348 



PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTRIAN CONSTRUCTIONS 



At the present Lour the mine is far from being exhausted ; new treasures have 

 been still added to those which we already possessed. And as the interest of 

 the scientific public has not ceased to encourage us, we have not thought proper 

 to resist the temptation held out to us by our friend, Mr. Reinwald, librarian at 

 Paris, of giving to the essay in question a wider publicity, as well as greater 

 extent, accompanying it, on this occasion, with numerous engravings, which will 

 allow amoPe thorough comparison with the an- 

 tiquities of other localities, whether collected 

 on firm land, in the tombs, the hypogeums, 

 the dolmens, &c. 



As the lacustrian constructions, to which 

 the antiquities of our lakes appertain, con- 

 stitute at the present day a definite type, there 

 would seem to be room for designating them 

 by a specific name, like other monuments, 

 such as dolmens, pyramids, &c. The Ger- 

 man name of PJ'aJdbautcn, (constructions on 

 pile-Avork,) proposed by M. Ferd. Keller, and 

 now populai'ized iu Germany and Switzer- 

 land, has been adopted by Italian archeolo- 

 gists under the form oipalcifitta. Hence the 

 appellation of ijalafitte which we propose to 

 introduce into our language. 



In recommending the geological and pale- 

 ontological methods for the study of our la- 

 custrian antiquities, we must be understood 

 as having imposed on ourselves the greatest 

 reserve in determining the age of our differ- 

 ent palafittes. There can be scarcely a ques- 

 tion of dates, except for the epoch of iron. 

 As to the ages of stone and bronze, we shall 

 esteem ourselves fortunate if this essay shall 

 furnish some terms of comparison to those 

 who occupy themselves with the origin and 

 afiSnities of the ancient races which have peo- 

 pled Europe. 



As the antiquities of the age of stone are 

 widely distributed, and much better known 

 than those of the subsequent ages, we have 

 dispensed with entering into all the details 

 which this phase of the prehistoric period 

 would permit. On the other hand, we have 

 given so much more attention to the pala- 

 fittes of the age of iron, which are a speci- 

 ality of our lake, at the same time that they 

 serve as a link uniting historical with prehis- 

 toric times. 



The principal implements employed in the 

 search for antiquities in our lakes are a sort 

 i)f hand-hoe, (figure A,) and of tongs, (figure 

 B,) j)rovided with a cord for retraction, by 

 means of which quite small objects can be 



recovered, such as knives and pius,from a depth 

 Figure A. Figure C 



of four or five metre's. The annexed drawing represents our operator, B. Kopp, 



searching with the tongs in the midst of apalafitte, (figure 0.) To the skilful 



