What is known as Laibach Moor is an extensive but irregularly shaped plain now nearly all well cultivated, which extends southwards from the town of Laibach to Ober-Laibach, some 12 miles distant. Previous to a series of drainage schemes, executed at various times during the last fifty years, the whole of this plain was a morass or peat bog, and there can be no doubt that in prehistoric times it was a navigable sheet of water. It covers an area of about 85 English square miles, and is interspersed here and there with six or seven rocky eminences, which, when the locality was under water, formed so many islands. It is also intersected by the rivers Laibach, Isca, and some smaller streams, which unite before reaching the town of Laibach, and about half way up it is crossed by the railway to Trieste. Some years ago a new road was constructed along the valley of the Isca, from Laibach to Brunndorf, and in 1875, in the course of excavating a ditch alongside of it, various bone implements and fragments of pottery were turned up by the workmen. Mr. Martin Peruzzi, the proprietor, recognising the archæological value of these objects, at once gave information of the discovery to the authorities of the Landesmuseum at Laibach. This led to an extensive series of investigations, which were continued during the following two years under the care of Dr. Karl Deschmann, curator of this museum. An illustrated report of the first year's operations was published by the eminent archæologist, Baron von Sacken (B. 290), while those of the two following years have found an able exponent in Dr. Deschmann. (B. 302 and 317.)
The first year's working revealed the foundations of a pile-dwelling close to the road on its west side, where, by the removal of some 3,000 square yards of peat, quite a forest of piles was disclosed. These were irregularly placed, but on an average they numbered three or four in a dozen square feet. They were made of aspen, poplar, elm, and fir, the last, however, being sparingly used. The peat was about 6 feet thick, and below it was the ancient sediment of the lake into which the piles were driven, their heads now merely entering into the peaty stratum. Between the peat and lake sediment there was a thin layer of organic débris, 4 or 5 inches thick, in which alone the relics of the lake-dwellers were found. In the following year some 2,000 square yards were cleared of peat, partly in the same place, and partly on the other side of the road. In this new locality the piles were more closely set and the deposit of peat was a little thicker, but the character of the relics was exactly the same, only a larger proportion of the fragments of pottery were ornamented.
During the autumn of 1877 the site of a third pile-dwelling was come upon, about 300 yards from the last mentioned, and on the other side of the Isca (see Sketch, p. 171), under precisely similar conditions as the two former, but owing to want of funds the excavations were discontinued before the entire area was searched. Dr. Deschmann is of opinion that these are by no means the only portions of the moor in which lake-dwellings existed, as indications of them were found in several other places along the bed of the Isca. In further support of this opinion I may mention that in 1857, before lake-dwellings had attracted attention in this quarter, some objects were found at Moosthal, in quite a different part of the moor, which point to its being the site of a lake-dwelling. Here the peat was 10 feet deep, and at this depth, and lying immediately over the lake-silt, were found three perforated staghorn hammers, two canoes, and some other objects of human industry, which, however, were dispersed before Dr. Deschmann became aware of the discovery.
The relics of human industry collected during these systematic explorations, with the exception of a few in the Museum of Vienna, are deposited in the handsome new Museum at Laibach, where they form a remarkably complete and interesting demonstration of the culture and civilisation of the lake-dwellers. Some of these are illustrated on [Figs. 42], [43], and [44].
Pottery.—Vessels for household use are extremely abundant, and varied in form and ornamentation. They are all hand-made, and the quality of the paste appears to have been good—that for the larger dishes was mixed with rough sand. All the pottery has a darkish appearance, but most of the smaller vessels had been smeared over with some black composition. Not a few of these dishes were quite whole, so that their varied forms and uses may be readily distinguished. They may be classified as jars, vases, cups, plates, jugs, bowls, flasks, spoons, etc.; and ordinary handles, perforated knobs, tubular borings (ansa canalicularis) appear to have been indiscriminately used.
Some of the smaller dishes have four or five stud-like processes or rudimentary feet, and others have a pedestal-like base, slightly expanding at the lowest point, on the underside of which there is often impressed the shape of a broad cross ([Fig. 42], No. 20). The ornamentation, when reduced into its simple elements, may be thus stated:—
(1) Straight or wavy ridges, sometimes notched across, and running upwards or across the body of the vessel; (2) finger or nail marks; (3) checks made with groups of incised lines crossing each other; (4) lozenge-shaped spaces alternately plain and lined; (5) herring-bone pattern; (6) triangles, crosses, wheels, rhombs, and other simple geometrical figures, sometimes with inscribed figures or lines; (7) impressions of strings, points, etc. The style of the more highly ornamented vessels is, though complicated, artistic, and when the incised lines were filled with a white material, as is supposed to have been the case with some of them, these patterns on a dark or black ground must have been very effective. Ornamentation is not always confined to the outside of the vessel, as may be seen from [Fig. 43], No. 8. Dr. Deschmann sees a striking resemblance between the Laibach pottery, both in manufacture and ornamentation, to that represented in Dr. Schliemann's works on Troy.