching museums and libraries wherever we thought their relics or records were to be found. The eastern limit of the region thus visited may be represented by a line drawn from Königsberg to Trieste, passing through the intermediate towns of Krakow, Buda-Pesth, and Agram. The materials brought together from within this area are, to a very considerable extent, absolutely new to British archæologists. Of course, in a work which aims at putting into the hands of general readers an epitome of the essential facts and results of lacustrine researches since these singular remains were discovered in Europe, I had to take cognisance of some investigations that have already been fully recorded and illustrated. As it was impossible to illustrate typical groups of objects from all the lacustrine stations, I have, as a rule, in selecting the illustrations for this work, avoided those that have already come within the reach of English readers through the translation of Keller's works, except when they belonged to stations that are the best or only representatives of their kind in their respective localities—as, for example, the Rosen Insel in the Lake of Starnberg. Acting on this principle, I have given very few illustrations of objects from Nidau, Moosseedorf, St. Aubin, Wauwyl; nor, for the same reason, is a prominent place given to the earlier discoveries at Robenhausen, Estavayer, Concise, Cortaillod, etc. In this way I have endeavoured to combine in the work now issued as much novelty as possible, without detracting from its general and comprehensive scope.
As our peripatetic labours drew to a close, the next point to be considered was the method of grouping the materials under six divisions, corresponding with the prescribed number of lectures. This was by no means an easy task, as neither the geographical distribution, nor the historical order of the discoveries, could be exclusively selected as a cementing element in dealing with remains so diversified in character and of so wide a range in space and time. The plan which I have here adopted seems to me to combine the greatest advantages with the fewest drawbacks. Its rationale is as follows:—After introducing my subject by a short account of the circumstances that led to the discovery of the Pfahlbauten in the Lake of Zürich, and glancing at the archæological importance and surprising results of this discovery in other Swiss lakes, the historical element is dropped, and I conduct my readers over Western Switzerland and Savoy, summarising the discoveries in the successive lakes as we move along. In the second lecture we again start near the same place and continue our explorations in an easterly direction, and having examined the Upper Rhine district we cross over to the great Danubian basin, which we follow downwards as far as the lacustrine trail carries us, and ultimately finish with Laibach near the source of the Drave. The third lecture is entirely occupied with the palafittes and terremare in the Po valley. In these wanderings we have virtually made a circuit of the great Alpine chain of mountains, and have seen that the habit of constructing lake-dwellings was prevalent in the upper reaches of the four principal waterways which diverge from its flanks, viz. the Rhine, Rhone, Danube, and Po.
The lake-dwelling area thus surveyed comprises all the remains that can unequivocally be said to belong to the primary development of these structures in Europe, their period of existence being almost exclusively confined to the prehistoric ages of Stone and Bronze. Such being the case, this might be a suitable opportunity for offering some general remarks on the culture and civilisation of their inhabitants; but this I defer to the final lecture, thinking it preferable before doing so to acquaint my readers with various details of analogous remains brought to light in other districts in Europe. Accordingly in the fourth lecture we continue our geographical wanderings. Again starting in Switzerland we discuss the peculiar remains found in La Tène, almost the only exception to the ordinary Pfahlbauten of the Stone and Bronze ages encountered in our previous tour; and thence, moving northwards by the lower Rhine district, we pass to North Germany, where we meet with settlements apparently belonging to all ages. The fifth lecture is exclusively devoted to an exposition of the crannogs and lake-dwellings within the British Isles. In these five lectures we have thus surveyed the entire area in Europe in which the remains of ancient lake-dwellings have been discovered in modern times.
Excepting the well-known reports of Keller and a few monographs on particular stations or districts, the entire literature of the subject may be said to lie buried in the Transactions of learned societies. Having to hunt up and peruse most of these obscure and almost inaccessible articles—the number and extent of which may be estimated by a glance at the accompanying bibliography—it occurred to me that, by tabulating all the works and notices of these researches in chronological sequence, under the names of their respective authors and with correct references to their published sources, I might be conferring some benefit on future investigators, while supplying myself with a simple and ready means of referring to authorities, without the necessity of having to repeat over and over again the voluminous titles of publications. Hence the origin of the bibliography appended to this work, which, however imperfect, will, I trust, considerably enhance its value. Its compilation has given me a great deal of trouble, and the only valuable assistance I derived from other publications of the kind was from Pigorini's "Bibliography of Italian Archæology," which, unfortunately, comes down only to 1874.
There remains now only the pleasant duty of thanking those who have assisted me in bringing the work, so far, to a satisfactory conclusion. On this score my obligations are very great.
(1) In collecting the materials on the Continent my work was greatly facilitated by introductory notes from and to eminent archæologists, and among those who so honoured me I have especially to mention Evans, Franks, Voss, Tischler, the late Karl Deschmann, Major Tröltsch, Pigorini, and Castelfranco.
(2) To the custodians of museums and the owners of private collections I am indebted for permission to have notes and sketches taken of objects in their possession. The collections which have supplied me with original illustrations are the following:—
MUSEUMS.
Aix-les-Bains: Musée de la Ville.
Annecy: Musée de la Ville.
Avenches: Museum of Roman Antiquities.
Bâle: The Museum.
Belfast: Antiquarian Museum.
Berlin: Märkisches Museum.
Königl. Museum für Völkerkunde.
Berne: Cantonal Museum. Gross Coll. Federal Hall.
Bienne: Schwab Museum.
Boudry: Museum.
Chambéry: Musée de la Ville.
Como: Museo di Como.
Constance: Rosgarten Museum.
Dublin: Museum of the Royal Irish Academy.
Edinburgh: National Museum of Antiquities.
Frauenfeld: Sammlung der Hist. Gesellschaft im Thurgau.
Fribourg: Musée Cantonal.
Friedrichshafen: Museum des Vereins für die Geschichte des Bodensees.
Geneva: Musée Archéologique.
Isola Virginia: Museo Ponti.
Klagenfurt: Das Historiche Museum des Rudolfinums.
Königsberg: Das Prussia Museum.
Laibach: Landesmuseum.
Lausanne: Musée Cantonal.
Leeuwarden: Museum van het Friesch Genootschap.
London: British Museum.
Lucerne: Historical and Art-Industrial Museum in the Rathhaus.
Mayence: Sammlung des Stadt und Alterthumsvereins.
Milan: Museo Civico.
Modena: Museo Civico.
Morat: A small Collection in the Gymnasium.
Munich: K. Ethnographisches Museum.
Neuchâtel: Musée Archéologique.
Parma: R. Museo d'Antichità di Parma.
Posen: Archæological Museum.
Reggio: Museo Civico di Reggio d'Emilia.
Rome: Museo Preistorico.
Schwerin: Grossherzogl. Alterthümer Sammlung.
Sigmaringen: Fürstl. Hohenzollern'sches Museum.
St. Germain (Paris): Musée National.
Stuttgart: K. Kunst-und Alterthums-Sammlung,
and K. Naturalien-Sammlung.
Turin: Museo Civico.
Ueberlingen: Steinhaus Museum.
Varese: Museo di Varese.
Verona: Museo Civico.
Viadana: Museo Civico.
Vienna: K. K. Naturhist-Hof-Museum
(formerly K. K. Munzund Antikenkabinet).
Yverdon: Musée de la Ville.
Zürich: Sammlung der antiquarischen Gesellschaft.
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS.