LAKE DWELLINGS. 
313 
stiffen, when it was removed and deposited in a narrow and short 
grave. If a natural crevice in the rock, or a convenient receptacle 
under large stones could be found near at hand, they always availed 
themselves of such a secure protection for the remains of their 
deceased relatives against the depredations of the ferocious carnivor- 
ous animals which infested the surrounding forests. This description 
applies to the human remains found in the rudest cromlechs in this 
country, and is probably the most primitive, as it was the most 
natural way of disposing of the human dead body in man's savage 
state all over the world. The stones of an artificial cromlech are 
often comparatively light and easily removed, the natural or indis- 
tinctive resource under such insecure conditions would be to conceal 
it under a mound of earth or heap of stones, and this is probably the 
origin of the earthen tumulus of which so many occur in this country, 
and perhaps may be the prototype of those stupendous p3n?amidal 
structures of the civilised Egyptians. The occurrence of rocking 
stones he attributed to glacial action, and considered that they would 
be carried down by an ice-sheet, and occasionally left balanced on the 
rocks where they are found. 
At the same meeting, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., contributed a 
paper on the " Geological and Archaeological Discoveries in Denmark, 
Switzerland, and France." He first described the lake dwellings dis- 
covered in Switzerland in 1853-4. In those years the water in the 
lakes fell to an extraordinarily low level. Some of the inhabitants on 
the borders of the lake took advantage of the lowness of the water to 
increase their gardens by building a wall along the new water-line, 
and raising the level of the land thus reclaimed by mud dredged 
from the lake. In the course of this dredging great numbers of 
wooden piles, horns of deer, and stone implements were found. This 
speedily became known to the scientific men in Switzerland, and Dr. 
F. Keller, amongst others, gave the matter much attention. The 
ancient settlements or lake dwellings were found to be very extensive 
and must have been constructed by many thousands of persons. Sir 
John Lubbock gave a detailed account of the discoveries that had 
been made up to that time which have since been published by Dr. 
Keller and others. The pile dwellings in Switzerland were probably 
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