98 PREHISTORIC FISHING. 



daggers, both rare, socketed lance-heads, often ornamented, and barbed arrow- 

 heads with a stem for insertion into the shaft, rarely socketed. A few bridle- 

 bits of bronze, indicative of horsemanship, have been found, but no horse-shoes. 



The bronze ornaments, which are very numerous, comprise hair and dress- 

 pins, armlets, neck-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, fibul?e, buttons, and various 

 other objects designed for personal adornment. The pins, sometimes very long, 

 are generally provided at the upper end with knobs of different, mostly really 

 tasteful, patterns ; some terminate in rings. Flatfish rings, about three-fourths 

 of an inch in diameter, are supposed to represent the money of the period. 

 Moulds of stone, clay, or bronze, for casting various objects, have been found ; 

 other ai'ticles may have been obtained by trade from abroad, especially certain 

 pieces of superior workmanship. 



Numerous clay spindle-whorls l:)ear witness to the extensive production of 

 flax-thread, undoubtedly much used in the manufacture of linen cloth designed 

 for garments. Skins, it may be sujiposed, served in their stead during the cold 

 season. 



The clay vessels of this period betoken a considerable progress in the ceramic 

 art. The clay of large pots serving for the preservation of provisions is strongly 

 mixed with quartz sand ; that of the smaller vessels, which often exhibit elegant 

 shapes, is purified, and forms a homogeneous mass. Some vessels have convex 

 or even conical bottoms, and had to be supported by those coarse cla}^ rings 

 previously mentioned, which are peculiar to the bronze period. There have been 

 found plates which may be considered as an innovation, as they are absent in 

 the stone-age pile-works ; and clay lamps with two ears for suspension denote 

 another progress in the civilization of the lake-people. The ornamentation of 

 the pottery, like that of the bronze articles, consists of dots, incised parallel 

 lines, rows of triangles, concentric circles, frets, and other geometric designs. 

 Many of the vessels have a coating of black paint, but difterent colors were 

 sometimes employed for displaying ornamental designs, such as triangles and 

 circles. A black-ware dish from the Cortaillod settlement (Lake of Neuchatel) 

 is decorated with regularly-cut, thin sheets of tin, which are rendered adhesive 

 by means of a resinous substance. Curious objects of clay, shaped like a cres- 

 cent supported by a foot — rudely made, and yet exhibiting some form of decora- 

 tion — have caused much speculation, being regarded either as head-rests or as 

 symbols connected with moon-worship. 



It is supposed that the lake-people of this period disjiosed of their dead 

 both by interment and cremation. 



According to Professor Desor's conjecture, the introduction of bronze in 

 Switzerland took place eight hundred or a thousand years befoi'e the Christian 

 era.* 



* Most of the facts mentioned in this short resume are taken from an excellent little work, entitled " Die 

 Bliithezeit des Bronzealters der Pfahlbauten in der Sohweiz, dargestellt von Prof. E. Desor ; Referat von Dr, 

 A. Jahn : Bern, 1875. 



