282 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



ANCIENT REMAINS OF MAN IN SWITZERLAND. 



The fact that on the shores of many of the Swiss lakes rows of 

 stakes may be seen at a short distance from the land, through the water, 

 emerging from the mud of the bed, has been long known. 



No interest was, however, attracted to this phenomenon till about 

 eight years since. At the end of 1853, the waters of the Lake of 

 Zurich sank considerably, and the thrifty proprietors of land on the 

 bank proceeded at once to add to their estates the portion of the lake- 

 bed left bare, by constructing permanent dykes against the return of 

 the water. While these works were being carried on, a row, or rather 

 a system, of stakes was discovered at some little depth below the sur- 

 face. Excavations were begun at this spot, and the result was to dis- 

 inter a great variety of objects, which proved that a large number of 

 human beings had once had their dwellings supported over the water 

 by the stakes. Curiosity having been once aroused, researches were 

 prosecuted not only at Obemeilen, where the first discovery was made, 

 but all over Switzerland. It was gradually established that the mud 

 near the shore of every Swiss lake supplied similar evidence. At some 

 primeval period a population of very considerable density was shown 

 to have lived in huts constructed on stages which rested on wooden 

 supports driven into the bed, just as the Malays in Borneo and the 

 Siamese at Bangkok may be seen living to this day. A wonderful 

 number of articles pertaining to the daily life of these forgotten races 

 have been brought to light. In some places, the materials of the dwel- 

 lings have been preserved in the mud the floor of hardened earth, 

 and the twisted branches and bark which formed the walls. Arms 

 have been discovered in great quantities, tools from saws in flint to 

 needles in bone, ornaments, children's toys, the remains of stored-up 

 fruits of various kinds, nay, even a cellar or receptacle full of corn, 

 and a loaf of bread composed of bruised grain, and preserved by car- 

 bonization. By the side of these relics are found the bones of the ani- 

 mals whom they slew in the chase, many belonging to species extinct 

 before the rise of history or barely mentioned in it. The urus, the 

 bison, the elk, and the beaver, furnished them with food and with the 

 materials for some of their most ingeniously constructed utensils. So 

 plentiful and perfect are the remains found in the lakes that much 

 more has been learned concerning the daily life and manners of men 

 whose existence was not suspected ten years ago, than is known of 

 races which have left a famous name in history or tradition. 



It is no doubt startling at first sight that these archaeological treas- 

 ures should have been preserved in water rather than on land. But, 

 now that the mud has given up its contents, it is not difficult for us to 

 understand the service it has rendered. The truth is that the causes 

 which help to conceal from us the monuments of our predecessors oper- 

 ate with far greater energy on land than in water such as filjs the 

 Swiss lakes. The reason why the relics of former generations are corn- 

 parathtely scarce is not that they are destroyed so much as that they 

 are buried. Rubbish and dust are, in short, the great obscurers of the 

 past. When successive generations continue to inhabit the same spot, 

 each buries not only the bodies but the whole life of its predecessors. 

 Rome is built on countless strata composed of former cities, and not a 



