138 COMPARISON OF THE PILES 



The lake itself is very deep, in parts as much as nine 

 hundred and eighty feet; and the banks are generally steep, 

 but round the margin there is, in most places, a fringe of 

 shallow water, due probably to the erosive action of the 

 waves, and known to the fishermen as the " blancfond," 

 because the lake is there of a pale greyish hue, when con- 

 trasted with the bright blue of the central deeper water, 

 It is on this " blancfond," and at a depth of sometimes as 

 much as fifteen feet, that the Pfahlbauten were generally 

 constructed. On calm days,, when the surface of the water is 

 unruffled, the piles are plainly visible. Few of them now 

 project more than two feet from the bottom ; eaten away by 

 the incessant action of the water, some of them. "n'apparais- 

 sent plus que comme aiguilles," which finally also disappear, 

 and leave only a black disk at the surface of the mud. This, 

 however, is the case principally in the Lake- villages of the 

 Stone age. "Ce qui les distingue surtout," says Prof. Desor, 

 "c'est la qualite des pieux, qui sont beaucoup plus gros que 

 ceux des stations du bronze : ce sont des troncs entiers, rnesu- 

 rant jusqu'a 28 et 30 centimetres. Au lieu de faire saillie 

 dans Feau, ils sont a fleur du fond." On the other hand, in 

 speaking of the Bronze age piles, he says : " Les pieux sont 

 plus greles ; ce sont frequemment des troncs fondus en quatre, 

 n'excedant guere 4, au plus 5 pouces de diametre ; au lieu 

 d'etre a fleur du fond, ils s'elevent de 1 a 2 pieds au-dessus 

 de la vase, ce qui permet de les reconnaitre facilement, mal- 

 gre leur plus grand profondeur." M. Troyon also tells us 

 that "On peut dire que les pilotis de la fin du deuxieme age, 

 anciens de plus de deux mille ans et saillants d'un a trois 

 pieds au-dessus de la vase, presentent a peu pres partout le 

 meme aspect, tandis que ceux de Tage de la pierre ont ete 

 generalement use's jusqu'a la surface du limon dont ils sont 

 parfois reconverts."* 



* Les Constructions lacustres du lac de Neufchatel. 



