OP THE LAKE OF NEUCHATEL. 401 



AGE OP THE PALAFITTES OF BRONZE. 



The tincertainty would be nearly as great in regard to the age of the palafittes 

 of bronze as of those of stone, if in this inquiry we were restricted to the stations 

 of Switzerland. The antiquities of these stations had hitherto found their an- 

 alogue only in the north of Europe, on the shores of the Baltic; but, there, also, 

 they are without any positive connexion with the written history of the country, 

 which does not ascend very far. If, then, there exists anywhere a connexion 

 between the age of bronze and history, it might be looked for rather to the south, 

 in Italy, where we find the seat of the most ancient populations of Europe. 

 But no lacustrian constructions had been indicated in Italy. Desiring to be en- 

 lightened on this subject, we visited, in 1860, the lakes of Lombardy, and wei-e 

 not long in verifying the existence of pile- works and antique objects, altogether 

 similar to our own, in the peat-mosses of the Lago Maggiore. Since that time, 

 these researches have been prosecuted with as much success as zeal by M. 5Ioro, 

 as well as by M. B. Gastaldi, who has given us an excellent work on the lacus- 

 trian antiquities of Italy.* We have ourselves more recently (1SG3) explored 

 the lake of Varese, in company with MM. Stoppani and G. de Mortiliet, nor 

 were we disappointed in discovering several stations of the age of stone, as well 

 as manifest traces of that of bronze. One of these stations is the small isle (iso- 

 letta) on which the family Litta has reared a pleasure-house. Although larger 

 than the isle of the little lake of Inkwyl, near Soleure, the isoletta is, like the 

 other, artificial, so that to this day we are deriving benefit from labor perforraed 

 by the people of the age of stone. Still later, a whole series of new stations has 

 been discovered in this same lake of Varese, as well as several in the small lakes 

 of Brianza.t Lake Garda also contains well characterized palafittes, which were 

 brought to light through works executed some years ago around the fortress of. 

 Peschiera. Among objects in metal, collected under the superintendeace of M. 

 de Silber, an Austrian officer, and which now form part of the museum of an- 

 tiquities of Munich, some are of copper, the rest of bronze.| 



The researches of M. Paolo Lioy§ have recently revealed not less curious 

 palafittes of the age of stone in the peat-mosses of Lake Fimon, near Vicenza. 

 Add to this, that in 1864 we succeeded in discovering lacustrian stations in ail 

 respects similar to our own in the lakes of Bavaria. Through the liberality of 

 the Bavarian government, these researches are contimted, and already construc- 

 tions have been announced in six lakes, || most of which ascend to the age of 

 stone, though some are of the age of bronze, especially at Lake Starnberg, i^ear 

 the isle of Roses. This isle offers a counterpart of the isoletta of Lake Varese, 

 in being artificial like the latter. Our agent has there recovered, together with 

 numerous relics of pottery, a fine bronze pin, which forms part of the public col- 

 lection of Munich. There had previously been found, in digging the foundations 

 of the royal chateau on the island, Roman as well as other more recent objects, 

 which would seem to prove that this isle has not ceased to be inhabited since 

 its formation by the first possessors of the soil, in the ago of stoue. 



In consequence of these discoveries, the Academy of Sciences of Vienna judged 

 that the time had come for undertaking researches also in the lakes of Austria. 

 M. Hochstetter, the eminent traveller and geologist, having been charged with 

 the exploration of the lakes of Carinthia, soon encountered traces of lacustrian 

 constructions in several of them, especially those of Worth, d'Ossiach, and the 



* Ntiovi cenni siigll oggetti di alta antichUd, Torino, 1862. 



t Stoppani, Atti della Societddi Scienze naturalL, vol. V. In Lake Varese are the stations 

 Keller, Desor, Bodio, Bardello, Cazzago, and Isoliaa. 



t Mittlteilungen dcr antiq. Gesellsckaft in Zurich, vol. XIV. Fifth report of JI. Keller. 



§ Le ahitazioni ddla ctd della pietra nel lago di Fimonnd Vicentirio : Acts of the Venetian 

 Institute, 18G4, 1865. 



II Siebold. Pfahlhauten in Baiern, in tte Comptas Rendus of the Academy of Munich. 



26 s 



