33 2 



THE HUMAN SPECIES 



now used by the negroes in West Africa. In the materials 

 found at Robenhausen there are stuffs woven with woof and 

 warp, which, owing to the character of the lake bottom, have 

 been very well preserved. Originally wool was not used either 

 for spinning or weaving. There are no traces of a woollen 

 industry among the dwellers in pile-built houses, although they 

 possessed domesticated sheep. Possibly the wool was used for 

 other purposes, such as being made into felt with the hair of 

 other animals, although felt of this kind is not found in the 

 lake villages, but first appears in the northern tree coffins of 



FIG. 160. Plaited and woven work, spindles and spinning-wheels from the Swiss 



lake villages, i, basket-work; 2, mat; 3, net; 4, spun threads; 5, woven 



material ; 6, thread and plait ; 7, spinning-wheel ; 8, spindle and spinning- 

 wheel. 



the Bronze Age, where the bodies are clothed in felt mantles, 

 woollen coats, woollen jackets and woollen caps. Examples 

 from the Hallstatt period show the men partly with short 

 coats and partly with long mantles, and the women clothed in 

 jackets and habits with capes. Whether these were woven of 

 vegetable fibre or wool, cannot be made out on account of the 

 few fragments of clothes which have been discovered. 



It must be remembered, however, that man has no mono- 

 poly of the art of spinning. The same is true of plaiting and 

 weaving, for quite apart from spiders and silkworms which spin 

 and weave, there are many birds which are adepts at these arts, 



