354 PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTEIAN CONSTRUCTIONS 



the question is found to relate merely to incisions of some inches, there can be 

 nothing improbable in their having been effected by means of sharpened silex, 

 as, indeed, we liave satisfied ourselves by experiment. By means of this same 

 process, even bodies much harder were successfully dealt with, such as the large 

 horns of the stag, which they cut into handles * Indeed, haid stones are found 

 to have been cut, while here and there occur other stones Avhich have been 

 attempted, but not completely divided. 



Figure 1 represents a section of one of these tenevieres on a. rocky bottom, 



mr^^'^>W^^W^^^^?in^^ 



Figure 1. 



that, namely, of Hauteville, near Neuchatel. The space which separates it 

 from the shore reaches a depth of nearly two metres, while the summit of the 

 teneviere is at a depth of barely 0™.50 at mean water. 



The tenevieres, especially those of our lake, do not in themselves necessarily 

 suppose habitations conslriicted on the Avatei'. Their proximity to the shore, 

 their structui'e and inconsiderable depth, comport perhaps better with the idea 

 that they were artificial islands, like the crannoges of Ireland,! which would 

 also explain their nearly uniform depression. On this hypothesis it would be 

 necessary to suppose that, at the epoch of their construction, the lake was lower 

 than at present, by the distance which separates their level from that of high 

 water — that is, about two metres. Ulterior researches Avill perhaps teach us 

 whether the idea of a depression of the water within these limits can be justified 

 in a geological point of view. Such islands would have afforded a secure retreat 

 against all sorts of dangers. Perhaps, also, assemblages might have gathered 

 there for certain festivals or entertainments, which would account for the prodi- 

 gious quantity of bones accumulated at such stations, while tliey are more rare 

 in those of the bronze period. | 



The station of Concise. has furnished more remains of animal bones than all 

 the stations of bronze united. § The following have been identified up to this 

 time at the different stations of the age of stone in Switzerland : the bear, the 



* Kuives of silex arc so efficacious for working in wood and bono that M. Lartet, our 

 eminent paleontologist, has assured us that he prefened them to kuives of metal for a multi- 

 tude of uses. 



t Feid. Keller, Dciuieme rapport sur les constructions lacustres, in the MUthcilungen der 

 antiquu rischen UeseUschaft. 



X This opinion, which is held also by M. de Hochstettcr, has l)cen recputly controverted by 

 our friend M. F. Keller, (Sixtli Keport, p. 4,) upon the ground of the regular di.strihmiou of 

 the pahifittes in eastern Switzerland, where each palatitte is divided into compartments 

 containing the necessary space for a family, a fireplace, utensils for cooking, a framo 

 for weaving, a store of thread. Further, it seems to result from the researches of M. 

 Heer, that cattle also were kept there, as well as stores of provender for winter. If this be 

 so, wc should feel the less difficulty in doing justice to the arguments of our learned friend, 

 as our exception^ bore rather on the palafittes of the age of bronze and of iron, than those of 

 stone. 



§ M. Schwa,b objects, in regard to the greater quantity of bones of the station of Concise 

 and the palafittes of the age of stone in general, that it is in these alone that extensive 

 researches have yet been made, and ho surmises that if the stations of the age of bronze were 

 adequately dredged, bones would present themselves iu equal number. We shall await, 

 therefore, the results of experience. 



