1. The existence of piles and wooden beams was satisfactorily proved, and Pigorini asserts that these corresponded with three different levels, precisely as they occur in the terramara mounds.
2. The materials containing the débris of occupancy were distinctly stratified, forming parallel or undulating layers, amounting to a total thickness of 4 mètres.
3. The antiquities collected represented all ages, including stone celts, bronze and iron implements, and a skate made of the leg-bone of a horse.
Subsequently Dr. Romer gave an account of the excavations conducted at Tószeg previous to the meeting of the International Congress, in an article entitled "Les Terramares en Hongrie," along with which he describes similar deposits at other places, as Nagy-Rév, Szelevény, Keménytetö, and Ásott-halom. In regard to the latter station he remarks that rotten piles were observed in its lowest stratum before Pigorini called attention to their importance. Some of the objects from Ásott-halom were exhibited at the Congress (see Cat., p. 44), and included polished stone axes and hammers, flakes of obsidian, perforated hammers of staghorn, etc. The author concludes his article by stating that the terramara deposits are by no means confined to the valley of the Tisza, as they have already been observed in various other low-lying districts along the Danube, Garam, etc. (B. 316.)
RESEARCHES IN THE LAKES OF CARINTHIA AND CARNIOLA.
In 1864 Professor Ferdinand v. Hochstetter gave a report of researches conducted by him, at the request of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Vienna, in the lakes of Carinthia and Carniola in search of remains of lake-dwellings. (B. 98.) But the results were, in the main, of a negative character, as no traces whatever were found in the lakes of Millstätter, Afritzer, Brenn, and Weissen, in Carinthia; nor in those of Weldeser, Wocheiner, and Zirknitzer, in Carniola. In the latter lake it was confidently expected that lake-dwelling remains would be discovered, as the chronicler Valvasor (1689) relates that in this lake there was an old bridge, whose piles he himself had seen; but upon Von Hochstetter and Deschmann visiting the locality nothing whatever could be seen of this character.[31]
On the other hand, Von Hochstetter believed that he had succeeded in finding traces of these settlements in no less than five lakes in Carinthia, viz. Wörther, Keutschacher, Rauschelen, Ossiacher, and Längsee. The Keutschachersee is, however, the only one which has yielded positive remains of a sufficiently varied character to render the evidence of Pfahlbauten more than problematical. This small lake, known also as the Plaschischersee, which lies to the south of the Wörthersee, contains near its middle a shallow portion which can be readily distinguished from the shore by the rushes which grow over it. The area of the space thus marked out is not great, measuring only 20 fathoms long (Klafter) by 10 fathoms broad, and it is covered by water never less than 4 to 6 feet in depth. Here piles and large beams were seen embedded among stones and mud, but so firmly that they could not be drawn up. Notwithstanding the difficulty of examination, some relics of human occupancy were collected. These, which were subsequently augmented by a further investigation by Mr. Ullepitsch, of Klagenfurt, are deposited in the museum of that town; they consist of portions of half-burnt clay with the impression of wattling, and are supposed to be part of the walls of a cottage. There are also one or two fragments of black and grey pottery, one of which is ornamented ([Fig. 41], No. 10); a sharpening or grinding stone; a bit of staghorn, together with charcoal; heaps of shells (Adonta); hazel-nuts, and portion of a wooden pile.
Dr. v. Hochstetter draws attention to the extraordinary number of submerged cairns which he discovered along the shores of the Wörthersee and Ossiachersee. On the eastern shore of the latter he counted no less than 29. These cairns are about 6 feet high, with a diameter of 15 to 20 feet, and their tops are generally covered with 4 to 6 feet of water. It will be remembered that similar cairns were observed in Lake Morat.
The only other place which suggested the existence of lake-dwellings was the "Laibacher Morast," in which, a few years previously, a couple of canoes, and some other industrial relics, were dug out of the peat, the full significance of which only now became apparent. Since then the vast morass has yielded a large quantity of the débris of these settlements, which I shall now proceed to describe.