CHAP, viir.] NEOLITHIC CIVILISATION IN EUROPE. 293 



were built wooden huts with thatched roofs, 27 feet 

 long by 22 wide, and between them were the cattle- 

 pens, sheep-folds, and pig-sties. The remains of six of 

 these huts were exposed in digging a canal, in a space 

 of 150 feet long by 40 feet broad. In this at six differ- 

 ent points at equal distances were little heaps of corn, 

 pieces of woven and plaited cloth, stores of raw flax, 

 together with a mealing stone, and also six groups of 

 stones which had formed the hearths. It is evident, 

 therefore, as Mr. Messikomer observes, that each was 

 inhabited by one family, which had its own arrange- 

 ments for preparing victuals and making clothes, and 

 we may conclude tha,t the whole settlement was not a 

 community with common store-houses like a Mexican 

 pueblo. The litter for the cows was chiefly of straw 

 and rushes, and that for the sheep, pigs, and goats, of 

 sprigs of fir and twigs of brushwood. In one place a 

 considerable quantity of ears of wheat and barley was 

 found along with bread ; in another corn and bread 

 with burnt apples and pears ; in a third flax in hanks 

 or skeins, spun and plaited into cords, nets, and mats, 

 and woven into cloth, along with earthenware weights 

 for the loom. The corn had been reduced to meal in 

 mortars or on mealing stones, and afterwards either 

 made into porridge, or into little round loaves baked 

 on hot stones, or under the embers. It was also eaten 

 parched. Caraway and poppy seeds were also used, 

 probably for flavouring, and a small round cake of the 

 latter was discovered, which may have been intended 

 for use as a narcotic. 



The villagers of Robenhausen also laid up stores of 

 the water-chestnut, the common nut, the walnut, and 

 apples, of which no less than 300 were found together 



