OF THE LAKE OF NEUCHATEL. 383 



ported ; btit as, among all ancient populations, commerce was effected by simple 

 exchange, it may be conjectured that furs supplied to our lacusstrian tribes no 

 inadequate medium for that purpose. Nothing has yet been found which recalls 

 our coin bearing an effigy ; possibly it may have been replaced by certain small 

 rings of bronze similar to those now used for curtains, but with dentated edges ; 

 of these we have collected a large number of different calibres at the station of 

 Auveruier. (Figs. 68 and 69.) 



RESUME ON THE AGE OF BRONZE. 



The features which characterize the age of bronze in the palafittes of the 

 lakes of East Switzerland, and which distinguish them from those of the preced- 

 ing age, may be summed up as follows : 



1. The presence of metal under the almost exclusive form of cast bronze, 

 more or less pure, but with no intentional alloy of lead or zinc, The seams of 

 the moulding are seen on most of the objects. The cutting instruments only 

 have undergone hammering, and the articles of dress have sometimei been re- 

 touched with the graver. 



2. A considerable improvement in the pottery, notwithstanding the absence 

 of the wheel. The finer utensils are generally conical, and provided with a 

 glaze of graphite. 



3. The presence of rings of baked earth to support the conical vessels. 



4. The appearance of discoid stones and lacustrian crescents. 



5. Spindle-whirls of baked earth, replacing the stone weights of the pre- 

 ceding age. 



6. The greater depth of the palafittas, and hence their greater distance from 

 the shore. 



7. The piles are sunk in the ground, and to this end are always hewed to a 

 point ; the strokes of the axe are still easily recognized. 



APPENDIX. 



It will be acceptable, we doubt not, to archgeol^ists and to students of lacustrian antiqui- 

 ties if we here lay before tbem the general remarks with which M. de Felleuborg terminates, 

 in the Bulletin de la Societe dcs Sciences of Bemc. the series of his uumevous analyses of 

 ancient brouzes. ( Mitthnilungcn der Bern, nattirforscltenden GescUschaft, 1805.) 



" The aspect of ancient brouzes is diiferent according as they have been 

 found — 1, iu peat; 2, in water; 3, in earth. 



" 1. The bronzes found in peat are covered with a black, earthy crust, which 

 is easily removed by scouring iu water ; the alloy then appears with metallic 

 brilliancy and with the color peculiar to bronzes. That the metal was im- 

 bedded in an organic ooze, beneath a stratum of water of several feet, which 

 entirely excluded the access of atmospheric oxygen, sufficiently explains the 

 perfect preservation of the bronzes, which present themselves in the state in 

 which they existed at the moment of their submersion in the water. 



" 2. Those found in water at the bottom of lakes and rivers are less perfectly 

 preserved ; they are ordinarily covered with a calcareous coat, which still 

 allows the lustre and color of the metal to appear at many points. When these 

 bronzes have dark or greenish spots, the latter are of little depth, and disappear 

 by treatment with acids, which re-estab ishes the color of the metal. The 

 hatchets and knives have retained their edges unimpaired. When we find in 

 water, bronzes covered with a thick coat of verdigris, it may be inferred that 

 they have been a long time in earth before being covered with water, immersion 

 therein not having availed to remove the strong oxidation already contracted. 



" 3. Bronzes found in the earth iu tombs are very frequently distinguished 

 by a fine green cruik, more or less light or dark, having often a vitreous lustre, 

 which is designated by the name of patina. This envelope has a very variable 

 thickness — sometimes that of a sheet of paper, sometimes attaining several 



