186 /. Lubbock on the Ancient Lake Habitations of Switzerland. 



need not therefore be taken into account, Documenta preser- 

 ved ill the archives of Villeneuve show that in the year 1710 the 

 stream was dammed up and its course a little altered, which 

 makes the present cone slightly irregular. That the change was 

 not of any great antiquity is also shown by the fact that on the 

 side where the cone was protected by the dykes, the vegetable 

 soil, where it has been atfected by cultivation, does not exceed 

 two to three inches in thickness. On this side, thus protected by 

 the dykes, the railway cutting has exposed three layers of veg- 

 etable soil, each of which must, at one time, have formed the 

 surface of the cone. They are regularly intercalated among the 

 gravel, and exactly parallel to one another, as well as to the pres- 

 ent surface of the cone, which itself follows a very regular curve. 

 The first of these ancient surfaces was followed on the south side 

 of the '!one, over a surface of 15,000 square feet ; it had a thick- 

 ness of four to six inches, and occurred at a depth of ahoutfour 

 feet (1-14 metre measured to the base of the layer) below the 

 present surface of tJie cone. This layer belonged to the Bomafl 

 period, and contained Homan tiles, and also a coin. 



The second layer was followed over a surface of 25,000 square 

 feet; it wtis six inches in thickness and lay at a depth of 10 feet 

 (2 97 metres, also measured to the bottom of the layer). In it 

 have been found several fragments of unvarnished pottery, and 

 a pair of tweezers in bronze, which to judge from the style be- 

 longed to the Bronze epoch. The third layer has been followed 

 for 8500 square feet ; it was six or seven inches in thickness, and 

 lay at a depth of 19 feet (5-69 meters) below the present surface: 

 in it were found some fragments of very rude pottery, some 

 pieces of charcoal, some broken bones, and a human skeleton 

 with a small, round, and very thick skull. Fragments of char- 

 coal were even found a foot (leeper, and it is also worthy of no; 

 tice that no trace of tiles was found below the upper layer oi 

 earth. 



Towards the centre of the cone, the three layers disappf^^; 

 since, at this part, the torrent has most force, ancl has depositea 

 the coarsest materials, even some blocks as much as three feet'i 

 diameter. The farther we go from this central region the smaller 

 are the materials deposited, and the more easily might a layers 

 earth, formed since 'the last great inundations, be covered over 

 by fresh deposits. Thus, at a depth of ten feet, in the gravel oa 

 the south of the cone, at a part where the layer of earth belong^ 

 ing to the bronze age had already disappeared, two unrolle 

 bronze implements were discovered. They had probably bee 

 retained by their weight, when the earth, which once coverea 

 them, was washed away by the torrent. After disappearing O" 

 wards the centre of the cone, the three layers reappear on t^^ 

 north side, at slightly greater depth, but with the same regtdiir^v 



