Part 7

The second station (Unter Station oder Oefeliplätze) contains a steinberg which communicated with an adjacent tongue of land by a bridge. There was no well-defined relic-bed, but the relics picked up are of great value, among which are the following[3]:--A number of nephrite and jadeite hatchets, a nephrite knife in its horn handle, flint knives, a wooden spoon, a miniature canoe, four copper chisels (B. 286, Pl. ix. 34 and 35), two flat hatchets of bronze, showing rudimentary wings, a double-stemmed hair-pin (B. 286, Pl. x. 2), two daggers of bronze, one triangularly shaped (B. 286, Pl. iii. 17), a massive bracelet of bronze, some staghorn hammers, a scoop, some large clay weights, etc. In the Bern Museum are thirteen beads of copper, graduated so as to form a necklet; some arrow-heads of rock crystal; an ammonite and another shell (pectunculus), both perforated; also some perforated small bones, teeth, and beads of horn. (B. 462, p. 64, and Pl. xiv.) Dr. Gross estimates the number of jade implements from Oefeli at thirty or forty, the largest being four inches long, and the smallest one inch (both of nephrite).

Piles were found in various spots in this locality; and associated with one group were Roman remains, such as fragments of tiles, pottery, coins, and bits of glass.

HAGNECK.--In this locality, near where the Aar now debouches into the lake, and about one hundred yards from the shore, were formerly to be seen some piles, but the relic-bed seemed to have been washed away. Desor found some stone hatchets and a few other relics. The station was connected with the shore by a bridge sixty-five yards long and thirteen feet wide.

ILE DE ST. PIERRE.--On the south side of this island there are remains of an extensive settlement, the piles of which run parallel to the bank. A large canoe was observed here, lying in the mud, apparently having been swamped with a load of stones, with which it still was filled. It was 50 feet long, and 3½ to 4 feet wide. Near the piles a bronze pin with an oval head, and ornamented with wavy lines, was picked up. Another station was on the north-east side of the island, which is now dry, and on which a large number of bronze objects was collected; but there was no regular relic-bed, and as the objects were gathered on the surface, Dr. v. Fellenberg thinks it has been washed away. (B. 462, p.31.) Among the relics are a bronze knife, a compound pendant curiously arranged (B. 286, Pl. viii. 3), a pair of pincers, portion of a chain consisting of rings and bands, and several fragments of swords, celts, and sickles; also an iron sword with the handle of bronze.

On the south side of the Ile des Lapins there are some piles, which point to this being the site of a station, but on the island itself antiquities of various ages have been collected, such as Roman roofing tiles and coins, a pretty gold ornament, and many objects of Gallo-Roman manufacture.

LOCRAS (LÜSCHERZ).--Owing to the depth of water over the ruins of the settlement opposite this village, the station, although known to Colonel Schwab, did not assume any importance till the winter of 1871-2, when the waters commenced to fall, and the Bernese Government undertook a series of investigations. The extent of the settlement was estimated by Dr. Gross at about four acres, and it had been connected with the shore by a short bridge. The relic-bed, four to twenty inches thick, lay under a considerable accumulation of sand and gravel, and consisted of a blackish stratum of organic _débris_, which appears to have been peculiarly favourable for the preservation of the usually perishable objects of human industry. It is therefore singularly rich in such remains, and has furnished balls of linen thread, fragments of cloth made of flax, heaps of grain, and various remains of cultivated plants.

In prosecuting the exploration of the station it was found that the relic-bed became more deeply buried the farther it was pursued outwards; so that from 2½ feet, its depth on the shore side, it gradually increased to 7½ on the opposite side. The piles were of oak, beech, silver fir, pine, poplar, and birch, mostly in the form of round stems. All these different kinds of wood appear to have been used in nearly the same proportion all over the settlement except at the north-west corner, at a place called the Steinberg, where the piles were entirely of split oak stems. Another peculiarity was that the piles were more superficial, and hence it was suggested that this corner was of later date. Like most of the other lake-dwelling settlements, the woodwork showed marks of burning. The theory of some sudden catastrophe, such as a general conflagration, was strengthened by the number of human remains--no less than three skulls and some bones of the trunk and extremities--that were found at a depth of 3 feet.

Among the antiquities recorded by Dr. Gross (B. 286) the following may be mentioned:--

_Stone._--Several hundreds of polished celts, about 30 of which were jadeite or nephrite; flint implements of black and yellow flint, and beautifully formed, such as lance-heads, arrow-points, saws, and flakes; some round pebbles, about the size of a pigeon's egg, encircled with birch-bark, and arranged in a row, like peas in a pod; spindle-whorls, corn-crushers, etc.

_Horn and Bone._--A large number of haftings, probably from 600 to 800, many still retaining a stone celt or chisel; about 40 axe-hammer heads, perforated with a square or round hole; two little combs with three teeth; chisels, needles, awls, bodkins, arrow-points; a carding implement made of a number of small ribs pointed at one end and tied together, etc.

_Pottery._--A large number of entire vessels and fragments show that two qualities of paste were used, a coarse and a fine kind. Among them are bowls, plates, jugs--some having the ordinary handle and others perforated knobs; clay weights, round, cylindrical, or conical.

_Sundry Objects._--Portion of a spindle with the thread wound round it (carbonised), various wooden handles, dishes, and implements; fragments of cloth, matting, burnt straw, etc. One small flat dagger of copper is in the Bern Museum.

The following extract from the Government Report by Mr. Jenner, Dr. v. Fellenberg's deputy (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 203), gives a good idea of the comparative numbers of these relics:--"The results of my excavations, which occupied 27 days, and extended over an area of 20,000 square feet, at a medium depth of 3½ feet, the relic-bed being from 2 inches to 1½ foot thick, were as follows:--

1. Stone implements 600 2. Staghorn do. 480 3. Bone do. 235 4. Pieces of cloth 50 5. Objects for ornament 45 6. Entire vessels of pottery 11 7. Stone celts and axes in their haftings 23 8. Flint implements 121 9. Unworked pieces of staghorn 430 10. Wooden implements 24 11. Ornamented potsherds 26 12. Clay weights 8 13. Celts of nephrite and jadeite 8 14. A number of net-weights in birch-bark.

Contiguous to the station just described, on its north-east side, and separated from it by a dozen paces or so, there came subsequently to light another station, described by Dr. Gross as "Une nouvelle palafitte de l'époque de la pierre à Locras." (B. 336 and 347.) Its area was only about a fourth of the former, and the relic-bed, being quite near the surface, was easily worked. Two human skulls were found here, one of which appears to have been used as a drinking-cup. From the character of the relics generally, the settlement seems to have flourished during the transition period. There were perforated axe-hammer heads, with grooves and raised ridges, like Scandinavian forms, and a few metal objects. The latter consist of three articles of copper--a remarkable double celt of large size (=Fig. 186=, No. 10), a dagger, and an awl--and three articles of bronze, viz. a sword, a dagger-blade, and a hair-pin. The other objects are of the usual Stone Age type, among which may be noted as of rather uncommon occurrence an arrow-point of nephrite (B. 347, Pl. ii. 9), and a knife of the same material with one cutting edge (=Fig. 185=, No. 28).

VINELZ (FENIL).--This station, which is now entirely on dry land, was accidentally discovered in 1881 by labourers while digging a ditch to carry off water accumulating on the fields.[4] At a depth of two or three feet of sand and gravel they came upon a blackish bed of mud-earth, in which were detected a number of piles, the heads of which projected upwards into the sand and gravel for about a foot. Dr. Gross, who was informed of the circumstance, soon visited the spot, and at once recognised the site of a lake-dwelling. It appears that the locality is much exposed to the north winds, and that the settlement had thus become completely covered over with sand and gravel thrown up on the shore, as was the case with the station of Wangen in the Untersee. During the spring and summer of 1882 the new Pfahlbau was investigated by several experts, including Drs. Gross and v. Fellenberg. The station is remarkable for the number of copper objects which it has yielded to the systematic explorations ordered by Fellenberg, and carefully conducted by Ed. Matthys, of Ligerz. From the results thus obtained, the station at Vinelz is the most typical yet discovered of the final Stone Age period (_Uebergangszeit_). (B. 462, p. 33.) The following are some of the antiquities collected, most of which are in the Cantonal Museum of Bern and the Gross collection.

Among nearly 100 copper objects (including 46 beads, =Fig. 7=, No. 31) are several daggers (Nos. 26 and 28), flat axes (No. 27), chisels (No. 24), rude knives, awls (Nos. 17 and 25), pendants (No. 23), tubes and spirals (Nos. 22 and 30). No bronze or iron object has yet been found on this station. Bone and horn handles, polished daggers, large button-like objects (Nos. 20 and 21), perforated clubs, ornamental pins (Nos. 15, 16, and 18), etc., are numerous. Perforated stone axes and the ordinary polished celts are common (about 40 of the former and 100 of the latter being in the Bern Museum). Flint daggers, sometimes worked at both ends (No. 12), are also very fine; two were found in their wooden handles (No. 11). For more firmly fixing them a fine band of reed or withe was neatly rolled round the handle. A variety of flint arrow-heads, scrapers, etc. (Nos. 1 to 9), clay weights of different forms, implements of pointed ribs, basket-work, etc. For bits of well-woven cloth, thread, and fishing-nets, this station vies with Robenhausen. A portion of a spindle has some thread still round it. There was an entire fishing-net (carbonised) associated with a number of stone sinkers.

The pottery (Nos. 29, 32, and 33) was ornamented with dots and string-marks. One vessel had a horn-shaped handle projecting from the body of the vessel.

Wooden objects are also well represented in the form of dishes, clubs, handles, and net-floats. One portion of wood had some pointed flints stuck in it with resin, which had evidently been used like a saw (=Fig. 185=, No. 17), finger-marks having been cut out in the wood, by means of which the instrument could be more readily grasped.

SAINT JEAN.--A little less than a mile from the lake, in the marshy plain, some bronze objects were found, which point to this as the site of a station. Below Landerdon there are also some piles, the tops of which are much decayed and deeply buried in mud. Dr. Gross is reported to have found here a sword of the Middle Ages.

SCHAFFIS (CHAVANNES).--This settlement stretched as a narrow band on the left bank of the lake, and though known for a considerable time it remained unexplored till the lowering of the water facilitated its investigation. This was done by Dr. v. Fellenberg, in 1873, on behalf of the Government. (B. 271.)

Three steinbergs were found on its site, two of which were close together. In the vicinity of these steinbergs the piles were placed in rows running outward into the lake. Elsewhere they were irregularly but closely placed, seldom more than two feet apart, and penetrated deeply into the old black lake-sediment. Few timbers were met with, though twigs, basket-work, and charred food, were common.

The total length of the station was 640 feet, and greatest breadth 167 feet. The largest steinberg measured 217 by 65 feet. Several bridges, from 30 to 60 feet in length, connected the piled area with the shore. The station is now completely dry, and overgrown with vegetation.

On the steinbergs the relic-bed was quite superficial, being covered only with a thin layer of sand and gravel. The organic remains, such as staghorn haftings and bone implements, were of a blackish colour, and so much decomposed that few could be preserved from crumbling into pieces. Stone celts were very numerous, but unusually small, as, out of several hundred specimens, only a few reached the length of 5 or 6 inches. The majority were only 3 inches long, and although well polished and sharpened along the cutting edge, they were of inferior workmanship when compared with those of some other stations, such as Locras. They were all manufactured of materials readily found in the surrounding country, with the exception of three jade implements (two jadeite and one nephrite). Large slabs for grinding and polishing these tools were remarkably abundant.

On the other hand, the station is prominent for the beauty and elegance of its flint implements, many of which were, when found, still in their horn or wooden handles. Along with the horn haftings may be mentioned perforated hammers, chisels, barbed harpoons, pins, awls, flax-heckles, amulets, perforated teeth, and boars' tusks of great size. Among wooden objects the most remarkable are a wooden door, still retaining portion of a polished oval bolt of yew which traversed it horizontally (B. 336, p. 48), and a portion of a ladder (B. 347). The fragments of pottery indicated not only coarse material but rude workmanship. The clay is badly burnt, and it is uniformly mixed with pieces of quartz or small pebbles of the size of a pea. The vessels are roughly cylindrical, and have thick bases, but no ornamentation, not even the projecting knobs so characteristic of Locras. Some large clay balls, perforated in the centre, are probably loom-weights, and among the remains are bits of plaited and woven flax, which prove that the art of weaving was well known to the inhabitants. Dr. v. Fellenberg, from whose writings I have taken the substance of this notice, considers the settlement one of the earliest among the Swiss lake-dwellings and much inferior to some of the other Stone Age settlements in Lake Bienne.

A cup made from the upper part of a human skull found here has attracted much attention. (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 221.)

TWANN (DOUANNE).--It must be remembered that the west side of the lake does not present the same facilities for pile-dwellings as the opposite shore, owing to the steepness of the immediate shore-land and the rapidity with which deep water is met with. Moreover, the narrow strip of beach available for the purpose has become greatly covered up with alluvial deposits, as is proved from a discovery made at Twann. Here, at a depth of 15 or 20 feet, some workmen, while making excavations in connection with railway works near the quay, came upon a blackish bed of mould containing piles, pottery, staghorn implements, etc., which, on being inspected by Dr. Gross who happened to be passing at the time, was at once recognised as the site of a lacustrine station. Mr. Irlet, of Twann, has also discovered another station at Wingreis, in the vicinity of which the canoe, now so well preserved in the Museum at Neuveville, was found. (See page 481.) The objects from Wingreis consist of stone hatchets, flints, and horn handles. (B. 462, p. 32.)

In 1886 another station, called "Bipschal," was announced by Dr. v. Fellenberg as having been discovered by Ed. Matthys between Ligerz and Twann. (B. 462, p. 35.)

VINGELZ.--Dr. v. Fellenberg states (B. 462, p. 32) that in 1874, when the great canoe which for many years was known to be lying in the mud near Vingelz was raised, a deeply-buried relic-bed was brought to light.

Nearly 3,000 feet from the shore, and opposite the steinberg of Nidau, there is what is supposed to have been a small station, on which a few objects were found, among which is to be noted a great stone weight with an iron ring round it. A group of piles was observed to run from it in the direction of the Nidau steinberg, and hence it is conjectured that a bridge formerly connected the two. (B. 15 and 22.)

Between Vingelz and Bienne there is a small steinberg, on which a few arrow-heads of iron are said to have been found.

PORT.--During the excavations for the "Correction des Eaux du Jura" some remarkable discoveries were made, especially along the Lower Thielle, between Nidau and Meyenried. Immediately below the little village of Port the remains of a palatitte of the Stone Age were met with. The station appeared to have been of considerable extent, as the piles were traced for several hundred yards along the line of the canal. The relic-bed was 7 feet below the surface, and amongst its _débris_ were found various implements of stone and horn. Among the stone celts was one of nephrite, still in its horn fastening, the handle of which was covered over with a bluish coating of amorphous vivianite. (B. 446, p. 11.)

LAKE OF NEUCHÂTEL.

The Lake of Neuchâtel, like that of Bienne, was studded with lake villages, particularly in the more sheltered localities. From data collected by Col. Schwab a chart was constructed and published in 1863, showing no less than 46 stations in the lake; but many of them were of little archæological value beyond giving indications of their existence. Since then some additional sites have been added to this list, and from the activity with which lacustrine researches have been conducted, especially after the lowering of the water by the "Correction des Eaux," many of the supposed less important sites have turned out extremely rich in antiquities.

PONT DE LA THIELLE.--Leaving the Lake of Bienne, and following the Upper Thielle, we come to the Pont de la Thielle (Zihlbrücke), which crosses the river at a short distance below where it emerges from Lake Neuchâtel. A little above this bridge and on both sides of the river, Col. Schwab discovered piles, among which he collected some industrial remains at a depth of 5 feet, from which he concluded that there had been here an ordinary pile-dwelling, in what was then probably a bay of the lake. With the exception of one hair-pin of bronze, the objects collected were of the Stone Age. (B. 32.) In 1870 v. Fellenberg made some further investigations, which, while justifying the conclusions previously arrived at, showed that the station had larger dimensions than were formerly suspected, and that the relic-bed was in some parts deeply buried. He enumerates the following relics as the result of his labours:--7 large stone axes and 9 small or imperfect ones, of serpentine, diorite, etc.; 20 implements of bone--pointers, daggers, chisels, etc.; a large number of staghorn axe-hammer heads (perforated); flakes of flint and other flint implements, and one beautifully-worked arrow-head; a knife of polished nephrite. The pottery indicated a coarse paste mixed with rough sand, and some of the vessels were ornamented with knobs. (B. 196, p. 281.)

According to Mr. Dardel-Thorens,[5] a Roman station succeeded the palafitte, as many objects of pure Roman origin were found amongst the piles on the right bank. Among these he mentions a lion head of bronze, portion of a girdle, a silver ring like those from Pompeii, knives, chisels, axes, etc., and a tile with the legion mark CLXXI; also a piece of worked horn with figures.

LA TÈNE (STONE AGE STATIONS).--Close to the outlet, on its north side, is the celebrated station known as La Tène, which, from the remarkable character and varied assortment of iron implements found on it, has given a name to a well-defined period of the Early Iron Age. Now that the lowering of the level of the lake has left its site on dry ground, and its exploration has become thus greatly facilitated, it would appear that La Tène was more of a stronghold, commanding a bridge which crossed the Thielle at its outlet, than a real pile-village. Its consideration will therefore be deferred till we come to the description of the lake-dwellings of the Iron Age.

Making a circuit of the lake westwards, we come at once on a series of four stations, the ruins of which lie scattered on the shore between La Tène and the promontory of Préfargier. Their _débris_ lay embedded in a thick bed of ancient mud, which has since become undermined, and almost entirely washed away by the waves, leaving the heavier antiquities amongst the rolled pebbles. Some beautiful implements of nephrite and jadeite, and occasionally copper objects, have been thus picked up, some of which are still in the possession of Messrs. Vouga, Dardel-Thorens, and other local collectors.

ST. BLAISE.--This station has only come into prominence since the operations for the "Correction des Eaux du Jura" took effect on the lake; and although its investigation has been somewhat desultorily conducted, the finds from it are extremely interesting, as they are characteristic of the period of transition. The settlement, was situated to the west of the town of St. Blaise, and appears to have occupied a large area, as piles extended more or less all the way to Hauterive. Its chief explorers and relic-holders are Messrs. Vouga, Zintgraff, and Dardel-Thorens. In 1878 Dr. Gross published a description of its relics with two plates of illustrations, and subsequently a notice of it appeared in the _Anzeiger_ (B. 376a) and _Das Ausland_ (B. 418, p. 49). Among some thousands of stone axes, of which about ten per cent are perforated, there are many of nephrite, jadeite, chloromelanite, and _saussurite_. These latter are generally small, and set in horn fixers with a split at the end. The perforated hatchets (one of which is an unfinished specimen, with the core still in the hole) have often one end formed into a hammer (=Fig. 8=, Nos. 25 and 26). Among the many worked objects of horn and bone, such as pins (Nos. 22, 23, and 24), perforated clubs (No. 20), and daggers or spear-heads (No. 21), are some curiously-wrought pieces, which suggested to Dr. Gross the idea that they were part of a machine for boring holes in hard substances. The chief interest, however, lies in the number and variety of copper objects which this station has yielded. Out of about a dozen articles of metal, only one is said to be bronze (No. 4)--a dagger with a well-defined mid-rib--while the rest consist of two flat axes (Nos. 6, a fragment, and 14), six daggers after the type of the flint weapons (Nos. 1 to 5, 7, and 9), a knife (No. 8),[6] a bit of a spiral (No. 18), an arrow-point with some asphalt still adhering to it (No. 16), two small awls (Nos. 15 and 17), two earrings (Nos. 11 and 12), and two beads (Nos. 10 and 13).