218 TRAPA NATANS. FLAX. 



raspberry and blackberry, and shells of the hazel-nut and 

 beech-nut occur plentifully in the mud, but those of the 

 strawberry are rare. Peas have been found at Moosseedorf, 

 but beans do not appear until the Bronze Age. 



From all this, therefore, it is evident that the nourishment 

 of the dwellers in the Pile-works consisted of corn and wild 

 fruits, of fish, and the flesh of wild and domestic animals. 

 Milk also was doubtless an important article of their diet. 



Altogether 115 species of plants have been determined. 

 The wild species are almost entirely the same as those now 

 living ; the Silene cretica, however, a South European weed, 

 which was doubtless introduced originally and accidentally 

 with the cereals, and which has been found at Robenhausen, 

 does not now inhabit Switzerland ; and the Trapa natans, 

 which was used as food by the inhabitants of Moosseedorf 

 and Robenhausen, was supposed to be extinct in Switzerland, 

 but is now known to occur in one locality. 



I subjoin a table which I have compiled from Dr. Heer's 

 memoir, and which shows the more interesting species and 

 varieties. 



Neither hemp, oats, nor rye have yet been found. Small 

 pieces of twine and bits of matting made of flax may have 

 been part of some article of clothing. For this purpose also 

 there can be little doubt that the skins of animals were used. 

 Fragments of leather have been met with, and some of the 

 stone implements seem well adapted to assist in their prepa- 

 ration, while the bone pins, and needles made from the teeth 

 of boars, may have served to fasten them together. 



Dr. Heer, from whose very interesting memoir* the above 

 facts are borrowed, calls particular attention to the fact that, 

 while the remains of wild species found in the Pfahlbauten 

 agree in the most minute particulars with those still living 

 in Switzerland, the cultivated plants, on the contrary, differ 



* Die Pilauzen der Pfahlbauten. 



