OF THE LAKE OP -NEUCHATEL. 



utensils, and even objects of apparel. 2. The application of peculiar pro- 

 cesses in the manufacture of swords of iron, similar to Damascus blades. 3. 

 A particular system of ornamentation very different from that of the age of 

 bronze, consisting especially of figm-es applied to the sheaths of swords. 4. 

 The appearance of coins with an effigy. 5. The use of clasps of iron with a 

 spiral spring. 6. Wrought bronze introduced into general use.* 



Ha\ing thus indicated the prominent points which constitute the criterion of 

 the age of iron, such as it appears in the palafittes of our lake, it will not, per- 

 haps, be useless to signalize briefly the objects which are wanting, since these 

 negative characters are not without their importance in a comparative study. 

 We first recognize that the most characteristic designs, such as are observed on 

 the sheaths of swords or on the vases, are much less complicated than those 

 which decorate the objects taken from a considerable number of tombs, referred, 

 wrongfully perhaps, to this epoch. We have not yet discovered in the palafittes 

 of the Tene those armlets covered with fine engravings, nor those disks with 

 concentric circles, still less those cinctures of bronze, presenting casts of small 

 human figures and quadrupeds, (Troyon, Habitations lacustres, Figs. 23, 21, 

 35, and 36,) which exist at Hallstack and in certain cairns of Switzerland ; 

 nothing, in a word, which approaches those overloaded ornaments so frequent 

 in Helveto-Burgundian and Merovingian tombs. The palafittes of the age of 

 iron are also much more frugal as regards objects of apparel than the tomba. 

 Many of the objects which it has been agreed to term Etruscan, and which are 

 very abundant in the north as well as at Hallstadt, are wholly absent, especially 

 the clasps with a double spiral, the bracelets of bronze like collars, as well as 

 that variety of ear-drops and chains which distinguish the ancient tombs of our 

 environs. We may mention, further, the complete absence of that particular 

 kind of design representing a circle with a point in the middle, which is fre- 

 quently found at Hallstadt in the Etruscan necropoles, and even on the walls of 

 tne dolmens of Bretagne. Lastly, the palafitte of the Tene, equally with that 

 of Tiefenau, has never furniBhed scramasax nor true spar. 



rV.— RELATIVE AGE OF THE PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTRIAN CONSTRUD- 



TIONS. 



We should but imperfectly satisfy the curiosity of our readers if we did not 

 attempt to answer a very natural question which must occur to every one : From 

 what epoch do the constructions on piles take their date ? 



It is beyond doubt that the duration of each of the periods we have been 

 reviewing was very long. They bear each their peculiar stamp, which can be 

 impressed only by time, among populations which had a fixed residence, and 

 whose prolonged sojourn in the different stations of our lake is attested by a 

 considerable accumulation of ruins. It is equally certain that the lacustrian 

 constructions ascend to a very remote epoch, since there exists no tradition, no 

 legend which makes any allusion to them; since ancient chronicles are wholly 

 silent with regard to them, and none of the authors of antiquity who have spoken 

 of Helvetia make any mention of them. It is idle, therefore, to aim at assigning 

 to them precise dates ; it is as much as can be expected if the latter phases of 



* We might be tempted to add the potter's wheel, as well as red bricks baked in the kiln, 

 the occurrence of which at the Tene is beyond a doubt. It was in fact, the opinion which 

 we pronounced in the former edition of this work. But having reflected thereon, we are dis- 

 posed to adopt the opinion of our friend, M. Keller, who regards these two branches of in- 

 dustry as of Roman importation, though probably anterior to the invasion. 



