OF THE LAKE OF NEUCEtATEL. 



369 



signed for this use, (Fig. 26*) Even the large vessels of coarse paste are not 

 destitute of oriiamf-nt; they freouently have the 



neck encircled by a kind of twisted belt which must C^^ffi^MSf&'SLSl.as^'*' . 

 have been adapted to the hand, for the trace of fin- 

 gers is still discernible on it, (Fig. 27. t) Porringers 

 are also found (Figs. 28, and 29,) as well as dishes, and 

 vessels pierced M'ith small holes, evidently intended 

 for draining liquid substances and serving perhaps 

 for the manufacture of cheese, (Fig. 31.) The spin- 

 dle whirls are very numerous and often artistically 

 fashioned with a hole in the middle ; they are no 

 longer of stone, as in the preceding epoch, but of 

 baked earth, (Figs. 32 and 33.) It is not difBcult, 

 with a little practice, to distinguish the pottery of 

 the age of bronze from that of the age of stone, Figure 26. 



which is always more shapeless. Hence it is that, from our first researches at 

 the lake of Bourgct in 1861, we did not hesitate to refer this station to the 

 bronze period, although as yet no object in that metal had been met with. It 

 is not rare to find vessels still containing provisions, for the preservation of 

 which they were no duubt intended. From one of these we have obtained ap- 



Figuro-67. 



Ficrure 28. 



Figure 29. 



* It is probable, bowever, tbat tbis conic form was only applicable to vases of moderate or 

 small dimensions. The large vessels, tbougb protuberant and narrowed towards tbe base, 

 bave alwa3's a plane bottom ; and, indeed, the eartben rings do not imply large vessels, none 

 of tbem, to our knowledge, exceeding '20 centimetres in diameter. 



tin respect to the designs, these vessels recall in several features those found in the tu- 

 mular chambers of the dolmens of Bretagne, which have been described and figured by Dr. 

 Closmadenc in the Revue ArchcEologique, 1864. In the dolmens, however, those conical 

 forms so characteristic of the age of bronze are not met with, nor the rings or circles des- 

 tined to support them. 



24 S 



