1894 - 95 .] Dr R. Mimro on Lake-dwelling Research, 
397 
doubt that they are the sites of ancient villages constructed on 
piles, and fortified by an earthern dyke and a ditch. In their 
construction one uniform plan was adopted. Having selected a 
suitable site, always four-sided and orientated but, of course, varying 
in size according to the requirements of the community, the construc- 
tors proceeded to surround it with a ditch, the excavated material 
being thrown up in the form of a dyke on the inner side. The 
area thus enclosed was then thickly planted with stakes, the tops 
of which were brought to a common level, and over them a wooden 
platform was laid. On this platform cottages made of light timbers 
and clay were erected. Thus, in a very simple manner, was con- 
structed a fortified village, access to which was secured by one or 
more wooden bridges spanning the surrounding ditch. The vacant 
space beneath the common platform became a convenient receptacle 
for all sorts of refuse, including lost and worn-out objects of 
industry. When, in the course of time, this space became filled 
up the te/rramaricoli, in order to avoid the labour of having to 
remove the debris which would otherwise accumulate around them, 
adopted the ingenious method of constructing a brand new plat- 
form above the former. It seems that a preliminary step to the 
carrying out of this project was to set fire to the entire village, thus 
at one coup getting clear of all sanitary difficulties as well as of a 
number of uninvited guests. Having thus started with a clean 
bill of health, they elevated the dyke to the requisite height, and 
planted stakes, as formerly, for the support of the new platform 
and huts — the stakes in this case penetrating only into the accumu- 
lated rubbish of the former village. This mode of procedure 
appears to have been repeated over and over again, until, in the 
course of ages, the successive deposits accumulated to a height of 
15 or 20 feet. 
One great objection to this theory, when first propounded by 
Chierici, was the fact that, except sometimes in the lowest stratum, 
piles were rarely met with in terramara-deposits. But the difficulty 
has been satisfactorily accounted for by the readiness with which 
wood becomes decomposed, when placed in circumstances which 
render it liable to be alternately dry and wet. Chierici conclusively 
showed that, although the actual piles had entirely disappeared by 
decomposition, their former existence could be still demonstrated 
