LUBBOCK ON THE ANCIENT LAKE HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND. 27 



two of our most eminent contemporaries, M. Morlot points out that 

 as Lyell, the reformer of Zoology, by studying the changes now 

 taking place on the earth's surface, has explained the results which 

 Greology brings before us, and thus arguing from the known to the 

 unknown, has used the Present as a key to unlock the Past ; so M. 

 Thomsen, by collectiug the implements and recording the habits of 

 existing savages, has thrown much light xipon the manners and cus- 

 toms of ancient times. Fully recognising the imperfection of the re- 

 cord in the one case as well as ia the other, we must guard ourselves 

 against any hasty conclusions and generalisations, but it seems now to 

 be well established that a considerable elongation of the received 

 chronology is required in Arch&eology as decidedly, though not of 

 course to such an extent, as in Greology. 



Perhaps, also, we may regard it as, to say the least, highly probable, 

 that in Northern Em'ope there have been three great epochs in the 

 history of man — primary, secondary, and tertiary — the first of Stone, 

 the second of Bronze,* and the third of Iron. This conclusion, which 

 we owe in the first instance to the Northern and especially to the 

 Danish Archaeologists, has been much strengthened by the recent 

 researches in the lakes of Switzerland. 



It is however probable, as was mentioned in our last number, 

 that the Stone period will require much sub-division. In all classi- 

 fications we are apt, at first, to take the apparent, for the real dimen- 

 sions of the more distant portions, and it is only as we obtain a 

 closer acquaintance with them, that we discover their real propor- 

 tions. Thus, it would appear, that the Stone age must be divided 

 into at least two periods ; that of the drift on the one hand, and on 

 the other hand, that to which the Danish Kjokkenmoddings and the 

 Swiss Lake Habitations appear to belong. 



These Lake-dwellings or " Pfahlbauten," — a term whose nearest 

 English equivalent is " Pile-works" — were made known to us in the 

 following manner. 



In consequence of the extraordinary dryness and coldness of the 

 weather during the winter months of 1853 and 1854, the rivers of 

 Switzerland did not receive their usual supplies, and the water in the 

 lakes fell much below its ordinary level, so that in some places a broad 

 strand was left uncovered along the margin, while in others shallow 

 banks were converted into islands. Tlie water level of this season was, 

 indeed, the lowest upon record. Tlie lowest level marked on the so- 

 called stone of Stafa was that of 1674, but in 1854 the water sank a 

 foot lower. These unusual conditions, though very imfavourable to 

 navigation, enabled the Swiss Archaeologists to make the important 

 discoveries which we are about to bring before our readers. 



* In a grave at Mare Hill in Staffordshire, Mr. Carrington found " a piece of 

 " lead, having the appearance of wire, which subsequent researches prove to have 

 " been accidentally fused from metalliferous gravel present upon the spot." May 

 not copper have been first obtained from some bright piece of ore, used as an orna- 

 ment, and burnt with its wearer ? The coincidence of a knowledge of metal with 

 the practice of burning the dead is at least significant. 



