Part 30

The lacustrine dwelling in the KOCKSEE was discovered on the lowering of the lake in the autumn of 1882. When its level had sunk 4½ feet, the structure appeared above the water. It was 34 yards long by 15 broad, and stretched lengthways along the shore, with which it was connected by a bridge. The woodwork appeared to have been cut by metal tools, although none of them have hitherto been discovered in the _débris_. The relics consisted of fragments of pottery and a few stone and bone objects.

In the neighbouring PROBCHENSEE a lake-dwelling, in all respects similar to that in the Kocksee, has recently come to light.

At BONSLACK transverse beams were observed, tied to the uprights by means of birch thongs (_Birkengeflecht_). From this station, some pottery, perforated like a sieve, and a mallet of wood, are recorded.

In the SZONTAGSEE there was also a lake-dwelling of the same class as those above described, the exact details of which have not yet been published. From it there are several interesting objects in the Prussia Museum at Königsberg, among which I have noted bone pointers and spatulæ, a well-formed needle of bone with the eye at one end, and a large bronze button with a raised eye.

As to the other localities in East Prussia where indications of lake-dwellings have been observed, the discoveries hitherto made on their sites are too indefinite to merit a detailed notice here, and I shall content myself with the references already given as to where such observations have been recorded.

ARRASCHSEE (LIVLAND).--In 1876 Count Sievers announced the discovery of a lake-dwelling in the Arraschsee, which was subsequently visited by the indefatigable Professor Virchow. This was a small circular island, covered with birch trees and bushes, which, on examination, turned out to have been an artificially-constructed island, like our own crannogs. Like them, also, it was surrounded by piles, and its interior was constructed of layers of wooden beams laid transversely over each other. Its structure was ascertained by digging two large square holes in different parts of the island, and in one nine layers of wood were counted, and in the other six. The chief relics collected were a bronze ring-pin, seven inches long; a bronze fibula (_eine lettische Fibel_); portion of a mould; a few clay beads; a pointed bone implement; bits of string and rolls of birch-bark; also fragments of grey and black pottery, with rude knobs and finger-marks, and without handles. From marks on the woodwork it was inferred that iron tools were used. The osseous remains belonged to the horse, ox, pig, and beaver. (B. 292.)

General Remarks on the Lake-Dwellings of North Germany.

Professor Virchow, as early as 1869, published an excellent thesis on the lake-dwellings of North Germany (B. 165), in which he maintained that all of them, with perhaps one or two exceptions, belonged to a much more recent period than those of Switzerland and South Germany. This opinion he founded on the following considerations:--

(1) Though many objects of stone and bronze were found on the former, yet in almost every case they were associated with others of a more recent type, including iron implements, etc.

(2) The food refuse contained most commonly the bones of the ordinary domestic animals, those of wild animals, such as reindeer, wild boar, stag, wild goat, and beaver, being but rarely met with.

(3) Many of the lake-dwellings were synchronous with the Burgwälle, a fact which was conclusively proved by their possessing the characteristic pottery of the latter, as was notably the case in the Persanzig lake-dwelling. Moreover, Virchow showed that some of the Burgwälle had direct communication with adjacent lake-dwellings, as in the Dabersee, Soldinersee, and Kloppsee.

Referring to this subject at a later date (1877), at the eighth Congress of the German Anthropological Society (B. 306), Virchow, while reviewing the further discoveries of lake-dwellings in North Germany, maintained the general correctness of his previous conclusions. These northern Pfahlbauten, according to him, were due to the immigration into the country of the Slavish people, and bear the same relation to the Burgwälle that the pile-dwellings in Italy do to the terremare. "Ich denke," says he, "wir werden uns entschliessen müssen, ganz im Gegensatze zu den süddeutschschweizerischen Pfahlbauten, die Einführung der nördlichen Pfahlbauten an die Einwanderung des Slavo-lettischen Stammes anzuknüpfen."

Virchow's opinion is not, however, universally accepted, as many of the local archæologists maintain that there are several lake-dwellings which have yielded relics that can only be explained on the supposition that they were founded during the earlier prehistoric ages. The chief examples relied on in support of their contention are those at Wismar, Spandau, Czeszewo, Objezierze, and Aryssee.

After carefully examining the relics from all these stations I must admit that much could be written on both sides of this controversy. Notwithstanding the number of typical objects of the Stone Age from Wismar and Gägelow, Dr. Lisch records that along with them were portions of querns. Now, querns are never found among the remains of the Swiss lake-dwellings, nor am I aware of their existence in any prehistoric remains in northern or western Europe prior to Roman times. The station at Spandau, if it be considered a true Pfahlbau, was undoubtedly of the Bronze Age. Czeszewo and Objezierze have yielded a considerable quantity of Stone Age relics, with scarcely any of the succeeding ages. Only one bronze object is said to have been found on the former, and from the latter there is in the Museum of Posen a bronze torque (=Fig. 98=, No. 9), which was found at a little distance from the lake-dwelling. As regards the Aryssee and its neighbouring lakes of Czarni and Tulewo, with their respective lake-dwellings, all of which are of the _Packwerk_ type, Professor Heydeck relies largely on the presence of pottery with string and finger ornamentation, as a proof of their antiquity, in addition to the ordinary stone celts, horn clubs, etc.; but yet along with them were found iron lance-heads and a blue glass bead (Czarnisee). Similarly in the _Packwerk_ in the Kownatkensee, polished stone celts, pottery with finger marks and _Schnurornament_, and portion of a reindeer horn, were found associated with a bone skate, and the osseous remains of the domestic animals, as the horse, pig, ox, etc. In attempting, therefore, to estimate the chronological range of these lake-dwellings from an examination of their contents, which (being unnoticed in the early annals of the country) is the only available means, the mixed character of these relics presents a considerable difficulty--a difficulty which, as we shall afterwards see, is equally applicable to the Scottish and Irish crannogs. But, whatever doubts may be cast on their antiquity and early origin, there can be none as to the comparatively late occupancy of many of them. A bone skate and a comb made of square bits bound together by cross pieces, and showing that the teeth were cut by a saw after the pieces were put together, precisely as may be seen in the combs from the Scottish crannogs and the terp-mounds of Holland, were found by Virchow in the Dabersee Pfahlbau. Iron hatchets (Dabersee, Persanzigsee, and Alt Friesack), horseshoes, and other iron implements (Soldinersee), pottery of Slavish type (Bonin, Kloppsee, Persanzig, etc.), leather (Bonin), and even armour and bricks of the thirteenth century (Lübtowsee), leave no doubt as to their almost mediæval character.

Reindeer horns were found at Butzow, Soldinersee, and Kownatkensee; but these objects do not necessarily indicate great antiquity, as this animal, though not referred to in the early annals of North Germany, is stated to have been an inhabitant of the country in the time of Cæsar.

The undoubted contemporaneity of many of these lake-dwellings with the Burgwälle opens up a field of research of considerable importance to European archæology; but their exact chronological relationship still remains an obscure problem, owing chiefly to the mystery which surrounds the latter.

_Burgwälle_ or _Rundwälle_ is the general name given to the remains of a remarkable class of prehistoric constructions found scattered over the larger portion of middle and north-western Europe, embracing the southern parts of Russia around the shores of the Black Sea, Roumania, Bulgaria, Transylvania, Hungary, Austria, Bohemia, Poland, North Germany, France, Great Britain, and the southern parts of Scandinavia. Their foundations now only remain and these show that the structures were generally circular or oval, but sometimes square and semicircular. They may be divided into three kinds, according to the materials of which their foundations are constructed, viz.:--earth, stones or stones in vitrified condition (_Erd-, Stein-und Schlackenwälle_). Their sizes vary from 20 to 100 paces in diameter, and their height from 10 to 30 feet, and they contained one, two, or sometimes three walls. Those made of earth were circular and generally situated in swampy land, or in countries where stones were not readily accessible. The Steinwälle were in hilly districts and varied in form according to the nature of the ground. Sometimes they assumed the irregular outline of a promontory or peninsula in a lake, at other times, especially when placed on an overhanging cliff, they were mere semicircles. Those of vitrified materials are of special interest to Scottish archæologists owing to the number of vitrified forts in Scotland. They are not very numerous on the Continent, Saxony and Bohemia containing the largest number. In the former country eight are known, viz.:--Schafberg by Löbau, Rothstein by Sohland, Stromberg by Weissenberg, Landeskrone by Görlitz, Brandwall by Blumberg, Koschütz near Dresden, Burgberg by Lichtenberg, and Vorberg by Kirchberg. According to Jelinek, Bohemia is rich in Schlackenwälle, those best known being near Katovic, Bukovec, Litoradic, Hradiste von Hostem, Hradiste bei Strakonic, Hradec bei Domanic Burgberg, Vladar, etc. ("Schutz-und Wehrbauten." p. 102). Instances also occur in Silesia, Thuringian Forest, Rhine district, Brittany, and Normandy.

The Burgwälle, like their analogues in the British Isles, have not yet been systematically investigated. From the character of the relics found in those that have been explored in North Germany they are divided into _Vorslavisch_, _Slavisch_ and _Spätslavisch_, a distinction which has been suggested by the unique character of Slavish pottery. These Slavish dishes are always without handles, but of well-burnt pottery, and when ornamented the ornamentation is in wavy lines running parallel to the rim forming the characteristic _Wellenlinie_.

Many of these remains have, of course, now entirely disappeared in the interests of agriculture, but their number still remaining is very great. In Eastern Germany Dr. R. Behla describes and tabulates no fewer than 1,100. They are more numerous in the fertile districts. In Oberlausitz, in one district measuring 9 miles long by 3 to 16 broad, they number 100, and in the neighbourhood of Bautzen within a one mile circle 20 can be counted.[59]

It is probable that the material used in the upper structures of the Burgwälle was wood, which, of course, has now completely decayed, except in some special conditions, as in swampy ground where wooden piles were used in their foundations. This is another point of contact between these buildings and the lake-dwellings which has not been overlooked by archæologists. Virchow describes the Burgwall of Potzlow, and that of Zahsow near Cottbus, as constructed over former Pfahlbauten;[60] and, indeed, the town of Cottbus seems to have been altogether built over piles, as, wherever diggings have been made, piles are met with, and in this way a finely ornamented quern was found.[61] Wooden substructures, in the form of a platform or _Packwerkbau_, have also been observed and recorded in many places, as at Schlieben, Gross Topola (Posen), the Labenzsee, Westpreussen.[62] Moreover, those in boggy places were approached by means of wooden gangways, the remains of which have been frequently met with in the form of a double row of piles.[63]

ANCIENT MARINE DWELLINGS ON THE COASTS OF HOLLAND AND WESTERN GERMANY.

Notwithstanding the striking and singular appearance the Swiss lake-dwellings must have presented to foreigners and strangers, it is a remarkable fact that Roman writers are entirely silent about them. Nor can this silence be accounted for on the supposition that the lake-dwellings had entirely come to an end prior to Roman times, as several of them have furnished antiquities whose Roman origin cannot be mistaken. Some archæologists think they recognise in the representation of a Dacian village on the Column of Trajan a true pile-village (B. 164); but this is doubtful, and, even if true, it is but a very meagre evidence of the custom, and leaves the problem of the lake-dwellings as mysterious as ever. Such reticence on the part of classical writers does not, however, extend to the class of ancient remains I am now about to describe.

Pliny very distinctly states that the Chauci (Frisians and other races along the coast of the German Ocean) were in the habit of constructing artificial mounds, on which they built their houses so as to be beyond the influence of the waves and tides. The following passage from his "Natural History"[64] will be read with interest in relation to the recent discoveries that have been made in the localities referred to.

"I have myself personally witnessed the condition of the Chauci, both the Greater and the Lesser, situate in the regions of the far north. In these climates a vast tract of land, invaded twice each day and night by the overflowing waves of the ocean, opens a question that is eternally proposed to us by Nature, whether these regions are to be looked upon as belonging to the land, or whether as forming a portion of the sea?

"Here a wretched race is found, inhabiting either the more elevated spots of land, or else eminences artificially constructed, and of a height to which they know by experience that the highest tides will never reach. Here they pitch their cabins; and when the waves cover the surrounding country far and wide, like so many mariners on board ship are they; when, again, the tide recedes, their condition is that of so many shipwrecked men, and around their cottages they pursue the fishes as they make their escape with the receding tide. It is not their lot, like the adjoining nations, to keep any flocks for sustenance by their milk, nor even to maintain a warfare with wild beasts, every shrub, even, being banished afar. With the sedge and the rushes of the marsh they make cords, and with these they weave the nets employed in the capture of the fish; they fashion the mud, too, with their hands, and drying it by the help of the winds more than of the sun, cook their food by its aid, and so warm their entrails, frozen as they are by the northern blasts; their only drink, too, is rainwater, which they collect in holes dug at the entrance of their abodes; and yet these nations, if this very day they were vanquished by the Roman people, would exclaim against being reduced to slavery! Be it so, then--Fortune is most kind to many, just when she means to punish them."

Notwithstanding the preciseness of Pliny's description and the fact that for several centuries, since the great sea-dykes were erected, the scattered remains of these mounds have been accessible on dry land, they have only quite recently attracted the attention of archæologists. I consider their investigation important, not only for the large amount of industrial remains they contain, but for supplying a missing link in the evidence of continuity in the European habit of constructing pile-dwellings.

TERPEN (WEST FRIESLAND).

Before the construction of the great sea-dykes in Holland nearly the whole of West Friesland would have been in that hybrid condition described by Pliny in which it was difficult to say whether it belonged to sea or land (_dubiumque terræ sit, an pars maris_). At the present time, however, these lands are richly cultivated and look as if they were a dead level. It is only on close inspection that the monotony is relieved by certain elevations of considerable extent called _Terpen_, whose summits rise to about the level of the larger dykes. These mounds are situated at more or less regular intervals, so that if the tides by any calamity had free scope, they would appear as so many islands scattered over the country. It is on such elevations that modern churches and villages are generally built, and, till they accidentally attracted the attention of agriculturists, nobody seemed to think anything about their origin. A few years ago it was discovered that their interior was composed of a rich ammoniacal deposit which agriculturists found valuable as a fertilising agent when spread over their fields. The excavation of this substance for manuring purposes now forms an important industry, and any landed proprietor who happens to own a workable _terp_--_i.e._ one free of buildings--is on the way to realise a small fortune. When a _terp_ is found suitable for being excavated they generally commence by digging a canal close up to its base, sufficiently large to admit of the passage of good-sized boats. The boats are then easily loaded with the stuff and so it is conveyed to all parts of the country. As the workings advance the canal is also advanced, so that the boats are always in close proximity to the diggings. In the course of these operations, bones and horns of various animals, pottery, and other relics of human industry, were occasionally turned up.

By degrees these repeated discoveries attracted the attention of antiquaries, and Dr. Pleyte, of Leyden, is now publishing a large illustrated work on the antiquities of Holland (B. 301), in which a conspicuous place is given to the terp-mounds and their contents. It is, however, to some of the office-bearers of the Museum of the Friesch Genootschap at Leeuwarden, more especially Mr. Corbelijn Battaerd, its conservator, that I am indebted for much of my information on the subject. In this museum are stored up most of the objects hitherto found in the terp-mounds, and the collection, already unique of its kind, is daily and rapidly increasing, as orders have been issued in regard to many of them that no relics are to be disposed of without being, in the first place, submitted to the authorities of the museum.

Like most countries, the early traditions of Holland have been forgotten or ignored, and in its annals little mention is made of the _terpen_. In explanation of the origin and early use of the word, Dr. Pleyte quotes from Ocko van Scharl a passage to the effect that one of the ancient kings of Friesland, named Adgillus, who reigned towards the end of the sixth century, had caused, on account of the ravages of an inundation which took place four years prior to his accession, a large number of elevated places to be formed, so as to give shelter to man and beast in the event of a recurrence of this danger. These mounds were then called _Terpen_.

Mr. Dirks, president of the Friesch Genootschap, as early as 1871 characterised these mounds as analogous to the terramara beds of North Italy ("_ce sont des terramares historiques_");[65] but it remained to Professor Pigorini of Rome to show that they were identical as regards internal structure. This he did in 1881 (B. 372c), after a visit to one at Aalzum which was then being excavated, when he showed that there was a circumscribing dyke, and, although no actual piles were then visible, he was informed by the proprietors that such wooden structures had been occasionally met with. Prior to his visit, it appears that no special attention was directed to these structural remains. From all he could learn, however, on this point, and especially from a consideration of the stratified arrangements of the _débris_, Pigorini concluded that the deposits were due to pile-dwellings, and had accumulated under precisely similar conditions to the terremare, in regard to which he is such a distinguished authority.

The _terp_ at Aalzum is still being systematically excavated, and, though only as yet partially cleared off, its results, from an archæological point of view, are now second to none of the kind in Holland. Moreover, the excavations are conducted on an extensive scale, and the locality is readily accessible. I can, therefore, conceive of no better means of conveying to you some knowledge of the nature and structural phenomena of these remarkable deposits, than by detailing the facts which came under my own cognisance during a visit I made this summer to the same spot under the guidance of my excellent friend, Mr. Battaerd.

The _terp_ lies about a mile to the north of the town of Dokkum, some twelve miles from Leeuwarden, and four or five from the seashore. In approaching the locality from Dokkum there was little to attract special notice beyond the usual Dutch scenery--canals, rich meadows, herds of splendid cattle, and here and there some well-cultivated cornfields. In front of us a slight elevation could be discerned, crowned by a small church in the midst of a clump of trees, the surroundings of which were neatly hedged meadows and cornfields. As we advanced towards this church, and within a few hundred yards of it, we entered on a sloping road, as if raised on a dyke, but on each side the land was perfectly flat and bearing a splendid crop: here a field of magnificent beans, and there an equally promising one of wheat. These fields, said Mr. Battaerd, were formerly part of the _terp_-mound from which the fertilising stuff has already been removed, but this road was left undisturbed, so that we are now actually walking on a portion of its surface. By-and-by we came in sight of heaps of clayey stuff, the tops of which sparkled with reflected light, and in their midst were to be seen the masts and rigging of three boats. Those whitish clay-like heaps, said Mr. Battaerd, formed the surface soil, which, being of no commercial value, had to be wheeled off before the saleable deposits could be got at. At last the actual workings were reached, and we found ourselves in front of a perpendicular section some 15 or 18 feet high, from which men and women were busily engaged in loading the boats. Uppermost in my thoughts was the paramount question of the existence of upright piles, which, it will be remembered, Pigorini had not actually seen. Great was my delight when, at the very first glance, my eye detected an undoubted pile of oak just in face of the cutting. Close by it I soon found another and as we moved along numbers were observed, some soft and yielding, scarcely offering any resistance to the spade; and others of oak very hard in the centre, but more decayed and ragged-like than those I have been in the habit of seeing among the lake-dwelling remains. Those seen in this section differed considerably in size; and I observed that some penetrated deeper than others. At a little distance lay a heap of oak beams which had recently been removed from the trenches--one of which I measured and found it to be four yards in length, and from six to eight inches thick. Upon inquiry, I ascertained that these beams lay horizontally, and about half way down, in the stratified stuff.