14 PERRY, Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines. 



earth. It is therefore significant to find many traces of 

 such influence in the earliest Neolithic lake settlements of 

 Switzerland. In the great work of Keller, 18 which 

 cannot be altogether ignored, even if it was published 

 more than forty years ago, some information is given by 

 Dr. Heer which seems to place beyond doubt the fact 

 that Egyptian influence was exerted in a very definite 

 way in the region under consideration. Perhaps I may 

 be allowed to place the facts once more before you. The 

 lake dwellers grew barley, and it was the same variety as 

 that of Southern Italy. Barley is also found in ancient 

 Egyptian graves, even as early as the oldest Predynastic 



period. 19 Keller adds " further a kind 



of wheat, which is still very commonly cultivated in 

 Egypt, and yet is found in very ancient mummy cases, 

 came at least occasionally, into our districts. The Indian 

 millets have also very probably been introduced in the 

 same manner ; they were much cultivated in Egypt, and 

 the Setaria (Fennick) is represented on a tomb of Ramses 

 Sethos and at El-Kab." He goes on to say that " the 

 lake colonists .... were also clothed in the same 

 manner, for in Egypt flax took the first place amongst 

 the plants used for spinning and weaving .... The 

 cultivation of flax and the art of weaving the thread may 

 frequently be seen on the Egyptian mural paintings, 

 while hemp was unknown as a plant for making thread, 

 and it is also entirely unknown in the remains of the lake 

 dwellings . ..." a remarkable thing when we remember 

 that both the Greeks and Romans grew hemp. Again, 

 the weeds of the fields betray the origin of the cereals. 

 Dr. Heer says that u a fact of great interest is the 

 occurrence of the Cretan catchfly (Si/ene cretica, L.) in 

 the remains of the lake dwellings, as it is not found in 



18 "Lake Dwellings." 1878. 



19 G. Elliot Smith. "The Ancient Egyptians," 191 1. 



