294 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. vm. 



beech-nuts and acorns, which were probably intended as 

 food for the swine ; as well as the raspberry, strawberry, 

 elderberry, blackberry, the cherry and sloe. Fragments 

 of pottery were very abundant, as well as various imple- 

 ments of stone, antler, and bone, of the kind described 

 above, and sometimes with the handles of wood preserved 

 in a perfect condition (Fig. 100). Fragments of leather 

 prove that they were acquainted with the art of tan- 

 ning, and a wooden last that they were in the habit of 

 making shoes or sandals to measure. There were also 

 wooden bows, bowls, and various other articles, which 

 are only preserved under very exceptional circumstances. 

 The asphalt of the Val de Travers, now so commonly 

 employed for pavements, was used for cementing the 

 stone implements into their handles, and the fires were 

 lighted by means of a flint flake and a piece of iron 

 pyrites, used in the same manner as "the flint and 

 steel " of the present time. 



The large quantities of bones thrown away in the 

 refuse-heap at the bottom of the lake show that the 

 villagers lived on the wild animals of the district, as 

 well as on their flocks and herds, and the produce of 

 their fields and gardens. They also ate large quantities 

 of fish. The domestic animals, with the exception of 

 the large oxen, were of the same breeds as those kept in 

 Neolithic Britain, and of these at least three the swine, 

 the sheep, and the cows were kept in pens close to 

 the huts of their owners. 1 



1 Keller, op. cit. p. 50. Their excrements form a layer varying from 

 two to ten inches in thickness, mixed with litter. 



