The relics were found chiefly in bed E., among the ashes, a few being from the sandy peat above it. These consist of pointers, needles, polishers, spatulæ, arrow-points, and an implement of bone called a whistle; flint saws, a polished celt also of flint, three small polished stone celts of serpentine or quartzite, and about a dozen flint knives.
The opinion of the narrator is that there was here a marsh dwelling of the nature of the Kökkenmödings of Denmark which in point of time preceded the Swiss lake-dwellings, but was posterior to the Reindeer Period of Central France.
In my opinion, the character and finish of the relics furnish no grounds for supposing that this habitation was prior to the early Swiss lake-dwellings; nor are we warranted, from such limited explorations as could be made in the streets of a town, to exclude the more probable idea that this was an ordinary palafitte, notwithstanding that piles were not observed.
Second Lecture.
SETTLEMENTS IN EASTERN SWITZERLAND, THE DANUBIAN VALLEY, AND CARNIOLA.
The remains of lake-dwellings which I have hitherto described were, with one or two exceptions, situated on the borders of large lakes, and the industrial remains recovered from them were found more or less buried in the lake sediment. But these are not the invariable circumstances in which such antiquities are met with, as has already been noticed in the case of Wauwyl; but their differentiating points I did not then discuss, reserving them for this special occasion.
Every careful observer of natural phenomena must have noticed how, under certain well-defined conditions, the superficial areas of lakes are becoming gradually encroached upon, not only by the accumulation of débris carried into them by streams and rain-wash, but by the growth of peat on their margins. This latter process occurs more frequently in the smaller lakes—so much so that some of them have now almost entirely disappeared owing to the complete filling up of their basins. Though the growth of peat is slow, and almost imperceptible to individual observers, whose lifetime is generally too short to mark its progressive character, it has proved a most formidable antagonist to lake settlements by destroying their lacustrine character, and thus compelling their inhabitants to abandon them altogether. The peat has, in some instances, actually engulfed entire villages, with the accumulated débris of their industrial equipments, thus hermetically sealing up everything in one of the best antidotes to natural decay. Cities and mighty empires have risen, flourished, and disappeared, without transmitting to future ages a single record of their existence, like flowers born to blush unseen. Such, indeed, might have been the fate of many of these pile-villages, notwithstanding the favourable conditions in which their ruins have been sealed up, had it not been for the mere accident of peat cutting, which has disclosed so many of their buried treasures. These remarks are peculiarly applicable to the celebrated settlement at Robenhausen, with which I begin to-day's lecture.
LAKE OF PFÄFFIKON.
The small lake of Pfäffikon, which lies to the east of Lake Zürich, contained two settlements, viz. Robenhausen and Irgenhausen.
Robenhausen.—This well-known station, which has furnished specimens of lake-dwelling remains to most of the European museums, is situated near the middle of an extensive tract of pasture-land on the south side of the lake. Although its site is now several hundred yards from the lake, there can be no doubt that, originally, it was completely surrounded by water; the nearest land, that on the west, being some 2,000 yards distant. On the east side the old lake-shore is 3,000 yards distant, and towards this, notwithstanding its greater distance, there extended a gangway, the remains of which can still be traced. Underneath the grass there is a thick deposit of peat, which has been utilised as fuel according to the needs of the surrounding community; and a mere glance at the locality shows that the whole expanse is but an encroachment of the peat on what was formerly part of the lake. The meadow belongs to peasant proprietors, among whom it is parcelled into small plots. During the winter of 1857-8 Mr. Jacob Messikommer, the owner of one of these plots, discovered the remains of a pile-dwelling on his portion, and to its investigation he has ever since devoted himself. His efforts were greatly encouraged by Dr. Keller and other members of the Antiquarian Society at Zürich, to whose museum many of the principal relics have been sent. A few years after its discovery, the project of deepening and widening the outlet, which, as it so happened, passed through the lake-dwelling, afforded a splendid opportunity to archæologists for investigating its antiquarian remains. Messikommer was appointed superintendent of the proposed excavations. Since then he has on several occasions when the waters were low, as in the years 1864, 1865, 1870, 1875, 1882, 1884, and 1886, made more or less extensive diggings in different parts of the settlement for the purpose of clearing up obscure or disputed points. Altogether he has made good use of his advantages, and to his intelligent and watchful care we are indebted for a careful record of the relics, as well as a series of shrewd observations bearing on the character and duration of this settlement, which has made it one of the most instructive in the whole range of lacustrine research.