Fig. 17.—Morges, Thonon (1, 2, 9, 10, and 16 to 18), and St. Prex (12). Nos. 7 and 8 = 1⁄4, the rest = 1⁄2 real size.
(1) The Grand City was some 500 feet from the shore, and occupied an area 1,200 feet long by 100 to 150 feet broad. The stumps of its thickly-studded piles were visible in the water never less than 8 to 10 feet deep, and among them were detected some cross-beams, and a canoe, 2 feet wide, with its prow sticking out of the mud. A large and miscellaneous assortment of relics was also collected. Over 450 bronze objects, says Dr. Forel, writing in 1876 (B. 286), were found on this station, and they all belong to the purest type of what Desor calls "le bel Age du Bronze," including swords, knives, sickles, hair-pins, bracelets, etc. One remarkable observation then made was that among 60 bronze winged celts (Nos. 13 and 14) there was not one single specimen of the flat kind. In 1866 two large reniform rings, one ornamented ([Fig. 17], No. 3) and the other plain, were added to the list of objects from Morges. Only one object of iron, viz. a poignard, analogous to one from Lake Bourget, was found. Among the osseous remains the stag, goat, sheep, horse, and pig, were identified.
The bronze objects from this station up to the present date are thus enumerated by Dr. Forel (B. 462, p. 55):—
Winged celts, 66; socketed celts, 6; chisels and gouges, 6; swords, 4; lance-heads, 19; knives, 61; sickles, 23; bracelets, 95; rings, 79; hair-pins, 256; divers, 23. In this total of 633 objects are included, probably under the head "épingles," five curious objects of bronze with handles similar to those from Wollishofen and Grosser Hafner at Zürich. (B. 280, p. 699.)
(2) About 450 yards from the northern extremity of the Grand City there was another settlement (Roseaux), of smaller dimensions, which has yielded objects essentially different from those of the former. Here, in marked contradistinction to the Grand City celts, there were 18, all of which were of the flat type (No. 15), and not one with wings or sockets. But, on the other hand, there were a few polished stone celts and flint objects, three small lances, and one hair-pin of bronze, and a few iron sickles of modern type. The pottery was also of a mixed character, showing fragments of dishes of a coarse and fine kind. The piles showed marks as if produced by metal tools.
(3) The third station (l'Église) lies between the shore and the Grand City, and is separated from the latter by a sterile band 220 yards wide. Here there is a decided steinberg, presenting the unusual feature of having 20 or 30 rectangular or oval spaces measuring 13 to 20 feet in diameter without any stones. The antiquities from this station were stone celts (of which 86 are recorded by Dr. Forel up to the present date), stone spindle-whorls, sharpening stones, and some fragments of coarse pottery; but no objects of metal of any kind.
(4) A fourth station is named by Dr. Forel as lying opposite the ancient poudrière of Morges, and containing a small steinberg, on which six stone celts and a few other objects of the Stone Age have been found.
The search for lacustrine remains in other parts of the lake was so actively prosecuted that Troyon could enumerate no less than 26 stations discovered during the six years prior to 1860. (B. 31, p. 31.) Since then their number, as recently corrected by Dr. Forel (B. 462), has increased to 44, notwithstanding that eight localities (viz. Villeneuve, Creux de Plan, Lutry, Pully, St. Sulpice, Yvoire, Amphion, and Evian) where supposed lake-dwelling remains have been found are excluded as doubtful or not verified by subsequent investigations.
Though no such fortuitous circumstance as the "Correction des Eaux du Jura" has come to the assistance of the lacustreurs of Geneva, they have amassed a very considerable quantity of relics. Only at a few stations, as Thonon and the Port of Geneva, have they benefited from dredging operations carried out for public works. From the results obtained during these favourable conditions, it is quite clear that an enormous quantity of antiquities, especially of the Bronze Age, still lies buried in the waters of this lake.