50 OT?TGTNAL ATITTCLES. 



Bronze epoch. The third layer has been followed for 3500 square 

 feet ; it was six or seven inches in thickness, and lay at a depth of 19 

 feet (5.69 metres) below the present surface : in it were found some 

 fragments of very rude pottery, some pieces of charcoal, some bro- 

 ken bones, and a human skeleton with a small, round, and very thick 

 skull. Fragments of charcoal were even found a foot deeper, and it is 

 also worthy of notice that no trace of tiles was found below the upper 

 layer of earth. 



Towards the centre of the cone, the three layers disappear, since, 

 at this part, the torrent has most force, and has deposited the coarsest 

 materials, even some blocks as much as three feet in diameter. The 

 farther we go from this central region the smaller are the inateriala 

 deposited, and the more easily might a layer of eai-th, formed since 

 the last great inundations, be covered over by fresh deposits. Thus, 

 at a depth of ten feet, in the gravel on the south of the cone, at a 

 part where the laj^er of earth belonging to the bronze age had 

 already disappeared, two unrolled bronze implements were dis- 

 covered. They had probably been retained by their weight, when 

 the earth, which once covered them, was washed away by the 

 torreiit. After disappearing towards the centre of the cone, the 

 three layers reappear on the north side, at slightly greater depth, 

 but with the same regularity and the same relative position. The 

 layer of the Stone age was but slightly interrupted, while that of the 

 Bronze era was easily distinguishable by its peculiar character and 

 colour. 



Here, therefore, we have phenomena so regular, and so well marked 

 that we may apply to them a calculation, with some little confidence 

 of at least approximate accuracy. Making then some allowances, for 

 instance, admitting three hundred years instead of one hundred and 

 fifty, for the period since the embankment, and taking the Eoman 

 period as representing an antiquity of from sixteen to eighteen cen- 

 turies, we should have for the age of Bronze an antiquity of from 

 2900 to 4200 years, for that of the Stone period from 4700 to 7000 

 years, and for the whole cone an age of from 7400 to 11,000 years. 

 M. Morlot thinks that we should be most nearly correct in deducting 

 two hundred years only for the action of the dykes, and in attri- 

 buting to the Eoman layer an antiquity of sixteen centuries, that is 

 to say, in referring it to the middle of the third century. This would 

 give an age of 3800 years for the Bronze age and 6400 jeam for that 

 of Stone, but on the whole he is inclined to suppose for the former an 

 antiquity of from 3000 to 4000 years, and for the latter of from 5000 

 to 7000 years. 



In the settlement at the foot of Mt. Chamblon we have, according 

 to M. Troyon, a second instance in which we obtain at least some 

 approximation to a date. The intei'est which attaches to this case 

 Arises from the fact that Pileworks have been found in the peat at a 

 considerable distance from the lake, whereas it is evident that at the 

 time of their construction the spot in which they occur must have 

 been under water, as this mode of building would have been quite 



