380 PiLAFITTES, OR LACUSTRIAN CONSTRUCTIONS 



prove that the artists of the epoch were wanting neither in taste nor skill.* 

 This taste is evinced even in common objects ; witness the elegant forms of the 

 earthen vessels and utensils, and the care which was bestowed on the decora- 

 tion of such objects as knives and reaping-hooks, though with designs, it is true, 

 very simple and monotonous. Strange that these tribes did not, like the abo- 

 rigines of the caverns of Perigord, conceive the idea of imitating nature in their 

 ornaments, but shut themselves up within certain arbitrary and traditional lines, 

 as do still the Kabyles of our own day. If it were allowed to compare them 

 with any modern people, we should say that their stereotyped manner some- 

 what reminds us of that of the Chinese. 



DESTIIVATION OF THE PALAFITTES. 



The distribution and state of preservation of the antiquities in the interior of 

 the palafittes of the age of bronze are not without importance. It is evident, 

 from a mere inspection of the objects collected at no matter what station, that 

 we have before us no rubbish which might be lost, without being regarded. 

 They have not fallen into the water at hazard, any more than the qt;autity of 

 vessels which are accumulated at certain points, or the jars of provisions which 

 are drawn up uninjured. It has been said that they were hoarded beneath the 

 water by some violent cause, by a defeat, for instance, in which the inhabitants 

 were overwhelmed with their most precious effects, their arms and provisions, 

 under the burning ruins of their cottages. But in that case we ought to find 

 their skeletons beside the bones of their animals. In view of this difficulty, 

 and yet others which the idea of hahitation involves, we would ask if, perhaps, 

 we have not to deal with the question of simple magazines destined for utensils 

 and provisions, and which have been destroyed by the flames, as seems to be 

 indicated by the traces of fire frequently exhibited as well by the wood-work 

 as the earthen vessels. It would thus be explained how it is that the objects 

 in bronze are almost all new and the vessels accumulated at single points. This 

 hypothesis seems to be corroborated by the opinion of some of our most expe- 

 rienced seekers of antiquities, who maintain that there is no chance of finding 

 anything of value except where the timbers are charred, and that time is lost in 

 exploring palafittes where the wood is not carbonized. It is, at the same time, 

 no unusual thing to find in the palafittes utensils which have been deformed by 

 the action of tire. 



LAND-HABITATIONS OF THE AGE OF BRONZE IN SWITZERLAND. 



There is every reason to believe that there existed simultaneously habitations 

 on terra finna, nor could it be otherwise if the palafittes are admitted to have 

 been simply magazines. The supposition of such habitatfous, based on the 

 considerable number of celts and other bronze objects which are found not only 

 in the woods and fields of our environs, but in a number of other localities both 

 in Switzerland and foreign countries, has been confirmed by the recent discovery 

 of genuine dwellings, containing the same utensils with our lacustrian stations, 

 at Ebersberg in the canton of Zurich, t as well as at other places. 



Dr. Clement having explored last year in the environs of Gorgier, canton of 

 Neuchatel, several mounds composed of erratic stones bearing traces of fire, 

 found in one of them, intermingled with coals, different objects in bronze, among 

 others a bracelet and some reaping hooks, the latter resembling in form those of 

 Cartaillod and Auvernier, but differing from them by the presence of a quite 



* We have seen on the arm of a lady of our acquaintance a hracelet taken from una ot 

 our pahitittes which would have rellecteJ no disj^race on our own jewellers. 



\ Millhtdungtn dtr aittiquur. Gcsdlscliaft, vol. vij, div. 7. — It has been supposed, on the 

 ground of certain traditions respecting sacred lakes mentioned by ancient authors (Cicero, 

 de nat. Deor., lib. iij, 3U; Justin, xxx, 3; Strabo, Geog., vol. iv, ) that the well-preserved 

 objects of the palafittes of the ago of bronze might be oti'erings which had been cast into the 

 lake; but this is an hypothesis to which nothing yet known affords corroboration. (ZJie 

 Jiebtc, SfC. 5th Report, itio2.) 



