494 THE PRE-HISTORIC RACES OF ITALY. 



on piles, two of them large, with uuraerous huts, which might almost 

 be called towns. One of these towns belongs entirely to the stone age, 

 exhibiting no trace of metal, but with remains of the stag, ox, goat, and 

 pig. The other was founded in the stone age, but survived iuto the 

 age of bronze, a pin, a fishhook, and two spear-heads, all of bronze, 

 having been found. 



Another large pile dwelling in the Lago de Garda, opposite Peschiera, 

 was founded in the stone age, and was in continuous occupation through 

 the age of copper to the age of bronze. 



Perhaps the most instructive of these lake settlements is the pile 

 dwelling in the Lake of Fimon, near Vicenza, It must have been 

 founded very soon after the Umbrians first reached Italy, and was 

 destroyed before they had passed from the pastoral to the agricultural 

 stage of civilization. There are two successive relic-beds, separated by 

 an interval, which shows that the earlier town was burned, and then, 

 after a time, re-built. In the oldest bed there is no trace of agriculture, 

 even of the rudest kind. The inhabitants lived chiefly by the chase, 

 but had domesticated the ox and the sheep. The bones of the stag and 

 the wild boar are extremely numerous, and these animals evidently 

 formed the chief food of the people, the bones of the ox and the sheep 

 being rare. There is no grain, and no cereals of any kind, but great 

 stores of hazel-nuts have been found, together with water-chestnuts 

 {Trapa natans)^ wild cherries, and stores of acorns. The acorns were 

 roasted for food, as is proved by fragments adhering to earthen pipkins. 

 Flint tools and rude pottery are found, but no trace of metal. The 

 settlement was burned, and after a time re-built. The newer relic-bed 

 contains numerous tiint chips, and one bronze ax, showing that the 

 age of metal had commenced. But the notable fact is, that at the time 

 of this new settlement the people had passed from the hunting to the 

 pastoral stage. Wild animals had now become scarce, bones of the 

 stag are absent, and those of the wild boar are rare, but those of the ox 

 and the sheep have become common. The agricultural stage had not 

 however been reached when this second settlement was destroyed, the 

 only farinaceous food being hazel-nuts, cornel, cherries, and acorns. 

 The dwellings were round huts, built of wattle, and plastered with clay. 

 The remains of a canoe have been found. 



We learn therefore that when the Umbro-Latin people reached Italy 

 they were ignorant of metals and of agriculture, living mainly by the 

 chase, and on wild fruits, nuts, and aeorns. 



After the lakes at the foot of the Alps had been occupied, the popu- 

 lation increased, and graduallj- extended itself southward, building 

 pile dwellings in the marshes in the neighborhood of Mantua. The 

 race next crossed the Po, erecting on dry land in the plain of the Emilia 

 similar villages of pile dwellings, the remains of which are very numer- 

 ous, and go by the name of terre mare. These ierre mare, or " marl 

 beds," are small knolls or elevations, rising a few feet above the plain, 



