Part 8

One of the copper daggers was mounted in a handle of withes, the remains of which are still to be seen (No. 2), and strongly reminds one of the flint daggers when similarly mounted, as seen in No. 28. As ornaments from this station I have figured a fossil ammonite and a smooth stone, both perforated (Nos. 27 and 19). Two fossil shells, an ammonite (=Fig. 185=, No. 23), and pectunculus, are described in the Ninth Report on the Pfahlbauten (B. 462) as coming from Oefeliplätze.

HAUTERIVE.--Opposite the village there was a very large settlement, which has yielded a considerable number of antiquities of a mixed character, chiefly dispersed among the Museums of Neuchâtel, Bern, Bienne, and Zürich. Col. Schwab found two iron spear-heads and pottery. After Schwab's investigation, Desor searched the station and found a steinberg. Among the more interesting objects are:--a small figure shaped like a duck and ornamented with strips of tin (=Fig. 195=, No. 13); a vase, also ornamented in the same way (=Fig. 193=, No. 6); a disc of bone ornamented with concentric circles, and some bronze pendants (=Fig. 189=, Nos. 13, 14, and 16). In Bern there are four pins with large heads, and several tanged knives, sickles, bracelets, pendants rings, fish-hooks, etc.; also dishes of fine black pottery with round bottoms.

Between this and Neuchâtel are three stations, viz. Champréveyres, Monruz, and Crêt, on which a few objects have been picked up. In 1885 a pot of dark pottery ornamented with circular lines and triangles ("_Wolfszahn-ornamenten_"), measuring 6¼ inches in diameter and 4¾ in height, was fished up in eight feet of water, and was supposed to be from the bronze station of Champréveyres.[7] The pot contained sand and the following objects:--two stone celts, a spindle-whorl, a pierced boars tusk, half of a stone axe-hammer partially bored, two objects of stone, a bit of red ochre, and a bit of yellow ochre.

AUVERNIER.--In the sheltered bay between Colombier and Auvernier was one of the largest and most interesting settlements in the lake. It was discovered early, and notwithstanding that its remains were covered with ten or twelve feet of water, it was minutely searched. Professor Desor ascertained that there were two distinct stations near the same place, one being a bronze station and farther out in the lake. The Stone Age settlement, which lay just between the latter and the shore, contained a steinberg of round and angular stones, and covered nearly two acres. The piles of the bronze station were inserted in soft mud, and their tops projected from one to two feet above the lake bottom. In one place a canoe and large masses of wattle-work were seen by Desor protruding from the mud. Among the antiquities collected by the earlier explorers are:--Arrow-points of various shapes with and without barbs, a richly-ornamented socketed lance-head, a solid ring armilla, a chisel, fish-hook, etc. Also fragments of variously-ornamented pottery, one of which showed something like the Greek pattern or meander line. Not less than twenty of the illustrations of Desor (B. 95) are of objects from this station.

The station was systematically investigated during the year 1873 and the three following years, and a report of the results was published by Dr. Gross in 1876. (B. 286.) He describes the antiquities under the following heads, from which it will be seen that the station ranks almost on a par with that at Moeringen:--(1) Arms, (2) instruments, (3) objects of dress, (4) objects belonging to horses' harness, (5) moulds, (6) pottery. Dr. Gross, at the eighth meeting of the German Congress of Archæologists at Constance, in September, 1877, gave some further account of the relics from Auvernier, particularly the swords, of which six were found. (B. 306.)

The illustrations on =Fig. 9= include a variety of axes (Nos. 1 to 8), knives (Nos. 9 to 11), a socketed chisel (No. 12), a gouge (No. 18); three hammers, one with a square socket and a side loop (No. 13), another with a square perforation in the middle (No. 19), and the third shaped like the upper portion of a winged axe (No. 20); two sickles (Nos. 15 and 16), a star-like ornament (No. 14), pendants (Nos. 17 and 24), half of a mould for an axe (No. 22), and an ornamental object (No. 27). All the above are of bronze, and of the remaining objects, one (No. 23) is a trilocular dish of pottery, two are of bone (Nos. 25 and 26), and the last (No. 28) is a stone anvil set in a wooden casing. The handle of one of the swords is illustrated on =Fig. 186=, No. 3.

CORTAILLOD.--We next come to the neighbourhood of Cortaillod, where there were several settlements. From Mr. A. Vouga's admirable and concise notices (B. 393 and 414a) of the more recent discoveries, it appears that the principal station (Station Principale, marked a on the accompanying Sketch Map) was nearly opposite the village of Petit Cortaillod, and consisted of two portions--one, nearest the shore, furnishing relics of the Stone Age; and the other, those characteristic of the Bronze Age. A few hundred yards to the north there was another large Stone Age settlement (Station de la Fabrique, =b=), also with a Bronze Age portion on its outer or lake side. On the south side of the principal station there were observed two small groups of piles probably remains of embryonic stations which were never completed (_c_ and _d_). On one of these a remarkable wooden implement, supposed to be a pile-driver, was found, measuring 5 feet 4 inches in length (=Fig. 184=, No. 4).

The first exploration of the settlement commenced in the spring of 1858, when Mr. Troyon, after examining the stations near Yverdon, visited the locality and fished up five bracelets of bronze, together with some hair-pins and a few small rings, which are now in the Museum of Lausanne. Mr. Burki, of Petit Cortaillod, also found several bronze objects, some of which he sold to Agassiz.

These respective successes induced Col. Schwab and Prof. Desor to direct their attention to Cortaillod, who, in the course of a few years, made a collection of very remarkable objects. Among these the following are worthy of note:--a bronze wheel, 19¾ inches in diameter, with four spokes (=Fig. 10=, No. 17); the surplus jet of a bronze casting, broken off apparently after the operation was completed; several half-moon and other variously shaped pendants (Nos. 10, 12, and 21); bracelets (No. 14); a massive ring ornamented with concentric circles (No. 15); some large-headed pins, earrings (No. 7), studs (No. 22), hatchets, sickles, fish-hooks, beads of amber and glass, a spoon of terra-cotta, etc.; but the most novel were dishes, particularly a large plate ornamented with tin strips arranged in various patterns of lines, circles, and the Greek meander (=Fig. 193=, No. 2).

Of the four brothers Kopp, who worked for these antiquaries, one afterwards commenced on his own account and sold the finds, and in this way many of the relics went to other localities. In 1874 a necklace of bronze was found (=Fig. 10=, No. 3), which Mr. Vouga states is still in the possession of a gentleman at Auvernier.

In 1876 a fisherman found a sword, which he sold to the keeper of the Museum at Bale (No. 19).

Meantime the Stone Age portion of the principal station was little examined, as the relics were deeply buried. Here, however, were formerly found some iron objects of the La Tène type, viz. a sickle (B. 31, Pl. xiv. 20), and a stone anchor with iron hoops, now in the Museum Schwab. In 1878, when the Government drainage works began to tell on the lake, many articles were picked up. Thereupon Messrs. Vouga and F. Borel commenced systematic diggings, and this set an example to the authorities of the Museum of Colombier and the Société du Musée de Boudry, who likewise started operations with a gang of workmen. Among the objects collected up to 1883 Mr. Vouga particularises the following:--

_Stone._--A number of sharpening-stones of sandstone; a large hollow stone for bruising corn, measuring 1 foot 6 inches by 1 foot 9 inches, and 5½ inches in thickness, having a hollow 2½ inches in depth; some hundreds of hammer-stones, corn-crushers, etc.; portions of stone showing marks of having been sawn, and perforated net-weights; also spindle-whorls, an oval hammer of serpentine ornamented with chevrons; some perforated stone axes, etc.; about 1,200 plain axes, nearly a third of which were still in their horn fixtures. Most of these horn fixtures were inserted in wooden handles, but of course all traces of the latter were generally gone; only 12 nephrite implements were among them. About 1,500 chisels or small celts, only a few of which were of jadeite. One celt was of flint, a very rare thing in this district; and an arrow-point was of polished serpentine. Many thousands of implements of various coloured flints--saws, knives, scrapers, daggers, and arrow and lance-heads. The arrow-points were generally triangular without wings, and a few were lozenge-shaped. The largest flint dagger measures 9 inches in length (Museum Colombier); and some of the saws were still fixed in their handles with asphalt when found.

_Horn._--Some 3,000 fixtures for stone hatchets, of which about one-third were perfect. These implements are not bifurcated at their end, as is often the case with those found at Auvernier and elsewhere; and many are only partially made, so that one would suppose there had been here a factory for their special manufacture. There were also perforated hammers, and a great number of chisels, pointers, etc.; also some large plaques whose use is unknown. Out of twenty barbed harpoons one, 8½ inches long, has twelve barbs (No. 8), and one (now in the Museum Boudry) is unfinished. About a similar number of pendeloques or beads, and a few small objects like arrow-points.

_Bone._--A great number of pointers and chisels, some of which were inserted into handles; quantities of awls, lance-points, and javelins; thirty daggers; some twenty perforated teeth of the wolf or dog; fifty tusks of the wild boar worked, and some set in handles; bundles of pointed ribs (flax-heckles).

_Wood._--An oval cup of yew, 4 by 2¾ inches; others were found, but not preserved. A small hammer, and bits of basket-work.

_Metal._--A small round copper armlet, and a flat bronze axe with a round cutting edge.

_Pottery._--Fragments of a coarse ware, found everywhere and generally indicating roughly-made vessels; and a few perforated weights, cylindrical and round.

As the waters became lower, the bronze station became more accessible, and accordingly its investigation was begun by Messrs. Borel, of Boudry, and Kaiser, of Estavayer. Among the antiquities collected here are the following:--

_Bronze._--Several hatchets and knives; four razors, of different types (one hammered from the fragment of a bracelet); five sickles; a bracelet ornamented with lines and concentric circles, and another closed (No. 13), also ornamented; three small bracelets; some buttons, studs, etc.; the tip of a scabbard (No. 5); several lance-heads, one ornamented (No. 4); two fibulæ (No. 6); many hair-pins, several hundreds of fish-hooks; a necklet made of twenty bronze rings, connected by a chain of copper; and a cup, now in the collection of Dr. Gross (No. 20).

Among other relics were fragments of cups, vases, and other dishes of ornamented pottery, some twenty clay supports, and hundreds of spindle-whorls, etc. No. 11 represents a pendant, the substance of which no one can determine, as it is neither stone, bone, horn, nor pottery.

In the autumn of 1884 the water was unusually low, and the piles, being left high and dry, presented such a singular appearance that many visitors were attracted to see the novel sight. Many objects were then picked up. One bracelet, ornamented with concentric circles, was sold for eighty francs. Among the other objects described by Vouga are the following: A large fish-hook (No. 2), 4¾ inches long; a piece of wood surrounded by two bands of copper; a bronze pin with perforated head, and another with flat head; a small vase with four holes (No. 9), a small lamp with a handle like a spoon, and a bronze pendant formed of eleven massive rings (No. 1).

BEVAIX.--Several stations were known here at an early period, and some of the objects from them have been described by Troyon, Keller, and Desor. They consist of bronze celts (Nos. 16 and 18), sickles, hair-pins (Nos. 23 and 24), bracelets (No. 26), a razor (No. 25), clay rings, etc., which are now in the collections of Schwab, Desor, and others.

Since the lowering of the water in Lake Neuchâtel, the Messrs. Borel have systematically investigated and reported on the stations in the Bevaix district. (B. 445.) From La Tuilière to Treytel, a shore-line of about two miles, they describe seven separate localities containing stations, chiefly of the Stone Age. An excellent map accompanies their description; and had they added a few illustrations its value would have been greatly enhanced.

One of the greatest drawbacks to outsiders who wish to master the archæological results of the Swiss lacustrine investigations is the want of a correct map showing the area and distribution of the respective stations; and if this desideratum is ever to be supplied for those lakes that have come under the influence of the Correction des Eaux du Jura, there is no time to lose, as most of the stations are now on dry land and nearly obliterated by vegetation; and it is a work that can only be done by local archæologists, like the Messrs. Borel, who for years have had practical knowledge of the stations in their neighbourhood.

The accompanying Sketch Map (after that of Messrs. Borel) shows that, while the foundations of the two Bronze Age stations are still in the lake, all those of the Stone Age are entirely on dry land. This distinction was long ago pointed out by Desor and others, but it was only since the lowering of the lake that such a practical demonstration became possible.

The Messrs. Borel premise their acquiescence in the proposed subdivision of the lacustrine Stone Age into three periods, viz. a first or early period ("période d'établissement et de formation"), characterised by rudeness and simplicity of industrial remains; a second ("le bel âge de la pierre"), showing commercial and agricultural progress, and especially great skill in the manufacture of all manner of stone celts; and a third ("une période de transition"), which witnessed the introduction of metals among the lake-dwellers.

Typical examples of all these periods were found on the Bevaix district, as will be seen from the following notes, taken chiefly from the data supplied by the Messrs. Borel:--

(1) _Station de la Tuilière._--This settlement belonged to the earliest lacustrine period, and, being much exposed to the winds, appears to have been quickly abandoned. The piles are much decayed and difficult to find, and the relics are few in number, and of a primitive type. Only rude stone axes, a few weights, and flints of a dark colour, are recorded.

(2) _Station des Vaux._--Between La Tuilière to the Station des Vaux the promontory "Du Grain" intervenes, where, scattered on the shore on both sides of it, Roman tiles are met with. The remains of this pile-dwelling are situated near to a small spring of water, and directly below the rising ground, which is here covered with vines. The piles are disposed in two groups, and with scarcely an interval between them; but they represent two different periods of the Stone Age. The first or more eastern group stretches for 100 yards, with a breadth of 40 yards, parallel to the lake; and though farther within the old lake basin, it is considered by Messrs. Borel the older of the two, being contemporary with La Tuilière and the earliest lacustrine settlements in the lake. A steinberg of broken stones marks its centre, but its examination has yielded only a few small stone celts, arrow and spear-heads of dark flint, and some coarse pottery. Among the osseous remains are some jaws of the beaver.

The second group occupied a smaller area than the previous one, and contained no steinberg, but, on the other hand, a well-developed relic-bed, some 12 to 16 inches thick, which was productive of relics of a decidedly more advanced character, such as well-made implements of staghorn, including a variety of handles for stone celts. The most important discovery here was a human skull of the dolichocephalic type. (_Antiqua_, 1884, p. 106.) The most inland piles of this group were only about 30 yards from the vineyards, whereas the corresponding ones of the first group were 70 yards distant. The anomalous statement that the second or more advanced Stone Age settlement was situated in an outer zone from the earliest (a fact which applies to all those explored on the Bevaix coast), Messrs. Borel explain by supposing that the lake area was gradually increasing since the earlier settlements were founded. We shall afterwards see that this supposition is well founded, on evidence that by careful observation could be greatly multiplied.

(3) _Station de l'Abbaye._--A little farther on there is the site of another Stone Age station, presenting the same indications of an older and younger period, and also having the same relative position to each other as we have seen in the Stations des Vaux, viz. the older occupying a situation more advanced into the old lake basin. In front of these two stations, Des Vaux and De l'Abbaye, lie the remains of a large settlement of the Bronze Age, the piles of which, even when the lake is at its lowest, are still in several feet of water; it extends parallel to the shore, about 200 yards in length, and 160 in breadth. In addition to the relics found by the earlier explorers (Troyon, Desor, Vouga, Dr. Clement, etc.), and already noticed, the following bronze objects are recorded from the station, all of which are either in the private collection of the Messrs. Borel or in the scholastic museum at Bevaix:--

Six celts (one of which is socketed), portion of a sword scabbard, four chisels (some prettily ornamented), five sickles, twenty fish-hooks, three bracelets, two razors, 105 hair-pins (all sizes and forms), five pendeloques, two earrings, two buttons, two finger-rings, twelve large and 195 small rings, etc. Among the other finds are fragments of ornamented pottery, a clay support-ring, three glass beads, weights, sharpening stones, etc.

(4) _Station du Chatelard._--This station contained a steinberg covering an area of 3,000 or 4,000 square yards, and was joined to the shore by a tongue of land, on which a series of stepping-stones were placed. The relics discovered on its site include some 200 stone celts (ten of which are jade), forty staghorn handles and fixers for celts, chisels, stone hammers, flint implements, etc. The special characteristic of the station is the appearance of the following bronze objects among these relics of the Stone Age, viz. a small perforated plaque, two hair-pins, four small daggers, three flat celts. Mr. Borel states that other celts of this type were found, one being to his knowledge in the possession of Mr. Rousselet, and one in each of the Museums at Neuchâtel, Bern, and Zürich. One here figured (=Fig. 10=, No. 18) is from the Schwab Museum at Bienne. Hence this station belongs to the period of transition, and is in many respects comparable to the Station des Roseaux at Morges.

(5) _Station du Moulin._--Proceeding about 600 yards farther west we come to an isolated station of the Bronze Age, the piles of which are still over 50 yards from the present shore; and before the lowering of the water its site would be covered by about 16 feet of water. Owing to the scarcity of relics on this station, the duration of the settlement is supposed to have been short. Desor found here some ornamented specimens of the large hollow bracelet. Mr. Borel has only one small specimen and a portion of a large one of this type. The other objects of bronze are a couple of fish-hooks and a few pins and earrings. Fragments of pottery are, however, proportionally more abundant, among them being a vase, of elegant form, and polished exteriorly by graphite. To the east of this station a fine canoe was found in 1879, measuring 26 feet in length, now deposited in the Museum at Chaux de Fonds.[8]

(6) _Station du Port._--The remains of this small station, which are exclusively of the Stone Age, are distributed on both sides of a small stream which enters the ancient port of Bevaix. From the character of the relics the Messrs. Borel think that the portion on the east side belonged to the first lacustrine period, while that on the west was later. It would appear that the settlement had been dwarfed by the adjacent great palafitte at Treytel.

(7) _Station de Treytel._--This station presents a fine example of the second Stone Age period. Its _débris_ is found on the exposed shore, extending upwards of 300 yards in length, and covering an area of some 8,000 to 10,000 square yards. It was first examined in 1857 by M. Rousselet, who, notwithstanding its being then submerged, made the fine collection of objects from it now in the Museum at Neuchâtel. The flint implements are particularly well made, and the raw material, which shows a fine yellowish and partially transparent flint, is supposed to have been imported from Gaul. The horn handles and fixers for the stone celts are of varied forms, and there is also a rich assortment of other relics.

CHEZ LES MOINES.--Here there is a steinberg, but the antiquities found are unimportant, only a few staghorn implements and some stone celts. Fragments of Roman tiles were also found.

ST. AUBIN.--This station was near the shore, and contained a vast steinberg measuring 300 feet by 200. Its investigation was chiefly due to Dr. Clement, of St. Aubin, who made a splendid collection of its antiquities, which show that the settlement belonged almost exclusively to the Stone Age. Specially noteworthy among them are flint-saws in yew and staghorn handles; arrow-points, with portion of the shaft still attached with asphalt; a few beads--one of glass and two of amber; three small gold ornaments; perforated teeth of the bear and wolf or dog. Many of the objects from Dr. Clement's collection are illustrated in the second and third volumes of _Matériaux_, pages 511 and 259 respectively; as well as in Keller's reports. The horn fastenings are extremely varied, and those for celts, intended to be used with wooden handles, terminate either in a split or are squarely cut. The bone implements are particularly well made, and many of the pointers are fixed into handles. The arrow-points are also well chipped, and are of a longish or triangular shape. In the Zürich Museum there is a beautifully chipped dagger of flint, over nine inches in length, from this station. (See =Fig. 185=, Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9.)