Ch. X.] STONE AND BRONZE PERIODS. HI 



observations are confined to a limited district, such as Switzerland ; 

 and the distinctness of date becomes more striking when a settlement 

 like that of Moosseedorf, near Berne, belonging exclusively to the age 

 of stone, is surrounded by a great many others all referable to the 

 period of bronze. The number of objects found at Moosseedorf exceeds 

 two thousand, among which no metallic ones were observed. At 

 Wangen, on the Lake of Constance, more than 1300 articles of stone, 

 bone, and pottery were collected, without the intermixture of a single 

 utensil, instrument, or ornament of bronze. In other lakes, as in those 

 of Bienne and Geneva, there are settlements were the number of bronze 

 articles is equally numerous, with a very slight admixture of weapons 

 of stone. 



The relative antiquity of the pile-dwellings, which belong respec- 

 tively to the ages of stone and bronze, is also clearly illustrated by 

 the association of the tools with certain groups of animal remains. 

 Where the tools are of stone, the castaway bones which served for the 

 food of the ancient people are those of deer, the wild boar, and wild 

 ox, which abounded when society was in the hunter state. But the 

 bones of the latter or bronze epoch were chiefly those of the domestic 

 ox, goat, and pig, indicating progress in civilization. Some villages 

 of the stone age are of later date than others, and exhibit signs of an 

 inproved state of the arts. Among their relics are discovered 

 carbonized grains of wheat and barley, and pieces of bread, proving 

 that the cultivation of cereals had begun. In the same settlements, 

 also, cloth made of woven flax and straw, has been detected. 



To the Swiss pile-buildings of the bronze age belong manufactured 

 objects which display a very decided superiority in beauty of form, 

 and ornamentation, when contrasted with those of the antecedent ao-e 

 of stone. In one village at Nidau, on the lake of Bienne, a great 

 number of axes, lances, sickles, fish-hooks, and bracelets, altogether 

 nearly two thousand articles, have been obtained, and with them some few 

 implements of stone. These last, dredged, up from the same site, may 

 perhaps have been used simultaneously ; or possibly the same village, 

 founded in the age of stone, may have continued to flourish in the 

 succeeding period of bronze.* The pottery of the bronze age in 

 Switzerland is of a finer texture, and more elegant in form, than that 

 of the age of stone. At Nidau, articles of iron have also been dis- 

 covered, so that this settlement was evidently not abandoned till that 

 metal had come into use. 



At La Thene, in the northern angle of the lake of Neufchatel, a 

 great many articles of iron have been obtained, which in form and 

 ornamentation are entirely different both from those of the bronze 

 period and from those used by the Romans. Gaulish and Celtic coins 

 have also been found there by MM. Schwab and Desor. They agree 

 in character with remains, including many iron swords, which have 



* Mr. J. Lubbock's Lecture, Royal Institution, Feb. 27th, 1863. 



