COMPARISON OF THE DIFFERENT LAKE- VILLAGES. 165 



Col. Schwab's splendid collection from the Steinberg at 

 Nidau tells the same tale. He has only 33 stone axes, and 

 yet as many as 335 corncrushers. The other articles of stone 

 he has not apparently collected. He has nearly 200 spindle- 

 whorls, and many earthenware rings, some of which have 

 also been found at Morges, but which are entirely wanting 

 at the Pont de Thiele, at Wauwyl, at Moosseedorf, and at 

 Wangen. 



It is, of course, possible that very different states of civi- 

 lisation may co- exist in different parts of the same country ; 

 but in this case we must remember that the settlement at the 

 Pont de Thiele, and the one at Nidau were on the borders of 

 the same lake, and that Moosseedorf, again, is only about 

 fifteen miles from Nidau. Nor can we suppose that the 

 differences were merely a question of wealth ; the bronze 

 fish-hooks, axes, small rings, pins, etc., which are found in 

 such large numbers, show that bronze was used not for 

 articles of luxury only, but also for the ordinary implements 

 of daily life. 



Nor is it only in the presence or absence of bronze that 

 the Pfahlbauten differ from one another; there are many 

 other indications of progress. We cannot expect to find 

 much evidence of this in the implements of bone or stone ; but, 

 as has already been mentioned, the better forms of stone axe, 

 and those which are perforated, are very rare, if not alto- 

 gether absent in the Stone age, none having been found at 

 the Pont de Thiele, at Moosseedorf, or at Wauwyl, and only 

 two at Wangen. 



Again, it is not only by the mere presence of bronze, but 

 by the beauty and variety of the articles made out of it, that 

 we are so much struck. In a collection of objects made at 

 any of the Stone age settlements, no one can fail to remark 

 the uniformity which prevails. The wants of the artificers 

 seem to have been few and simple. In the Bronze age all 



