372 . PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



it is probable, from the almost universal prevalence of clay- 

 weights for weaving, that most, if not all, of them were furnished 

 with a loom." 



Lake-dwellings have been met with in many other regions 

 of Europe besides Switzerland and Italy, as in Bavaria, Austria, 

 Hungary, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, France, Wales, Ireland, and 

 Scotland. The "Crannoges" of Ireland and Scotland were 

 rather artificial islands than dwellings like those described 

 above. They come nearest in character to the Fascine Dwell- 

 ings, some of them being built up in the same manner with 

 layers of sticks strengthened and surrounded by vertical piles, 

 while others were composed of earth and stones, or of a mixture 

 of these with branches and stems of trees. Mention may be 

 made also of the traces of log-houses which have been found in 

 certain peat-bogs in Ireland, and of the curious pit-like dwell- 

 ings or " hut circles " which have been met with in various places 

 in England. Some of these no doubt go back to Neolithic times, 

 but many were in use down to a much more recent period. 



Immense numbers of implements (see Plate C), 1 weapons, 

 fragments of pottery, and bones of various animals, have been 

 discovered in the debris of the old lake-dwellings, the character 

 of which gives us some notion of the kind of life led by the 

 ancient Lakemen. During the Neolithic Age they were so far 

 advanced that they knew how to till the ground and to cultivate 

 wheat and barley, which seem to have formed a principal article 

 of food. Flax also was grown by them, and largely employed 

 in the manufacture of cord, netting, ropes, and of mats, coverings, 

 and cloth, many pieces of which have been preserved to testify 

 to their skill as weavers. Quantities of potsherds are found on 

 the sites of the old dwellings, some portions showing patterns 

 and ornamentation, and the designs of the various cups and 

 vessels which have been discovered prove that, although igno- 



1 The illustrations in Plate C are from Dr. Evans's Ancient Stone Implements, 



Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain. Fig. 1 represents the face (a) and side 



(6) of a flint celt, which is ground at the edge only. Fig. 2 (a and b) is a polished 



celt of a tough jade-like stone. Fig. 3 is an axe-head of felstone. Fig. 4 is a 



flint arrow-head. All the implements are British, and characteristically Neolithic- 



