LECTURE XII. 351 



tticker than tliose of the bronze-period ; they are mostly 

 trunks, one foot in diameter, partly incised at the ends, and 

 forcibly broken off; split trunks are rarely found. 



The piles of the bronze-period are much thinner, only about 

 four inches thick ; the trunks are frequently split into four 

 parts, the tops rise several feet above the ground, whilst those 

 of the stone-period are hidden by the accumulation of stones. 

 As far as I know, there has not been discovered any pile-work 

 overgrown by peat which belongs to the bronze period. Thus, 

 we may distinguish as belonging to the stone-period the pile- 

 works at Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, Meilen, Eobenhausen, Wan- 

 gen, and the numerous settlements on the Lake of Constance. 

 Pile-buildings which continued in unbroken succession from 

 the stone — through the bronze-period, are those at Concise, 

 Staffis (Estavayer), Hageneck, and some other settlements on 

 the lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel. There are further pile- 

 works which contain iron-tools, like the celebrated Steinberg 

 on the Lake of Bienne. There are also numbers of settle- 

 ments on the lakes of Geneva and Neufchatel, and also near 

 Sempach, which have only yielded bronzes ; and, finally, there 

 is one pile-work which has only furnished iron articles, namely, 

 that of La T^ne, near Marin, on the Lake of Neufchatel. 



Many of these habitations have undoubtedly been destroyed 

 by fire, as in some places the burnt piles are still found. 

 Messikomer concluded from the direction of the scattered 

 cinders and coals, that at Moosseedorf the fire took place 

 during a violent storm, like the fire of Glarus. In other set- 

 tlements there was no trace of fire, and when it is considered 

 how easily huts and stores built of wood may burn dov^^n, we 

 think archaeologists have gone too far when they combine the 

 introduction of metal with the irruption of a new people, and 

 thus explain the burning down of the old habitations. Ac- 

 cording to Troyon, the pile-works of the stone-period have 

 been partly burnt down by a people coming from the East, who 

 introduced bronze, but have been repaired and inhabited by 

 them until another people, also coming from the East, the 

 Helvetians, arrived with iron swords, who, in their turn, burnt 

 the bronze villages, and also partly re-inhabited them. 



