404 PALAFITTES, OR LACUSTEIAN CONSTEUCTIONS 



importation. Now, in view of the prodigious quantity of bronze mannfactnred 

 at that epoch, this single branch of commerce must itself have necessitated the 

 most incessant commercial communications. 



RELATIONS BETWEEN THE AGE OF BRONZE OF THE NORTH OF EUROPE AND 

 THAT OF THE PALAFITTES. 



In general no hesitation esists in comparing the bronze antiquities of our 

 palafittes with those found in the tombs of Scandinavia. This parallelism 

 was natural and, in some sort, inevitable in the inception of lacustrian studies ; 

 indeed, from the moment when for the north of Europe a prehistoric epoch 

 characterized by bronze was admitted, the coincidence could not but impose 

 upon the Swiss antiquaries, who had just detected in their own lakes palafittes 

 wiiich contained in point of metal nothing but bronze. It was the material 

 much more than the form or structure of the objects which was considered. 

 -Nor can it be disputed that several of the more common articles — such as 

 swords, axes, lances, reaping-hooks — have nearly the same form. But, on the 

 other hand, it can as little be denied that among the Scandinavian bronzes there 

 are found numerous objects which are entirely wanting in our palafittes. It is 

 sufficient in this respect to compare the figures of the work of Worsaae* with 

 the arms and utensils of our lakes. 



To one who surveys the magnificent collections of the museiim of Copenha- 

 gen or of Mecklenbm-g, it is evident that the so-called age of bronze there pre- 

 sents itself with an afiluence and finish which would be sought in vain in our pal- 

 afittes of the second age. On the other hand, it is impossible to overlook a striking 

 resembjance betv/een the bronzes of the north and those of Hallstadt. This 

 resemblance applies not only to the form and physiognomy of the objects j it is 

 equally apparent in certain types of the designs which are common to both 

 gi-oups, especially the complex helix which is found even on the aiTQs and axes, 

 (Worsaae, tab. XXVIII, fig. 113, and tab. XXXI, fig. 130,) and which are 

 wholly unknown to our palafittes. We are at liberty, therefore, to ask whether 

 the correspondence is not perhaps more complete between these two localities 

 than between the palafittes of our lakes and the tombs of' the north. But at 

 Hallstadt, the bronzes are found to be associated with arms and utensils of iron; 

 .swords have even been found of which the bL'ide was iron and the hilt of bronze. 

 Nothing of this sort has yet been recognized in the north, whether they be really 

 absent or have been overlooked by reason of the wasted condition in which iron 

 is generally found in the tombs. If it be ever demonstrated that the bronzes of 

 Hallstadt and those of Scandinavia are cotemporary, there could no longer be 

 room for surprise at the superior perfection of the last, since it would thus be 

 demonstrated that they pertain to a more recent epoch— one cotemporaneous, 

 perhaps, with historic populations. 



M. Kilsson sustains this opinion in his remarkable work on the primitive peo- 

 ple of Scandinavia.t The learned Swedish archaeologist and naturalist recog- 



* Nordiske Oldsagen, Copenhagen, 1859. In the number of remarkable objects which 

 are entirely absent with us, may be cited, among others, the ornamented hatchets, (Tab. 23.,) 

 cuiious knives or razors, (Tab. 3C,) vessels in bronze of finished workmau^.hip, (Tab. Gl,) 

 shields, (42 and 43,) and, finally, the lurer or trumpets of war, (39 and 40,) of which there 

 exists no trace in the palafittes. 



It is here, perhaps, that we should mention another figure not less frequent — the circle, with 

 a point in the middle — which is found alike at Hallstadt, in the north of Europe, and in the 

 dolmens of Brittany. Should we associate it with the sign of the sun, the Ra of the Egyp- 

 tians, which occurs so frequently in the writings and on the monuments of Egypt, or as M. 

 Nilsson thinks, with the sign of Bal, the sun-god of the Phenicians ? This sign is not en- 

 th'ely a stranger to our palafittes ; we have observed it on certain bracelets and on the blade 

 of a knife of bronze, but derived from stations which might not have been completely unknown 

 to the age of iron. Other antiquaries see in it only an ornameut which was recommended 

 by its simplicity and a certain natural elegance. 



i Die Ureinwohner Scandiiuiviens, 1863. 



