548. Fraas— Pre-historic Settlements. 



products of human industry, is from 15 to 19 feet below the surface, 

 and about 12 square rods of it were laid open and carefully examined 

 — no trace of metal was found, nor the mark of anything at all 

 approaching that of a metal tool. Stone appears to have been almost 

 the sole material amongst the settlers for obtaining the necessaries of 

 life. For this purpose, these early races naturally chose the hardest 

 kinds, such as jasper and flint, which, having a conchoidal fracture, 

 could more easily be made into what was wanted. Long narrow strips 

 were then hammered off, some of them three inches in length, in 

 some cases veiy sharp on one side, and in others, on both ; some- 

 times very flat, like broad flakes, which apparently were set and 

 wedged in wood, and sometimes very slight, and with fine points. 

 Of all these varieties of flint flakes, from the size of a lancet, to that 

 of a lance-head, about 600 specimens were found at Schussenried ; 

 most of them were lying together in one sjoot, probably indicating 

 the place where the ancient tool-maker carried on his work, and 

 struck off a number of flakes, out of which he chose the most con- 

 venient for use. Besides these, the flint-cores were scattered around 

 from which these flakes had been struck. It is remarkable that 

 amongst these flints, some are decidedly of foreign origin, only a part 

 appear to have come from the neighbouring mountains ; the majority 

 were derived from the flint beds of the chalk hills either of Switzer- 

 land or France. Together with the flints there were found hundreds 

 of common stones from the gravel of Upper Swabia, evidently 

 brought together intentionally for some special object ; some of them 

 had been worked in a very rough manner. The large quantity of 

 split skulls and bones show clearly that they had been broken by these 

 stones for the sake of the mariow and brains ; and probably the 

 larger stones, neatly rounded off, which were found here and there, 

 served for anvils or blocks. Occasionally, paints were met with, 

 made of oxide of iron, ground down very finely, and probably kneaded 

 with fat into small grains. The colour varies from a brick red to red 

 brown, and is so effective, that both hands and face can be coloured 

 a deep red with a little bit the size of a pin's head. It cannot be 

 imagined that this red paste can have been scattered by accident 

 amongst the stone implements and remains of bones ; or that it has 

 arisen from them by some chemical combination. Any unprejudiced 

 person would consider it as a product of human art, probably similar 

 to the paint so lavishly used by savage nations when preparing either 

 for the war or the dance. 



These mineral products, however, are of less interest than the 

 remains of animals, which have evidently been used for food. The 

 most important of all these is the reindeer (in German, Eenthier not 

 Eennthier, but with the first syllable Een or Eein, so called by the 

 northern nations, on account of its cleanliness, " Eeinlichkeit "). This 

 animal was evidently of the greatest importance to the pre-historic 

 Swabians, on account of its flesh and marrow, and probably, also its 

 milk was used ; horns and portions of horns, parts of the skull, jaw- 

 bones, vertebrge, ribs, and bones of the extremities lie mixed together; 

 the only bones foimd united were some tarsal bones, and a few dorsal 



