Part 44

[94] A well-defined stockade, with horizontal beams. A canoe and the following objects recorded from this crannog:--"Two iron swords; a small anvil, very bright and clean; a pair of scales and several hammers; several gold pins; metal dishes; small axe-heads; an iron cauldron of a low dilated shape; a stone of yellowish-white colour, beautifully polished, about twelve inches long, three and a half broad, and two thick, accurately squared at the sides, having a round hole about one and a quarter inch deep and half inch in diameter at each end, the top surface and one of the sides being covered with carved devices; and a quern."

[95] "In another crannog in Rahan's Lake," says Mr. Morant, "we found five Queen Mary shillings, fused into a mass; a bronze pin; a flat spear-head, and a stone celt. We also found the hearth-stones and a quantity of ashes. The piles around the island are still visible above the water."

[96] Contained three or four crannogs. "In the one opposite Cloncahir were found several querns of different sizes and patterns (chiefly flat-shaped, ornamented with the usual cross design, varied more or less), and many of these were taken away by Mr. Kane to preserve at Mohill Castle. When the water was at a low level a slight examination was made in regard to the construction of the crannog. It was found that there were two, possibly three, concentric circles of piles of small size, enclosing an area considerably larger than that of the present island, and the space so enclosed seemed to have been filled with rough unhewn logs of wood up to about the present summer level of the water. Upon this had been deposited a stratum of stones and gravel, amongst which were found the querns already mentioned. In the same lake are three other crannogs--Man Island, Crane Island, and another."

[97] Three silver coins of the reigns of Edward I., II., and III. found on this crannog.

[98] Three crannogs in this loch, two close to each other, and are approached by a causeway which terminates about sixteen feet from the crannogs, both about twenty-five feet in diameter. On the margin of this crannog, under water, a bronze spear-head was found, 5¾ inches long, and a looped celt 4 inches long.

[99] _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xv. p. 153.

[100] Among the objects from Lagore mentioned by Lord Talbot (=Fig. 103=) is a peculiar iron pipe, described as of unknown use. It is rather remarkable that it and this bayonet-like object from Buston should be the counterparts of a kind of padlock in use in the earlier Middle Ages, which acted in the following manner:--When a spring-bolt (like that of the object from Buston) was passed through the tube upwards, the spike attached to the latter passed through the perforation in the former. Inside the tube there were two small prominences, which when the bolt was pushed sufficiently home caught the tips of its springs and prevented its return. In this state the padlock was securely locked, and it could only be opened by a key consisting of another but smaller tube, which, when passed through the other end of the larger tube and over the springs, pressed the latter close to the body of the bolt until their tips became clear of the internal catches, and so allowed the spring-bolt to be extracted.

[101] Vol. i. p. 146.

[102] This crannog is of a rectangular shape, 43 feet by 41 feet, and formed of layers of large trunks laid transversely.

[103] See Note 3, p. 447.

[104] The question of submarine crannogs is still obscure, and the few facts that have come to light leave the matter in doubt as to whether the structures were originally constructed in the water or on dry land and subsequently submerged, in consequence of changes in the relative levels of sea and land. The only remains of this character that I know of in Britain are--(1) a cairn of stones on a substratum of wood near the island of Eriska, at the mouth of Loch Crerar; (2) the Black Cairn, in the Beauly Firth; and (3) some stumps of piles in Ardmore Bay, county Waterford. The mound at Eriska, which was found on examination to be of circular shape and 60 feet in diameter, was dry at low water, but submerged at spring-tides to the extent of five feet. Some ashes and charcoal and the broken bones of sheep and small oxen were the only relics of human occupancy found. The Black Cairn is noticed in the Statistical Account of Scotland, and also by Miss Maclagan. It is about four hundred yards within flood-mark. The top is only visible at low water, and the base is said to be composed of very large wooden beams.

[105] Mr. Wallace describes the island as entirely artificial, "raised upon piles and cross-beams, about fifty yards from the shore, and 189 feet long, with an average of 112 feet wide. The water immediately surrounding it is deep, and the margin of the island rises perpendicularly from the deep water, which is about seven or eight feet deep on the north and east sides, and ten or twelve feet on the south and west. The piles and cross-beams, on which it has been raised, lie like a pavement all round it, inclining to the centre. The beams are of oak, pine, and birch. Those of pine and oak are the largest. Between the beams, and all over the island, numerous pieces of charcoal were picked up. The island rises in the centre, and, after clearing away part of the luxuriant nettles and long grass, portions of a walled structure were disclosed. No trace of lime-cement could be detected, but the stones were large and well placed together. The ruins of this building raised the island to the height of seven feet above the present water-mark." The island is noticed in the historical annals, and in 1596 gave refuge to the Earl of Arran. The occurrence of vitrified materials on the surface gives to this crannog, according to Mr. Wallace, peculiar interest. I could understand this interest had it been proved that vitrified buildings had been constructed over the crannog. In the construction of the crannog, of course, stones taken from the shore were used, and in this way the vitrified materials might be accounted for, or, what is more probable, they are the slag of a smelting furnace. The following are Mr. Wallace's words: "I visited the island in July, 1885, and scarcely had I set my foot on shore when I found a small piece of true vitrified rock; and great was my astonishment when I discovered that the whole island was covered with fragments of different sizes of the same material. It was found among the piles and cross-beams in great quantities. Several larger masses--one measuring four feet by three--were found on the western margin of the island, and deeply embedded among the stones and above the piles and cross-beams, close to the water's edge. After careful examination the vitrified material was found to differ in no way from that forming our vitrified forts. Between the crannog and the shore there is a smaller island of large stones, which is only visible when the loch is exceptionally low, as it was this season. This island, which measures 90 feet by 60 feet, appears to be entirely built of stones. The sides, like those of the larger island, are perpendicular. One piece of vitrified rock was found here. The distance between the islands is about sixty feet, and between the smaller one and the shore about twenty feet."

[106] Upon the partial drainage of Carlingwark Loch, in 1765, various kinds of artificial structures were observed, as wooden roadways, dams built of stone and clay, and a couple of islets constructed on a framework of black oak. In the mud were also found various relics, as a brass dagger, 22 inches long, mounted with gold plaiting; a brass pan; a remarkable cauldron (Fig. 172), containing bronze and iron implements; and several large stag-heads.

[107] "In draining a lake at the east end of the parish of Croy, an artificial mound appeared within a few yards of the shore, about sixty feet in circumference and five in height. It was formed of alternate strata of stones, earth, and oak; piles of oak being driven in the ground were kept strongly fixed by transverse beams of smaller size. Over these were round stones, and on the surface some inches of fine black mould. Some fragments of brass rings, pieces of pottery, and the bolt of a lock of no ordinary size, were found on the mound. At about a hundred yards distance there is a circle of large piles of oak, driven deep in the earth, apparently the commencement of a second mound; but for what purpose they were intended it is impossible to conjecture. At the same time a canoe, of most beautiful workmanship, was found, which some modern Goth has since cut down for mean and servile purposes."

[108] See note 3, p. 443.

[109] Artificial lake, with two islands, said to be seats of Fergus, Lord of Galloway.

[110] Rev. R. J. Mapleton thus sums up his observations:--"Altogether, I think that it is evident that the crannog was entirely composed of rock and walling, with the middle part filled up with smaller stones; that there existed considerable works of wood on the east, south, and west sides, at least, but whether a rampart outside or a building on the structure itself, is not quite clear; that there was a partial causeway, now under water, and the interval either filled in with brushwood or passed over in a canoe."

[111] "In Loch Kinder there is an artificial mount of stones, rising six or seven feet above the surface of the water, and resting on a frame of large oaks, which is visible when the weather is clear and calm."

[112] An oval-shaped crannog, 50 feet long by 28 feet broad, constructed of layers of young trees laid transversely. Three fire-places were exposed over the structure, and among the rubbish were found two broken combs made of wood, one of which is here figured (=Fig. 173=), and a piece of wood with a Greek cross, with crosslets burnt on it.

[113] Half a century ago Loch Leven was lowered nine feet by drainage, and at the present time the remains of the lake-dwelling are always from one to three feet under water. The mound measures 35 yards by 20 yards, and 1½ to 2 feet in height. In this area were detected the stumps of two rows of piles, twelve feet apart, and each pile was four or five feet apart. Also, in a line stretching to the shore, which is about sixty yards distant, there were one or two piles encountered, as if forming part of a gangway. The lake-bottom is here firm, and not liable to compression, so that the structure, whether ancient or modern, was really a pile-building. The only relics are a bit of carved wood, which might have been a handle, and a fragment of archaic-like pottery.

[114] The island is oval in shape, 180 feet long and 135 feet broad in the widest part. Fire-places, wooden floorings, and other woodworks were exposed, and a few relics, viz. an ornamented bone comb (=Fig. 174=), a flat loop of bronze, part of the rim of a large vessel of cast bronze 3 inches in length, and portion of an armlet of greenish glass, with a blue-and-white twisted cable ornament running round it.

[115] Dr. Stuart quotes the following account of a crannog in Loch Lochy from Mr. Robertson's notes, extracted by the latter from a MS. in the Advocate's Library, written towards the end of the seventeenth century: "Ther was of ancient ane lord in Loquhaber, called my Lord Cumming, being a cruell and tyirrant superior to the inhabitants and ancient tenants of that countrie of Loquhaber. This lord builded ane iland, or an house, on the south-east head of Loghloghae; ... and when summer is, certain yeares or dayes, one of the bigge timber jests, the quantitie of an ell thereof will be sein above the water. And sundrie men of the countrie were wont to goe and se that jest of timber which stands there as yett; and they say that a man's finger will cast it too and fro in the water, but fortie men cannot pull it up, because it lyeth in another jest below the water." B. 94, p. 160.

[116] In Maitland's "History of Scotland" the curious observation is made that Boece states that in Loch Lomond there were fish without fins, waves without wind, and a floating island. (Boet. "Scot. Reg. Descript.," fol. 7.)

[117] The relics from the Wigtownshire crannogs, besides those already mentioned, are not numerous. From Barlockhart there is a stone ring (=Fig. 175=), two querns, and a spindle-whorl of clay-slate. From one of the crannogs at Machermore Loch there is a stone implement, with circular hollows on each face (=Fig. 175=). Regarding such implements Rev. George Wilson writes thus:--"These are of two types, elongated and oval, approaching a circular form, and I wish to direct attention to them because, as yet (1879), only eight have been reported in Scotland, seven of them being from Wigtownshire" (_Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xiv. p. 127). Shortly afterwards another, described at page 422, was found on the crannog of Lochspouts, in Ayrshire.

[118] Lochavoullin, situated to the east of the Oban railway station, was formerly, as the name implies, used as a dam for a water-mill, but for many years it was a marsh in the summer time, and much frequented by sportsmen on account of the number of snipes which it sheltered. It is now in the process of being utilised, partly as a green, by filling up its bed, and partly as a skating-pond; and in the course of these operations a submerged platform of wooden beams, laid in transverse layers, was detected about the centre of the marsh. I visited the locality in the spring of 1888, but beyond seeing portions of the woodwork, and determining, by probing the mud, that it extended for several yards in all directions, nothing of archæological value was discovered. So far, however, it has all the appearance of the usual crannog, an opinion which is strengthened by the physical conditions of the environment.

[119] This loch covers about two acres. At the north end there is a small island, covered with a rank vegetation and a few stunted trees of Scottish fir and birch. A rough, crooked causeway extended from it to the shore. "Round the island could be seen driven piles, to which were attached strong transverse beams, and upon making a cut six or seven feet wide into the side of the island to ascertain its structure, we found a platform of about four feet in depth, raised by transverse beams placed alternately across each other, and kept in position by driven piles. These last were generally small oak trees, but dressed and sharpened by a metal tool, some of them mortised at the heads, where a transverse rail or beam could be fixed."

[120] Towards the north the author subsequently found a "plank with several Roman nails in it; and the number of loose nails found in the soil above it showed that they must probably have belonged to some wooden superstructure which had perished."

[121] Evans, "An. Br. Implements," p. 436.

[122] _Proc. R. I. A._, vol. ix. p. 176; and vol. i., 2nd Ser., p. 223.

[123] See translation of O. S., edited by Dr. Joseph Anderson, p. 182; also _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. viii.

Sixth Lecture.

THE LAKE-DWELLERS OF EUROPE--THEIR CULTURE AND CIVILISATION.

I.--STONE AGE.

In the summary of the remains of lake-dwellings which I have brought under your notice in the previous lectures, you will have observed that there was often a great diversity in the character of the relics even in stations that were lying close to each other. From the study of this feature alone we must conclude that some flourished at a time when the use of metals was entirely unknown to their inhabitants, as all tools and weapons recovered from the _débris_ were made of such materials as stone, bone, horn, etc. The substitution of bronze for these materials marks a decided change in the culture and civilisation of the lake-dwellers--a change which becomes further modified by the introduction of iron. We have thus a great variety of lake-dwellings, distinguishable from each other generally by the character of their industrial remains, according to the particular civilisation which prevailed at the period of their habitation, some dating from the pure Stone Age, others from the Bronze Age, while others again bear the imprint of various later civilisations, as Roman, Celtic, Carlovingian, Slavish, etc. In dealing, therefore, with lacustrine remains as a whole, we have to take into account not only their distribution over a wide geographical area, but also their continuance in various parts of Europe for a long period extending from the Neolithic Age to the dawn of written history.

The outlying parts of this wide field, comprising more particularly the lake-dwelling remains in North Germany and in Great Britain and Ireland, I have already sufficiently dealt with when treating of their archæological details, so that it is unnecessary to bring them again prominently forward. There remains, therefore, only the central area of Europe, where they originally developed and so extensively flourished during the Stone and Bronze Ages. To draw, from a general criticism of the mass of recovered materials which I brought before you in the first three lectures, some general notion of the culture and civilisation which characterised their occupiers is therefore the first and primary object of this lecture.

Though the famous three ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron had been established as a method of classification before lacustrine treasures became known, I question if there is in the whole range of prehistoric archæology any class of antiquities that gives greater support to this remarkable chronological sequence, or throws more light on the introduction of metals into Europe than those collected from the lake-dwellings. The period of duration of the early pile-dwellings in Central Europe entirely covers and overlaps that which witnessed the introduction of the great art of metallurgy in Europe. While the contents of graves and ceremonial burials are important in preserving special products of the technical skill of a people, we have from some of these lacustrine dwellings materials for reconstructing the entire life history of their inhabitants, giving, as it were, a complete picture of their arts, industries, luxuries, and amusements.

That many of these lake-villages, built as they were on wooden platforms and constructed of combustible materials, were liable to conflagrations, we can readily believe, and we have had conclusive evidence that many of them came to an untimely end in this manner. It is, indeed, to such catastrophes that we owe much of our information, as the sudden interruption of busy life-scenes in such a manner and especially when accompanied by circumstances that tended to preserve the ruins from decay, has been the means of supplying us, as it were, with a photographic picture of the habits, customs, and industries of the people; and it requires only a sufficient number of such instances to be able, from a comparative examination of the recovered relics, to construct a fair scale of the progressive civilisation and culture of the lake-dwellers. On the other hand, there are lacustrine villages which have existed, through various ages, such as Nidau, but the association of objects so widely separated in point of time in one place becomes misleading, especially if their relative ages cannot be tested by superposition in the relic-bed--which can rarely be the case in lacustrine investigations, as in the act of dredging the relics are all jumbled together.

Professor Desor, observing that large quantities of pottery of every description were found in certain localities, which could not belong to one family, and that many of the bronze weapons and implements were new and unused, suggested that the palafittes in Lake Neuchâtel were merely magazines or shops, and not the ordinary residences of the people. (B. 252, p. 3.) But this opinion has not been adopted by Swiss archæologists; nor indeed is it at all justified from a study of the character of the multifarious objects discovered among their _débris_, which undoubtedly point to village life and the exercise of social and domestic avocations on the spot. Dr. Gross, in combating Desor's opinion, so far as founded on the unused condition of many of the relics, remarks:--"Je possède dans ma seule collection les tronçons de plus de dix épées réduites à l'état fragmentaire par un long usage. Un grand nombre d'outils s'y montrent altérés et modifiés par la même cause." (B. 392, p. xii.)

The settlements of the pure Stone Age are found only in a limited area in Central Europe. Their greatest development has been in the lakes bordering on both sides of the Alps, and it is especially from the data there supplied that we become acquainted with their characteristic features. This area may be more specifically defined as including the lakes of Lombardy, Laibach, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Savoy, with the exception perhaps of Lake Bourget--whose palafittes appear to have been constructed exclusively in the Bronze Age.

One of the most striking facts, and one to which I invite special attention, is the advanced state of the culture and social organisations which prevailed amongst the earliest constructors of these singular abodes. It is beyond doubt that, from the very start, their inhabitants were acquainted with various industries, especially weaving, which they sedulously practised; that they reared the ordinary domesticated animals; and that they cultivated flax, fruits, and various kinds of grain. For example, at Wangen two varieties of wheat and the two-rowed barley were distinctly recognised both in whole ears and in the separate grain, the latter in quantities that could be measured in bushels. The stones of the grape, which Professor Heer (B. 123) somewhat hesitatingly announced among the fruits from this station, may now be accepted as genuine, as the grape (_Vitis vinifera_) has recently been found at Steckborn, another station of the pure Stone Age,[124] and at Haltnau. (B. 462, p. 58.) Several varieties of well-made cloth of flax, and mats of bast, were also found at Wangen. There is preserved in the Museum of Fribourg a carbonised spindle from Lake Morat, which shows fine threads still coiled round it, and Dr. Gross figures a similar object from Locras. (B. 392.) Most antiquaries are acquainted with the remarkable varieties of cloth, fringes, nets, cords, and ropes brought to light by Messikommer from the very lowest relic-bed at Robenhausen (=Fig. 25=). Even specimens of embroidery were found at the adjoining station of Irgenhausen. (B. 126, Pl. xvi.) Remains of linen cloth, thread, nets, basket-work, etc., have also been found in a great many other stations, as Vinelz, Locras, Schaffis, Lagozza, Laibach, etc. But the absence of such fragile and perishable relics from many other stations is not to be taken as evidence that their inhabitants were unacquainted with such industries; for it must be remembered that it is only when fabrics are carbonised, or deposited in circumstances exceptionally favourable to their preservation, that they are prevented from undergoing the natural process of decay. Thus, at Schussenried, though there was no actual cloth found, the impression of a well-woven fabric is clearly seen on a consolidated mass of wheat--probably that of the sack in which the grain had been stored--and at Laibach a similar impression was observed on a fragment of pottery.