9 - (9 -*--- j^r> Y <^^ -'--- Q^ H f i ^^^^6^^^^i b^r ITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY C ITY OF CALIFORNIA L > HE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY :v s' *8 | Jm>M>i>t^6; fc imr ~^u 1 1 1 SITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA a ^ p SITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA *r \ '/(<& w im m '<& Y 01 f Johf) L- uhhoc. AC, / s r PRE-HISTORIC TIMES, AS ILLUSTRATED BY ANCIENT REMAINS, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF MODERN SAVAGES. JOHN LUBBOCZ, F.K.S., VICB-PRESIDENT OF THE LINN^SAN SOCIETY; FELLOW OF THE GEOLOGICAL, ZOOLOGICAL, AND OTHER SOCIETIES; AND PRESIDENT OF THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY. WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COYENT GARDEN, LONDON; AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 1865. \_The Right of Translation is Reserved."] EARTH SCfffNCSg LIBRARY I'ALCONTOLOGV LIBKAR* Gift of C. A. Kofoid HERTFORD: PBINTBD BY STEPHEN AUSTIN. PREFACE. TN this book I present to the public some essays -*- on Pre-historic Archaeology, part of which have appeared in the " Natural History Keview/' viz., that on The Danish Shell-mounds, in October, 1861. The Swiss Lake-dwellings, in January, 1862. The Flint Implements of the Drift, in July, 1862. North American Archaeology, in January, 1863. Cave-men, in July, 1864. Messrs. Williams and Norgate suggested to me to republish these articles in a separate form, and I was further encouraged to do so, by the fact that most of them had re-appeared, either in France or America. The conductors of the " Annales des Sciences Na- turelles " did me the honor to translate those on the Danish Shell-mounds, and the Swiss Lake-dwellings. The latter also appeared in "Silliman's Journal;" and the article on American Archaeology, with the excep- tion of the last paragraph, was reprinted in the " Smith- sonian Eeport, for 1862." Tl PREFACE. At first I only contemplated reprinting the papers as they stood, but having, at the request of the managers, delivered at the Eoyal Institution a short course of lectures on the Antiquity of Man, it was thought desirable to introduce the substance of these, so as to give the work a more complete character. My object has been to elucidate, as far as possible, the principles of pre-historic archeology ; laying spe- cial stress upon the indications which it affords of the condition of man in primeval times. The tumuli, or burial mounds, the peat bogs of this and other coun- tries, the Kjokkenmoddings or shell -mounds of Denmark, the Lake-habitations of Switzerland, the bone-caves, and the river-drift gravels, are here our principal sources of information. In order to qualify myself, as far as possible, for the task which I have undertaken, I have visited not only our three great museums in London, Dublin, and Edinburgh, but also many on the Continent ; as, for instance, those at Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lund, Flensburg, Aarhuus, Lausanne, Basle, Berne, Zurich, Tverdon, Paris, Abbeville, etc., besides many private collections of great interest, of which I may particu- larly specify those of M. Boucher de Perthes, Messrs. Christy, Evans, Bateman, Forel, Schwab, Troyon, Gil- PREFACE. Vll lieron, Uhlmann, Desor, and lastly, the one recently made by MM. Christy and Lartet in the bone-caves of the Dordogne. Sometimes alone, and sometimes in company with Messrs. Prestwich and Evans, I have made numerous visits to the valley of the Somme, and have examined almost every gravel pit and section from Amiens down to the sea. In 1861, ^ith Mr. Busk, and again in 1863, I went to Denmark, in order to have the ad- vantage of seeing the Kjokkenmoddings themselves. Under the guidance of Professor Steenstrup I visited several of the most celebrated shell-mounds, particu- larly those at Havelse, Bilidt, Meilgaard, and Fanne- rup. I also made myself familiar with so much of the Danish language as was necessary to enable me to read the various reports drawn up by the Kjokkenmodding committee, consisting of Professors Steenstrup, Wor- saae, and Forchhammer. Last year I went to the north of Scotland, to examine some similar shell- mounds discovered by Dr. Gordon, of Birnie, on the shores of the Moray Firth, which appear, however, to belong to a much later period than those of Denmark. In 1862 M. Morlot very kindly devoted himself to me for nearly a month, during which time we not only visited the principal museums of Switzerland, but also Vlll PREFACE. several of the Lake-habitations themselves, and par- ticularly those at Merges, Thonon, Wauwyl, Moossee- dorf, and the Pont de Thiele. In addition to many minor excursions, I had, finally, last spring, the advantage of spending some time with Mr. Christy, among the celebrated bone-caves of the Dordogne. Thus by carefully examining the objects themselves, and the localities in which they have been found, I have endeavoured to obtain a more vivid and correct impression of the facts than books, or even museums, alone could have given. To the more strictly archaeological part of the work I have added a chapter on the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages, confining myself to those tribes which are still, or were, when first visited by travellers, ignorant of the use of metal, and which have been described by competent and trustworthy observers. This account, short and incomplete as it is, will be found, I think, to throw some light on the remains of savage life in ages long gone by. Fully satisfied that religion and science cannot in reality be at variance, I have striven in the present publication to follow out the rule laid down by the Bishop of London, in his excellent lecture delivered last year at Edinburgh, The man of science, says Dr. PREFACE. Tait, ought to go on, " honestly, patiently, diffidently, observing and storing np his observations, and carry- ing his reasonings unflinchingly to their legitimate conclusions, convinced that it would be treason to the majesty at once of science and of religion if he sought to help either by swerving ever so little from the straight rule of truth." * Ethnology, in fact, is passing at present through a phase from which other Sciences have safely emerged, and the new views with reference to the Antiquity of Man, though still looked upon with distrust and apprehension, will, I doubt not, in a few years, be regarded with as little disquietude as are now those discoveries in astronomy and geology, which at one time excited even greater opposition. I have great pleasure in expressing my gratitude to many archaeological friends for the liberal manner in which their museums have been thrown open to me, and for much valuable assistance in other ways. My sincere thanks are due to Professor Steenstrup for many of the figures by which the work is illustrated. Others, through the kindness of Sir W. E. "Wilde, Mr. Franks, and Dr. Thurnam, have * Lecture on Science and Eevelation, delivered at Edinburgh. See The Times> November 7th, 1864. X PREFACE. been placed at my disposal by the Society of Anti- quaries, and the Eoyal Irish Academy. To Professor Steenstrup, Dr. Keller, M. Morlot, and Professor Kutimeyer, I am indebted for much information on the subject of their respective investigations. Finally, Mr. Busk, Mr. Evans, and Professor Tyndall have had the great kindness to read many of my proofs, and I am indebted to them for various valuable suggestions. CHISELHTJRST, February, 1865. NOTE. In his celebrated work on the "Antiquity of Man," Sir Charles Lyell has made much use of my earlier articles in the " Natural History Review," frequently, indeed, extracting whole sentences verbatim, or nearly so. But as he has in these cases omitted to mention the source from which his quotations were derived, my readers might naturally think that I had taken very unjustifiable liberties with the work of the eminent geologist. A reference to the respective dates will, however, protect me from any such inference. The statement made by Sir Charles Lyell, in a note to page 11 of his work, that my article on the Danish Shell-mounds was published after his sheets were written, is an inadvertence, regretted, I have reason to believe, as much by its author as it is by me. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES, Division of Pre -historic archaeology into four periods First discovery of metal Copper Tin Iron Allusions to bronze by ancient writers Finds of the Iron age Tiefenau Nydam Thorsbjerg Finds of the Bronze age Bronze and iron arms not found together Objects characteristic of the Bronze age Bronze celts Modes of handling Bronze swords Bronze daggers, spear-heads, arrows, fish-hooks, sickles Bronze knives Kazor knives Bronze bracelets Bronze pins Gold ornaments Character of ornamentation Tumulus of Treenhoi Dress in the Bronze age Dress of a chief in the Bronze age Mode of burial. CHAPTER II. THE BRONZE AGE. Similarity of bronze implements in different countries Bronze implements not of Roman origin Referred by some archseologists to the Phoenicians Phoe- nician voyages Himilco Pytheas Thule supposed by Nilsson to be Norway Phoenician colonies and commerce Bronze composed of copper and tin Tin obtained from Cornwall Amber from German Ocean Baal worship in Northern Europe Question still doubtful Bronze age civilisation Bronze age archi- tecture Stonehenge Abury Silbury Hill more ancient than the Roman road Stone circles Stone circles, etc., in India Stone circles in Palestine and Algeria. CHAPTEE III. THE USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES. The great abundance of stone implements Stone used after discovery of metal -^Material preferred for stone implements Fracture of flint Flint flakes Stone hatchets Scrapers The small axes of the Shell-mounds Chisels Spear- heads Daggers Slingstones Arrow-heads Manufacture of flint implements Bone implements Danish coastfinds Flintfinds. Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IT. Pre -historic tumuli Tumuli mentioned in ancient history Resemblance between the chambered tumuli and the dwellings of some Arctic nations Objects buried with the dead not always intended for actual use Tabulated interments Models of implements sometimes buried Barrows of different periods Difficulty of determining the period to which a barrow belongs Statistics Treatment of the corpse Description of a Danish tumulus Of a barrow at West Kennet Stone implements and pottery from the tumuli at West Kennet Tumuli of modern savages Sepulchral pottery Bones of animals found in tumuli Sepulchral feasts Sacrifices Pre -historic races of men. CHAPTER Y. THE LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND. Lake -habitations mentioned by Herodotus Crannoges of Ireland Pile- dwellings in various parts of Europe Pile-dwellings still used in various coun- tries Pile-dwellings found in most of the Swiss lakes Structure of the huts Attempt to make a census Construction of the platforms Description of the remains at Wauwyl Weapons and implements of the lake -dwellers Axes Knives Arrow-heads Spindle -whorls Flint flakes, etc. Material used for stone implements Bone implements Pottery Manufactures of the Stone period Comparison of the piles belonging to the Stone and Bronze ages The fauna of the Swiss lake -dwellings Stag Boar Bull Goat Sheep Dog Table of the animal remains Birds Absence of the rat, mouse, and cat Comparison of bones belonging to wild and domesticated races Races of oxen Absence of extinct species The aurochs and elk, ibex and bear General character of the fauna The flpra of the Pfahlbauten Scarcity of human bones Lake -habita- tions of the Bronze age Objects of bronze Use of pile -buildings as magazines Sacred lakes Inhabitants of the Pfahlbauten Character of the objects found in different lake -villages Statistics Comparison of the different lake -villages Abandonment of the lake-villages Chronology. CHAPTER YI. THE DANISH KJoKKENMODDINGS OR SHELL-MOUNDS. Shell-mounds at first supposed to be raised beaches Description of the shell- mounds Distribution of the shell-mounds Shell-mounds in Scotland Shell- mounds in other countries Flora of the shell -mounds Fauna of the shell - mounds Fish Birds Mammals Absence of certain bones Mutilation of certain bones Shell-mound builders not mere summer visitors Flint imple- CONTENTS. Xlll ments from the shell-mounds Mode of life indicated by the shell-mounds The Fuegians The relation of the shell-mounds to the tumuli The opinions of Steenstrup and Worsaae The flint implements of the shell-mounds The scarcity of well-made flint implements in the shell-mounds Antiquity of the shell-mounds. CHAPTEE VII. NORTH AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. Bibliography Implements The use of copper Traces of ancient copper mines Pottery Ornaments Earthworks Defensive enclosures Sacred and Mis- cellaneous enclosures Earthworks in the Scioto valley Earthworks at Circle - ville Aztalan Modern earthworks Sepulchral mounds Ancient modes of burial Sacrificial mounds The contents of the sacrificial mounds The Grave Creek mound Temple mounds Animal mounds General appearance In- scriptions Wampum The mound -builders Gigantic earthworks Traces of ancient agriculture Antiquity of the ancient remains Condition of the bones American Forests Indication of four periods Man and the mastodon Dr. Douler's calculation. CHAPTEE VIII. CAVE-MEN. Cave -bear Cave -lion Mammoth and woolly-haired rhinoceros Irish elk Keindeer Aurochs Urus Value of cave-evidence Caves in the Dordogne Absence of domestic animals Flint implements Absence of polished imple- ments Rude drawings and sculptures Habits of the cave-dwellers The Belgian caves Kent's Hole Brixham Cave Sicilian caves Gibraltar Cave Aurignac Wokey Hole Cave-men. CHAPTEE IX. THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. M. Boucher de Perthes Messrs. Prestwich and Evans Specimen discovered in the last century Mr. Frere's discovery in 1800 Similar discoveries in other countries Scepticism of geologists The questions at issue Evidence derivable from the flints themselves The forgeries Peculiarities of the drift implements Drift implements never polished Absence of human bones Causes of the scarcity of human bones Contemporaneity of the mammalian remains The Somme valley St. Acheul Organic remains Mineralogical contents of the river-drift gravels Objections to the proposed theory Fauna of the river-drift gravels Climate of the river -drift period Modes of accounting for the change of climate Absence of marine remains Inapplicability of cataclysms Altera- tion of the river level owing to the excavation of the valley Loess Fauna of the low level gravels Peat Recapitulation Lapse of time. XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. ON THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN Continued. Varieties of man represented on ancient Egyptian sculptures The vegetation of Denmark The cone of the Tiniere The valley of the Thiele The valley of the Nile Mr. Horner's Egyptian researches The age of the Mississippi delta Geological changes in the Quaternary period The Wealden valley Time The Engis skull The Neanderthal skull Markings on bones from the Pliocene beds of St. Prest Miocene man. CHAPTER XL MODERN SAVAGES. Modern savages No evidence of degradation Hottentots : Dress ; houses ; implements; methods of killing game; metallurgy; character Veddahs of Ceylon Andaman Islanders Australians : Food ; clothing ; ornaments ; rafts ; imple- ments ; hammers ; knives ; spears ; throwing-stick ; boomerang ; fire ; polygamy ; superstition ; burial ; numbers Tasmanians Feegeeans : Food ; weapons ; houses ; religion ; canoes ; pottery ; games ; agriculture ; women ; clothes ; tattoo ; burial ; superstition ; cannibalism ; murder The Maories : Food ; dress ; ornaments ; houses ; fortifications ; weapons ; canoes ; burial ; music ; character ; religion; cannibalism Tahitians : Implements; fish-hooks; nets; baskets; mats ; cloth ; dress ; ornaments ; houses ; canoes ; music ; furniture ; weapons ; food; fire; cookery; ava; a chief's dinner; solitary meals; surgery; burial; burial-places ; religion ; character The Tongans. CHAPTER XII. MODERN SAVAGES Continued. The Esquimaux : Dwellings ; cookery ; food ; fire ; implements ; weapons ; bows and arrows ; spears ; harpoons ; modes of hunting and fishing ; sledges ; boats ; the kajak and umiak ; dress ; ornaments ; music ; games ; religion ; burial ; character North American Indians : Dress ; ornaments ; the practice of head- moulding ; religion ; marriage ; character ; cruelty ; infanticide ; implements ; weapons; canoes; fire; dwellings; agriculture; food; burial The Paraguay Indians : Weapons ; huts ; habits ; religion ; infanticide Patagonians : Huts ; dress ; weapons ; food ; burial ; religion Fuegians : Appearance ; food and habits ; cannibalism ; absence of religion ; ignorance of pottery ; dress ; fire. CHAPTER XIII. MODERN SAVAGES Conclusion. The sHlfulness of savages Arrows Harpoons Needles Art Statues Differences in the Stone age Different lines of civilisation Differences in wea- pons Isolation of savages Independent inventions Differences in habits CONTENTS. XV Different uses of the dog Fire Different methods of burial Curious customs Differences in prevalent sounds Different ideas of virtue Deification of white men by savages Social position of women Savages and children Moral in- feriority of savages Intellectual inferiority of savages Deficiencies in numera- tion Absence of religion among many savage tribes Belief in witchcraft General inferiority of Savages. CHAPTEE XIV. CONCLUDING REMARKS. The primitive condition of man Unity of the human race Natural selection applied to man The influence of mind Increase of happiness indicated by increase of numbers Sufferings of savages Self-inflicted sufferings The blessings of civilisation The diminution of suffering The diminution of sin The advantages of science The future. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGUEES. 1. Copper? celt from Waterford. It is 6 inches long, 3f wide at the broader end, and If at the smaller, which is about l-16th thick. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 363. 2. Winged celt, or Paalstave, from Ireland. The stops are but slightly developed. Cat. of Eoyal Irish Academy, page 373. 3. Socketed celt from Ireland, one -third of the actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 385. 4-6. The three principal types of celts, and the manner in which they are supposed to have been handled. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 367. 7. Copper ? celt from Ireland, one-half of the actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 363. 8. Half of a celt mould from Ireland. It is of mica slate, 6f inches long, 4 wide, and presents upon the surface the apertures by which it was adjusted to the other half. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 91. 9. Decorated celt from Ireland. It is 8| inches long, 4 wide at the blade end, and half an inch thick. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 365. 10. Simple celt from Denmark, one -third of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 178. 11. Ornamented celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 179. 12. Socketed celt from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 195. 13. Iron sword from a cemetery at Brighthampton in Oxfordshire, one-eighth of the actual size. Archaeologia, vol. xxxviii., pi. 2, fig. 1. 14. Sword from Ireland. It is 23| inches long, If wide in the centre of the blade, which is margined by a grooved feather edge. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 444. 15. Sword from Sweden, one -fourth of the actual size. Nilsson's Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-invanare, pi. 1, fig. 7. 16. Sword from Switzerland, one -fifth of the actual size. In the museum of Col. Schwab. Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xii. H. 3. 17. Sword from Concise on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-fourth of actual size. In the museum of Col. Schwab. Mitt. Ant. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. H. 3. 18. Sword from Scandinavia. Atlas for Nordisk Oldkyndighed, pi. iv., fig. 42. 19. Sword from Denmark, found in the Treenhoi tumulus. Afb. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmserker, H. 5. XV111 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. 20. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 121. 21. Sword from Denmark, one-sixth of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 123. 22. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one fourth of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobehavn. No. 128. 23. Hilt of sword from Denmark, one-fourth of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 127. 24. Bronze dagger blade from Ireland. It is lOf inches long, by 2f wide. The four rivets by which it was fastened to the handle are still in situ. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 448. 25. Bronze dagger from Ireland, two-thirds of the actual size. Cat. Royal Irish Academy, page 458. 26. Bronze dagger blade from Ireland, one -third of the actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 463. 27. Bronze spear-head from Ireland. It is 11| inches long by 1^ broad. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 499. 28. Bronze spear-head from Ireland. It is 13 inches long by 2$ broad. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 496. 29. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 167. 30. Bronze knife from Denmark, one-third of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 169. 31. Bronze knife from Denmark, one -third of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 166. 32. Bronze knife from the Lake -village at Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuf- chatel, one -half of the actual size. Keller. Mit. der Antiq. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, H. 3, pi. v. fig. 19. 33. Bronze knife from the Lake -village at Estavayer, on the Lake of Neuf- chatel, one -half of the actual size. Keller. Mit der Antiq. Ges. in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, H. 3, pi. v. fig. 20. 34. Razor-knife from Denmark, one half of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 173. 35. Razor-knife from Denmark, one -half of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 172. 36. Razor-knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 171. 37. Razor-knife from Denmark, one-half of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 175. 38. Small bronze knife in a leather case, from Denmark, two-thirds of the actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 164. 39. Bronze knife, actual size. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. No. 170. 40. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod on the Lake of Neufchatel, one -third of the actual size. Troyon's Habitations Lacustres, pi. xi., fig. 28. 41. Bronze bracelet from Cortaillod on the Lake of Neufchatel, one-third of the actual size. Troyon, I.e. pi. xi., fig. 18. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XIX 42-45. Bronze hair-pins from the Swiss Lakes, one-half of the actual size. Keller, I.e. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3. 46. Bronze awl from the Swiss Lakes, actual size. Keller, I.e. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3. 47. Bronze needle, actual size. Keller, I.e. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3. 48. Bronze stud, one-half of the actual size. Keller, I.e. Zweiter Bericht, pi. 3. 49. Gold torque, consisting of a simple flat strip or band of gold, loosely twisted, and having expanded extremities which loop into one another. It measures 5J inches across, and was found near Clonmacnoise, in Ireland. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 74. 50. Gold fibula, one-half of the actual size. The hoop is very slender, the cups deep and conical. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 56. 51. Smooth, massive cylindrical gold ring, with ornamented ends, one -half of the actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 52. 52. Gold fibula, one-third of the actual size. The external surfaces of the cups are decorated with circular indentations surrounding a central indented spot. There is also an elegant pattern where the handle joins the cups. It is 8f inches long, and weighs 33 ounces, being the heaviest now known to exist. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 60. 53. Woollen cap, one -third of the actual size. Found with the bronze sword, fig. 19, in a Danish tumulus. Af b. af. Danske Oldsager og Mindesmaerker. Madsen, H. 5. 54. Another woollen cap, one -third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 55. A small comb, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 56. A woollen cape, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 57. A woollen shirt, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 58. A woollen shawl, one -third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 59. A pair of leggings, one-third of the actual size. Found with the preceding. 60. Staigue Fort, in the County of Kerry. From a model in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. 61. Flint core or nucleus from which flakes have been struck. Jutland. One- half of the actual size. In my own collection. 62-4. Three views of a flint flake from a Kjokkenmodding at Fannerup in Jutland, one-half of the actual size, a represents the bulb of percussion, which is also shown by the shading in fig. 68. In my own collection. 65. Arrow-shaped flake from Ireland. It is worked up at the butt end, as if intended for a handle. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 72. 66-68. Flakes from a Danish shell-mound, actual size. In my own collection. 69. Minute flint flake from Denmark, actual size. In my own collection. 70. Sections of flakes, a is that of a simple triangular flake ; b is that of a large flat flake split off the angle from which the smaller flake a had been previously taken. Consequently the section is four-sided. XX DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. 71. Stone celt or hatchet. It is formed of felstone, is 5f inches long and 2 broad, Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 41. 72. Stone celt or hatchet, actual size. Found in the River Shannon. One of the smallest yet found in Ireland. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 45. 73. Stone celt with a wooden handle. Found in the county of Monaghan. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 46. 74. Skin scraper from Bourdeilles in the south of France, actual size. Found by me. 75. Ditto, under side. 76-78. Skin scraper used by the modern Esquimaux of the Polar basin within Behring's Straits, actual size. It was fastened into a handle of fossil ivory. In the collection of Mr. H. Christy. 79. Flint adze from the shell-mound at Meilgaard in Jutland, actual size. Upper surface. In my own collection. 80. Ditto, under surface. 81. Ditto, side view. 82. Modern New Zealand adze, actual size. Upper surface. In the British Museum. 83. Ditto, under surface. 84. Ditto, side view. The New Zealand adze is partially polished ; this is not the case with the Danish adze, because flint naturally breaks with a smooth surface. The projection a, in fig. 81 is accidental and owing to some flaw in the flint. They generally have the under side as flat as in fig. 83. 85. Hollow chisel from Denmark. 86. Spear-head from Denmark. 87. Flint dagger, one -half of the actual size. This beautiful specimen was found in a large tumulus with a second imperfect dagger, a rude flint core, an imperfect, crescent- shaped knife, one or two flakes, two amber beads, and some bits of pottery. Denmark. In my own collection. 88. A second form of flint dagger. Also from Denmark. 89. Oval toolstone. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 94. 90. Triangular flint arrow-head, actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 19. 91. Indented flint arrow-head, actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 20. 92. Barbed flint arrow-head, actual size. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 22. 93. Leaf-shaped flint arrow-head, actual size. Showing the gradual passage into the spear -head. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, page 22. 94. Bone pin or awl from Scotland, actual size. 95. Bone harpoon, actual size. Afb. af. Danske Old og Mindesmserker, 5 Heft. 96. A tumulus of the Stone age at Roddinge in Denmark. It contains two chambers. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. PI. 4. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XXI 97. Ground plan of ditto. 98. Section of ditto. 99. Cromlech. Denmark. ISTordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn, PI. 1. 100. Tumulus. Nordiske Oldsager i det Kong. Mus. i Kjobenhavn. PL 2. 101. Ground plan of a sepulchral chamber in a large tumulus on the Island of Moen. Ann. for Nordiske Old Kyndighed, 1858, p. 204. 102. Brachycephalic skull from the above tumulus, one-quarter of the natural size. 103. Ditto, side view. I am indebted for these two drawings to the kindness of my friend Mr. Busk. 104. Interior of the sepulchral chamber in the long barrow near West Kennet in Wiltshire. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 105. Flint scraper from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 106. Flint scraper from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 107. Flint flake from the above tumulus, two- thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 108. Flint implement from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 109. Fragment of pottery from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 110. Fragment of pottery from the above tumulus, actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 111-113. Fragments of pottery from the above tumulus, two-thirds of the actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 114. Fragment of pottery, actual size. Archseologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. 115. Urn from Flaxdale barrow. The original is 14 inches in height. Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 280. 116. 117. Yases from Arbor Low in Derbyshire. Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 283. 118. Drinking cup from Green Low. Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. 286. 119. Crannoge in Ardakillin Lough, near Stokestown, County of Roscommon. It is constructed of stones and oak-piling. The top line shows the former highest water level, the second that of the ordinary winter flood, the third the summer level. Cat. of Royal Irish Academy, p. 226. 120. Swiss axe of serpentine, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of Constance. In my own collection. 121. Spindle -whorl, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of Constance. In my own collection. 122. Bone chisel ?, actual size. From Wangen on the Lake of Constance. In my own collection. XX11 DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. 123. Piece of tissue, actual size. From Robenhausen. In my own collection. 124. Bronze pin, actual size. Found in a shell-mound near Elgin, and now in the museum at that place. 125. Flint awl from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae. 126. Lance-head ? from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae. 127. Lance head ? from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae. 128. Lance-head P from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae. 129. Rude flint axe from Denmark, actual size. After Worsaae. 130. Flat stone implement of uncertain use, actual size. 1?rom the Cave at La Madelaine. 131. Stone implement, resembling in some respects those characteristic of the drift gravels, actual size. From Moustier. 132. Ditto seen from the other side. 133. Ditto, side view. 134. Poniard of reindeer horn. From the Cave at Laugerie Basse. 135. Rude flint spear-head from the drift gravel at Hoxne, one-half actual size. After Frere. Archseologia, 1800, pi. xiv. 136. Ditto, side view. 137. Another specimen. After Frere. Archseologia, 1800, pi. xv. 138. Ditto, side view. 139. Section across the Valley of the Somme at Abbeville, after Prestwich ; the length is reduced to one -third. 140. Section at St. Acheul near Amiens. a. Brick earth with a few angular flints. b. Red angular gravel. c. Marly sand, with land and freshwater shells. d. Grey subangular gravel, in which the flint implements are found. e. Coffin. /. Tomb. 141. Section taken in a pit close to the Joinville station. b. Red angular gravel, containing a very large sandstone block. d. Grey subangular gravel. 142. Diagram to illustrate deposit of loess and gravel. a'. Loess corresponding to and contemporaneous with the gravel a. b'. Loess. c'. Loess. 1. Level of valley at period a. 2. Level of valley at period b. 3. Level of valley at present. 143. The Engis skull, viewed from above. 144. Ditto, viewed from the front. Huxley's Man's Place in Nature, p. 126. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES. XX111 145. The Neanderthal skull, seen from the side, one-half of the natural size. 146. Ditto, seen from the side, natural size. 147. Ditto, seen from above, natural size. Huxley's Man's Place in Nature, page 139. The outlines from camera lucida drawings by Mr. Busk ; the details from the cast and from Dr. Fuhlrott's photographs, a glabella ; b occipital protuberance ; d lambdoidal suture. 148. Australian boomerang, one-sixth of the actual size. 149. Australian club, one-fifth of the actual size. 150. New Zealand patoo patoo, one-fourth of the actual size. 151. Stone axe with wooden handle, one-fourth of the actual size. 152. South Sea fish-hook, one -half of the actual size. 153. Esquimaux arrow-head, actual size. 154. Esquimaux spear-head, actual size. 155. Esquimaux bone harpoon, one -third of the actual size. 156. Fuegian harpoon, one -half of the actual size. DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. The three great tumuli at Upsala, popularly supposed to be those of Odin, Thor, and Freya. (Frontispiece.} Diagram of Abury. (To face page 53.} PLATE I. (To face page 60.J Fig. 1. A flint axe from a tumulus, one -third of the actual size. 2. Another form of stone axe, with a hole for a handle, one -third of the actual size. 3. A flint saw, one -half of the actual size. 4. A flint sword, one-sixth of the actual size. 5. A flint chisel, one -half of the actual size. 6. One of the "cores" from which the flint flakes are splintered, one -half of the actual size. 7. One of the flakes, one -half of the actual size. 8. 9. Eude axes from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one-half of the actual size. 10. Flint axe from drift at Moulin Quignon, near Abbeville, one-half of the actual size. 11. Flint axe from Abbeville, showing that the part stained white is parallel to the present surfaces, and that the weathering has taken place since the flint was worked into its present shape, one -half of the actual size. 12. Sling-stone from the Kjokkenmodding at Havelse, one -half of the actual size. PLATE II. (To face page 268.; A flint implement found near Abbeville, slightly reduced. The artist has been so careful to present a faithful image of this specimen, that he has even copied exactly my rough memorandum as to the place and date of its discovery. PRE-HISTORIC TIMES. CHAPTER I. ON THE USE OF BRONZE IN ANCIENT TIMES. rE first appearance of man in Europe dates back to a period so remote, that neither history, nor even tra- dition, can throw any light on his origin, or mode of life. Under these circumstances, some have assumed the past to be hidden from the present by a veil, which time would probably thicken, but could never remove. Thus, the me- morials of antiquity have been valued as monuments of ancient skill and perseverance, but it has not been supposed that they could be regarded as pages of ancient history ; they have been recognized as interesting vignettes, not as historical pictures. Some writers have assured us that, in the words of Palgrave, "We must give it up, that speech- less past ; whether fact or chronology, doctrine or mythology ; whether in Europe, Asia, Africa or America; at Thebes or Palenque, on Lycian shore or Salisbury Plain : lost is lost ; gone is gone for ever." While if others, more hopefully, have endeavoured to reconstruct the story of the past, they have too often allowed imagination to usurp the place of research, and written rather in the spirit of the novelist, than in that of the philosopher. But of late years a new branch of knowledge has arisen ; 1 xJ DIVISION OF PRE-HISTORIC a new Science has, so to say, been born among us, which deals with times and events far more ancient than any of those which have yet fallen within the province of the archaeologist. The geologist reckons not by days or by years; the whole six thousand years, which were until lately looked on as the sum of the world's age, are to him but as a unit of measure- ment in the long succession of past ages. Our knowledge of geology is, of course, very incomplete ; on some points we shall no doubt see reason to change our opinion, but on the whole, the conclusions to which it points are as definite as those of zoology, chemistry, or any of the kindred sciences. Nor does there appear to be any reason why the methods of examination, which have proved so successful in geology, should not also be used to throw light on the history of man in pre-historic times. Archaeology forms, in fact, the link between geology and history. It is true that in the case of other animals we can, from their bones and teeth, form a defi- nite idea of their habits and mode of life, while in the present state of our knowledge the skeleton of a savage could not always be distinguished from that of a philosopher. But on the other hand, while extinct animals leave only teeth and bones behind them, the men of past ages are to be studied principally by their works ; houses for the living, tombs for the dead, fortifications for defence, temples for worship, im- plements for use, ornaments for decoration. From the careful study of the remains which have come down to us, it would appear that Pre-historic Archaeology may be divided into four great epochs. Firstly, that of the Drift ; when man shared the possession of Europe with the Mammoth, the Cave bear, the Woolly- haired rhinoceros, and other extinct .animals. This we may call the " Palaeolithic " period. Secondly, The later or polished Stone age; a period characterized by beautiful weapons and instruments made ARCHAEOLOGY INTO FOUR PERIODS. 6 of flint and other kinds of stone, in which, however, we find no trace of the knowledge of any metal, excepting gold, which seems to have been sometimes used for ornaments. This we may call the " Neolithic " period. Thirdly, The Bronze age, in which bronze was used for arms and cutting instruments of all kinds. Fourthly, The Iron age, in which that metal had super- seded bronze for arms, axes, knives, etc. ; bronze, however, still being in common use for ornaments, and frequently also for the handles of swords and other arms, but never for . the blades. Stone weapons, however, of many kinds were still in use during the age of Bronze, and even during that of Iron. So that the mere presence of a few stone im- plements is not in itself sufficient evidence, that any given "find" belongs to the Stone age. In order to prevent misapprehension, it may be well to state, at once, that, for the present, I only apply this classifi- cation to Europe, though, in all probability, it might be extended also to the neighbouring parts of Asia and Africa. As regards other civilized countries, China and Japan for instance, we, as yet, know nothing of their pre-historic archaeology. It is evident, also, that some nations, such as the Fuegians, Andamaners, etc., are even now only in an age of Stone. But even in this limited sense, the above classification has not met with general acceptance ; there are still some archaeo- logists who believe that the arms and implements of stone, bronze, and iron were used contemporaneously. Leaving the consideration -of the Stone age for future chapters, I shall endeavour in the present one to show that, as regards Europe, the bronze arms and implements charac- terise a particular period, and belong to a time anterior to the discovery, or at least to the common use, of iron. In support of this we may appeal, firstly, to the testimony of 4 FIRST DISCOVERY OF METAL. the most ancient writers ; and secondly, to the evidence of the objects themselves. In fact, the weapons of bronze, and especially the swords and celts, are, not only in form, but also in ornamentation very similar all over Europe, and very different from those of iron. And, though there are many cases, in which quan- tities of arms have been found together, there is scarcely an instance on record, in which any of these " finds " has com- prised objects of the two classes. For instance, at Nidau in the Lake of Bienne, Col. Schwab has obtained more than two thousand objects of metal from the site of an ancient Lake- village ; these were almost all of bronze, only three fragments of iron having been met with, and even these being probably modern. On the contrary, at Tiefenau, near Berne, where a large number of iron arms were discovered, including no less than a hundred swords, not a single weapon of bronze was found. It is probable that gold was the metal which first attracted the attention of man ; it is found in many rivers, and by its bright color would certainly attract even the rudest savages, who are known to be very fond of personal deco- ration. Silver does not appear to have been discovered until long after gold, and was apparently preceded by both copper and tin, as it is rarely, if ever,* found in tumuli of the Bronze age ; but, however this may be, copper seems to have been the metal which first became of real importance to man : no doubt owing to the fact that its ores are abundant in many countries, and can be smelted without difficulty; and that, while iron is hardly ever found except in the form of ore, copper often occurs in a native condition, and can be beaten at once into shape. Thus, for instance, the North American Indians obtained pure copper from the mines near * Horse ferales, p. 60. COPPER. TIN. IRON. O Lake Superior and elsewhere, and hammered it at once into axes, bracelets, and other objects. Tin also early attracted notice, probably on account of the great heaviness of its ores. When metals were very scarce, it would naturally sometimes happen that, in order to make up the necessary quantity, some tin would be added to copper, or vice versa. It would then be found that the properties of the alloy were quite different from those of either metal, and a very few experiments would determine the most advan- tageous proportions, which are about nine parts of copper to one part of tin. No implements or weapons of tin, have yet been found in Europe, and those of copper are extremely rare, whence it has been inferred that the advantage of com- bining the two metals was known elsewhere, before the use of either was introduced into Europe. Many of the so-called "copper axes," etc., contain a small proportion of tin ; and the few exceptions indicate probably a mere temporary want, rather than a total ignorance of this metal. The ores of iron, though more abundant, are much less striking than those of copper or tin. Moreover, though they are perhaps more easily reduced, the metal, when obtained, is much less tractable than bronze. This valuable alloy can very easily be cast, and, in fact, all the weapons and imple- ments made of it in olden times, were cast in moulds of sand or stone. The art of casting iron, on the other hand, was unknown until a comparatively late period. In the writings of the early poets, iron is frequently charac- terised by the epithet TroXvAy^To?, and its adjective, a-i&tfpeos, is used metaphorically to imply the greatest stubbornness. While, however, these facts tend very much to remove the d priori improbability that a compound and comparatively expensive material like bronze, should have been in general use before such a common metal as iron, we must, of course, seek elsewhere for evidence of the fact. 6 ALLUSIONS TO BRONZE BY ANCIENT WRITERS. Hesiod, who is supposed to have lived about 900 B.C., and who is the earliest European author whose works have come down to us, distinctly states that iron was discovered after copper and tin. Speaking of those who were ancient, even in his day, he says that they used bronze, and not iron. ^d\Kea /j,ev rev^ea. %a\Keoi, Se re olxoi 8' elpyd&vro ; //,eAa9 Vov^ ecr/ce (rlSrjpos. His poems, as well as those of Homer, show that nearly three thousand years ago, the value of iron was known and appre- ciated. It is true that, as we read in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, bronze " is represented in the Iliad and Odyssey as the common material of arms, in- struments, and vessels of various sorts; the latter (iron) is mentioned much more rarely." While, however, the above statement is strictly correct, we must remember that among the Greeks the word iron (a&rjpos) was used, even in the time of Homer, as synonymous with a sword, and that steel also appears to have been known to them under the name of aSa/xa9, and perhaps also of icvavos, as early as the time of Hesiod. We may, therefore, consider that the Trojan war took place during the period of transition from the Bronze to the Iron age. Lucretius distinctly mentions the three ages. He says Anna antiqua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerunt Et lapides, et item sylvarum fragmina rami, Posterius ferri vis est, serisque reperta, Sed prior sens erat, quam ferri cognitus usus.* Coming down to more modern times, Eccardf in 1750, and Goguet in 1758,J mention the three later ages in plain terms, and the same idea runs through Borlase's History of * V. 1282. Arts et des Sciences. See Ch. iv. and t Eccard. De origine et moribus the preface. Germanorum. See Rhind in Arch. Ins. Jour. V. { Goguet. De 1' origine des Lois, de xiii. FINDS OF THE IRON AGE. 7 Cornwall. Sir Richard Colt Hoare also expresses the opinion that instruments of iron " denote a much later period " than those of bronze ; but M. Thomsen, the founder of the great museum at Copenhagen, was the first to apply these observa- tions as the basis of a scientific chronology. The date of the introduction of iron into the North of Europe cannot at present be satisfactorily ascertained ; never- theless it is most likely that the use of this metal spread rapidly through Europe. Not only does it seem a priori probable that such an important discovery would do so, but it is evident that the same commercial organisation which had already carried the tin of Cornwall all over our con- tinent, would equally facilitate the transmission of iron, as soon as that even more useful metal was discovered and rendered available. However this may be, when the armies of Rome brought the civilisation of the South into contact with that of the North, they found the value of iron already well known to their new enemies ; the excellence of whose weapons indicated very considerable progress in the art of metallurgy. Nor is there any reason to suppose that arms of bronze were at that time still in use in the North, for, had this been so, it would certainly have been mentioned by the Roman writers; while the description given by Tacitus of the Caledonian weapons shows that bronze swords were no longer used in Scotland, at the time he wrote. Moreover, there are several cases in which large quantities of arms be- longing to the Roman period have been found together, and in which the arms and implements are all of iron. This argu- ment is in its very nature cumulative, and cannot therefore be fully developed here, but, out of many, I will mention a few cases in illustration. Some years ago, an old battle-field was discovered at Tiefenau, near Berne, and described by M. Jahn. On it were found a great number of objects made of iron ; such as 8 TIEFENAU. fragments of chariots, bits for horses, wheels, pieces of coats of mail, and arms of various sorts, including no less than a hundred two-handed swords. All of these were made of iron, but with them were several fibulao of bronze, and some coins, of which about thirty were of bronze, struck at Mar- seilles, and presenting a head of Apollo on one side and a bull on the other y both good specimens of Greek art. The rest were silver pieces, also struck at Marseilles. These coins, and the absence of any trace of Roman influence, sufficiently indicate the antiquity of these interesting remains. Some very interesting " finds " of articles belonging to the Iron age have been made in the peat bogs of Slesvick, and described by M. Engelhardt, Curator of the Museum at Flensborg. One of these, in the Moss of Nydam, comprises clothes, sandals, brooches, tweezers, beads, helmets, shields, shield bosses, breastplates, coats of mail, buckles, swordbelts, sword sheaths, 8ft swords, 500 spears, 30 axes, 40 awls, 160 arrows, 80 knives, various articles of horse gear, wooden rakes, mallets, vessels, wheels, pottery, coins, etc. Without a single exception, all the weapons and cutting implements are made of iron, though bronze was freely used for brooches and other similar articles.* In the summer of 1862, M. Engelhardt found in the same field a ship, or rather a large flat-bottomed boat, seventy feet in length, three feet deep in the middle, and eight or nine feet wide. The sides are of oak boards, overlapping one another, and fastened together by iron bolts. On the inner side of each board are several projections, which are not made from separate pieces, but were left when the boards were cut out of the solid timber. Each of these projections has two small holes, through which ropes, made of the inner bark of trees, * See Lubbock in Nat. His. Rev. Oct. Runic characters. I had the pleasure of 1863, and Stephens in Gent. Mag. Dec. visiting this interesting spot with M. 1863. On one of the arrows were some Engelhardt in 1862. NYDAM. 9 were passed, in order to fasten the sides of the boat to the ribs. The rowlocks are formed by a projecting horn of wood, under which is an orifice, so that a rope, fastened to the horn and passing through the orifice, leaves a space through which the oar played. There appear to have been about fifty pairs of oars, of which sixteen have already been discovered. The bottom of the boat was covered by matting. I visited the spot about a week after the boat had been discovered, but was unable to see much of it, as it had been taken to pieces, and the boards, etc., were covered over with straw and peat, that they might dry slowly. In this manner, M. Engelhardt hopes that they will perhaps, at least in part, retain their original shape. The freight of the boat consisted of iron axes, including a socketed celt with its handle, swords, lances, knives, brooches, whetstones, wooden vessels, and, oddly enough, two birch brooms, with many smaller articles. Only those, however, have yet been found which remained actually in the boat; and, as in sinking it turned partly over on its side, no doubt many more articles will reward the further explorations which M. Engelhardt proposes to make. It is evident, that this ancient boat was sunk on purpose, because there is a square hole about six inches in diameter hewn out of the bottom; and it is probable, that in some time of panic or danger the objects contained in it were thus hidden by their owner, who was never able to recover them. Even in recent times of disturbance, as, for instance, in the beginning of this century, and in 1848, many arms, ornaments, household utensils, etc., were so effec- tually hidden in the lakes and peat mosses, that they could never be found again. Much interest is added to this vessel and its contents, by the fact, that we can fix almost their exact date. The boat lies, as I have already mentioned, within a few yards of the spot where the previous discoveries at Nydam were made, and as all the arms and ornaments 10 THOKSBJERG. exactly correspond, there can be little doubt that they belong to the same period. Now the previous collection included nearly fifty Roman coins, ranging in date from A.D. 67 to 217, and we cannot therefore be far wrong in referring these remains to the third century. A very similar discovery has been made at Thorsbjerg in the same neighbourhood, but in this case, owing to some chemical difference in the peat, the iron has been almost entirely removed. It may naturally be asked why then this should be quoted as an instance of the Iron age ? And the answer seems quite satisfactory. All the swords, lance- heads and axe-blades have disappeared, while the handles of bronze or wood are perfectly preserved, and as the orna- ments and other objects of bronze are well preserved, it is evident that the swords, etc., were not of that metal ; and it is therefore reasonable to conclude that they were of iron, more especially as the whole character of the objects resem- bles that of those found at Nydam, and the coins, which are about as numerous as those from the latter place, range from 60 A.D. to 197 ; so that these two great " finds " may be re- garded as almost contemporaneous. Not only are bronze weapons altogether absent from these deposits, but their forms and the character of the ornamen- tation are very different from those of the Bronze age; resembling in some respects Roman arms, in others they are quite peculiar, and evidently representative of northern art. From these and similar discoveries, it appears evident that the use of bronze weapons had been discontinued in the North before, probably long before, the commence- ment of our era. From the ease with which it could be worked, this metal was still used for brooches and orna- ments ; but in the manufacture of swords, lances, axes and similar implements, it had been entirely superseded by iron. FINDS OF THE BRONZE AGE. 11 There are many cases on record of iron swords with bronze handles or scabbards, but scarcely any instances of the reverse. Conversely, as bronze weapons are entirely absent from the great " finds" of the Iron age, so iron weapons are equally wanting in those instances where, as for instance at Nidau, on the Lake of Bienne, and Estavayer, on that of Neufchatel, large quantities of bronze tools and weapons have been found together. To sum up this argument, though the discoveries of bronze and iron weapons have been very numerous, yet there is hardly a single case in which swords, axes, daggers, or other weapons of these two different metals, have been found to- gether ; nor are bronze weapons ever found associated with coins, pottery, or other relics of Roman origin. The value of this evidence will better be appreciated after reading the fol- lowing extract from Mr. Wright's Essays on Archaeology : * "All the sites of ruined Roman towns with which I am acquainted present to the excavator a numerous collection of objects, ranging through a period which ends abruptly with what we call the close of the Roman period, and attended with circumstances which cannot leave any doubt that this was the period of destruction. Otherwise, surely we should find some objects which would remind us of the subsequent periods. I will only mention one class of articles which are generally found in considerable numbers, the coins. "We in- variably find these presenting a more or less complete series of Roman coins, ending at latest with the Emperors who reigned in the first half of the fifth century. This is not the case with Roman towns which have continued to exist after that period, for then, on the contrary, we find relics which speak of the subsequent inhabitants, early Saxon and Mediaeval. I will only, for want of space, give one example, * Essays on Archaeology, p. 105. 12 BRONZE AND IRON ARMS NEVER FOUND TOGETHER. that of Richborough in Kent. The town of Rutupiae seems to have capitulated with the Saxon invaders, and to have continued until its inhabitants, in consequence of the retreat of the sea, gradually abandoned it to establish themselves at Sandwich. Now the coins found at Richborough do not end with those of the Roman emperors, but we find, first, a great quantity of those singular little coins which are . generally known by the name of minimi, and which, presenting very bad imitations of the Roman coinage, are considered as be- longing to the age immediately following the Roman period, and preceding that of the Saxon coinage/' We may assume, then, on the authority of Mr. Wright himself, that if all these bronze arms were really of Roman origin, many of them would have been found from time to time in conjunction with other Roman remains. Yet Mr. Wright himself has only been able to give me one doubtful instance of this kind.* I may also add that the Romans used " ferrum " either to mean "iron," or a sword, showing that their swords were made of that metal; and that bronze weapons are particu- larly numerous in some countries to which the Roman armies never penetrated ; such, for instance, as Ireland and Denmark. Nor does there appear to be any subsequent period, to which we can refer the weapons of bronze. Great numbers of Saxon interments have been examined both in this country and on the Continent, and we know that the swords, lances, knives, and other weapons of that time, were all of iron. Besides this, if the bronze implements and weapons had be- longed to post- Roman times, we should certainly, I think, have found some of them in the ruined towns, and with the pottery and coins of that period. Moreover, the similarity * In Stuart's Caledonia Romana, 2nd near the Roman station of Ardoch. ed. pi. v., is a figure of a leaf-shaped The particulars of its discovery, how- sword, said to have been found in or ever, are not given. OBJECTS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE BRONZE AGE. 13 to each other of the weapons found in very distant parts of Europe, implies more extended intercourse between different countries, than any that existed in those centuries. On the whole, then, the evidence appears to show that the use of bronze weapons is characteristic of a particular phase in the history of European civilisation, and one which was anterior to the discovery, or, at least, to the general use, of iron for cutting purposes. The commonest and, perhaps, most cha- racteristic objects belonging to the Bronze age, are the so-called " celts" (figs. 1 to 12) which were probably used Fio. 1. FIG. 2. Copper Celt from Waterford. Winged Celt from Ireland. Socketed Celt from Ireland. FIG. 4. FIG. 5. FIG. 6. The three different types of Celts and the manner in which they are supposed to have heen handled. 14 BRONZE CELTS. for chisels, hoes, war-axes, and a variety of other pur- no. 7. FIG. s. poses. Similar imple- ments, but made of iron instead of bronze, are even now employed in Siberia and some parts of Africa.* More than two thousand are known to exist in the different Irish collections, of which the great Museum belong- ing to the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin con- Fio. 10. FIG. 11. FIG. 12. Copper ? Celt from Ireland. Celt-mould from Ireland. FIG. 9. Decorated Celt from Ireland. Danish Celts. tained in the year 1860 no less than six hundred and eighty- * Horse ferales, p. 77. MODES OF HANDLING. 15 eight,* no two of which, were cast in the same mould. They vary in size from an inch to a foot in length and may be divided into three principal classes (figs. 4-6) accord- ing to the manner in which they were handled ; though we must remember that there were many intermediate forms. The first class (figs. 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, and 11) is the simplest in form, and is considered by some antiquaries, as, for instance, by Sir "W. R. Wilde, f to be the oldest, partly because they are " evidently formed on the type of the old stone celts," (conf. figs. 7 and 72) partly because some of them (nearly thirty for instance in the Dublin Museum) are of red, almost un- alloyed, copper, and are " almost the only antique implements of any kind formed out of" this metal, and partly because the copper ones at least are always unornamented. On the other hand, the simplicity of form exhibited by the copper axes, which may be observed in those from other countries as well as from Ireland, is perhaps to be accounted for by the great difficulty of casting copper, so that the founders, when dealing with that metal, would naturally confine them- selves to the simpler forms. There can be little doubt that these simple celts were handled in the manner indicated (fig- 4). Evidently, however, the blade would at every blow tend to split the handle in which it was placed. To remedy this defect, a stop or ridge was raised across the celt, and the metal and wood were made to fit into one another (figs. 2 and 5). This second form of celt is known as a Paalstab, or Paalstave, and has often a small loop on one side (the sup- posed use of which is indicated in the figure), as well as a wing on each side. A still farther improvement consisted (figs. 3, 6, 12) in reversing the position of the metal and the handle, making * In the Museum at Edinburgh are more than 100, at Copenhagen 350. f Cat. p. 361. 16 BRONZE SWORDS. the axe hollow at one end, and so passing the handle Into it. The celts are generally plain, but sometimes ornamented with FIG. 17. FIG. 13. FIG. 18. Scandinavia. Sweden. BRONZE SWORDS. BRONZE SWORDS. 17 ridges, dots, or lines, as in figs. 3, 6, 8, 11, and 12. That they were made in the countries where they are found, is proved by the presence of moulds (fig. 8). It is difficult to under- stand why the celt-makers never cast their axes as we do FIG. 19. FIG. 20. FIG. 21. FIG. 22. FIG. 23. Sword-handles from Denmark. ours, with a transverse hole, through which the handle might pass. No bronze im- plement of this description has, however, so far as I know, been yet found in Great Britain, though a few have occurred in Denmark, where they are of great beauty and - highly deco- rated. The swords of the Bronze age (figs. 14-23),* are always more or less leaf -like in shape, double- edged, sharp-pointed, and intended for stabbing and thrusting, rather than for cutting. This is evident, not only from the general shape, but also from the condition Swords from Denmark. * In fig. 13 an ancient iron sword is represented, in order to show the difference in form. 18 BRONZE DAGGERS. of the edges. They never have any handguards: the handles are sometimes solid (figs. 17-23) ; this is generally the case with those found in Denmark : sometimes (figs. 14-16) flat, thin, and evidently intended to be plated with wood or bone : while sometimes the sword expands at its FIG. 25. FIG. 24. FIG. 26. Irish Bronze Daggers. base, and is fastened to a handle by from two to four rivets. Swords of this class are generally shorter than the others, and indeed we find every intermediate form between the true sword and the dagger (figs. 24, 25, 26) : of SPEAR-HEADS,. ARROWS, FISH-HOOKS, SICKLES. 19 the two classes together, the Dublin Museum contains nearly 300. The handles of the bronze swords are very short, and could not have been held comfortably by hands as large as ours, a characteristic much relied on by those who attribute the introduction of bronze into Europe to a people of Asiatic origin. The next classes of bronze objects are the Fjo< 27% , Fla 28 heads of spears (figs. 27, 28), javelins, and arrows; two hundred and seventy- six of which are in the Dublin Museum ; in length they vary from two feet and a half to an Jinch, and their shapes are also very various : but it is unnecessary to describe them in detail, because they are repeated in simi- lar weapons of all ages, countries and ma- terials. Bronze arrows, however, are not very common in Northern Europe, proba- bly because flint was so much cheaper,, and almost as effective. More than a, hundred bronze fish-hooks have been found at Nidau in the Lake of Bienne, but elsewhere they appear to be rare; the Museum at Dublin contains only one. Sickles are more numerous; at Copenhagen there are twenty-five, at Dublin eleven ; in the Lake- village at Morges eleven have been found, at Nidau eighteen ; they are generally about six inches in length, flat on one side, and raised on the other ; they were always intended to be held in the right hand. Bronze knives (figs. 29-33) are frequently found in the Danish tumuli, and among the remains of the Swiss lake- habitations ; twenty, for instance, at Morges, twenty-six at Estavayer, and about a- hundred at Nidau : in Ireland they appear to be very rare ; the Dublin Museum does not contain Spear-heads from Ireland. BRONZE KNIVES. one. They were generally fitted into handles of bone, horn, or wood, and the blade is almost always more or less curved, FIG. 32. Pie, 33. FIG. 29. Bronze Knives from Denmark. Bronze Knives from Switzerland. while those of iron knives, on the contrary, were gene- rally straight. The small bronze razor-knives (figs. 34-37), indeed, have straight edges, but they are quite of a different character from the iron knives : from the ornaments engraved on them, I am disposed to regard them as belonging to a late period in the age of Bronze, if not in some cases to the beginning of that of Iron. Indeed, the Flensborg Museum RAZOR KNIVES. 21 contains a razor-knife said to have been found together with objects of the latter metal. FIG. 34. FIG. 35. FIG. 36. FIG. 37. FIG. 39. Small Knives from Denmark. The personal ornaments of the Bronze age consist princi- 22 BRONZE BRACELETS. pally of bracelets (figs. 40, 41), pins (fig. 42), and rings. The bracelets are either simple spirals, or rings open at one side, and decorated by those combinations of straight and curved lines, so characteristic of the Bronze age. FIG. 40. FIG. 41. Bracelets Switzerland. Very many bronze j>ins have been obtained from the Swiss lake-habitations : for instance, 57 from Morges, 239 from Es- tavayer, and 600 from Jftdau. They are also very frequently B. 'Fie. 42. Bronze Hair-pinsSwitzerland. found in graves, where they were used, as pointed out by Sir E. C. Hoare, to secure the linen cloth which enveloped the bones. Although brooches of bronze are very common, they have generally been found in conjunction with iron, and we may BRONZE PINS. 23 almost say that they were unknown during the Bronze age, their place being filled by simple pins. Many of the latter articles found in the Swiss lakes appear, however, to have been hair-pins. Some of them are nearly a foot in length, and two found near Berne even as much as 2ft. 9in. Many of the pins have large hollow spherical heads, as in fig. 42, A, B ; the others vary so much that it is impossible to give any general description of them. There can be little doubt that these pins really belong to the FIG. 43. FIG. 44. FIG. 45. FIG. 46, Bronze age ; but the fact, that similar ones continued in use long after the introduction of iron, appears to be equally well established. One of these later bronze pins is represented in fig. 124. Some other small objects of bronze, including two needles, from the Lake of Neufchatel, are represented in figs. 43-48. Bronze hammers are very rare ; it is probable that stones were used for this purpose. Gouges are more common. Small saws have been discovered in Germany and Den- mark, but not, as yet, in Great Britain. FIG. 47. FIG. 48. Small objects in Bronze. Switzerland. Studs or buttons, though not very abundant, are found both in Switzerland and Scandinavia.* I have also figured a group (figs. 49-52) of Irish gold * Further information as to the objects of bronze from Switzerland will be found in the chapter on the Swiss Lake-habitations. GOLD ORNAMENTS. ornaments. We have, however, as yet no evidence as to their origin, and it is more than probable that they belong to a much later period. FIG. 49. Gold Torque Ireland. Found near Clonmacnoise. Fie. 51. FIG. 50. Gold Ornaments Ireland. CHARACTER OF ORNAMENTATION. 25 FIG. 52. Gold Ornament Ireland. The ornamentation on the objects of bronze is of peculiar, and at the same time uniform, character ; it consists of simple geometrical patterns, and is formed by combinations of spirals, circles, and zigzag lines; representations of animals and plants being very rarely attempted. Even the few exceptions to this rule are perhaps more apparent than real. Thus, two such only are figured in the Catalogue of the Copenhagen Museum; one is a rude figure of a swan (fig. 29), the other of a man (fig. 31). The second of these forms the handle of a knife, which appears to be straight in the blade, a type characteristic of the Iron age, but rarely found in that of Bronze. As regards one of them, therefore, there is an independent reason for referring it to the period of transition, or at least to the close of the Bronze age. There is, indeed, one type of pattern, usually found on the razor-knives, but sometimes also on others, intended probably for a rude repre- sentation of a ship (figs. 34-37). Even, however, if we admit that this is the case, and if we accept these objects as belonging to the Bronze age, they will only show how little advance had yet been made in the art of representing natural objects. We should hardly, perhaps, have expected to know much of the manner in which the people of the Bronze age were dressed. Considering how perishable are the materials out of which clothes are necessarily formed, it is wonderful that any fragments of them should have remained to the present day. There can be little doubt that the skins of 26 TUMULUS OF TREENHOI. animals were extensively used for this purpose, as indeed they have been in all ages of man's history ; many traces of linen tissue also have been found in English tumuli of the Bronze age, and in the Swiss Lakes. Fig. 123 represents a piece of fabric from Robenhausen in Switzerland ; it belongs, however, in all probability to the Stone age. Even a single fragment such as this, throws, of course, much light on the manufactures, if we may call them so, of the period to which it belongs ; but fortunately we need not content ourselves with any such partial knowledge as this, as we possess the whole dress of a chief belonging to the Bronze age. On a farm occupied by a M. Dahls, near Eibe in Jutland, are four tumuli, which are known as Great Kongehoi, Little Kongehoi, Guldhoi, and Treenhoi. This last was examined in 1861 by MM. Worsaae and Herbst. It is about fifty ells in diameter and six in height, being composed of a loose sandy earth. In it, near the centre, were found three wooden coffins, two of full size, and one evidently intended for a child. The coffin with which we are now particularly concerned, was about 9ft. Sin. long and 2ft. 2in. broad on the outside; its internal measurements were 7|ft. long and 1ft. Sin. broad. It was covered by a moveable lid of corresponding size. The contents were peculiar, and very interesting. While, as might naturally be expected, we find, in most ancient graves, only the bones and teeth, all the soft parts having long ago decayed away, in some cases, and this was one of them, almost exactly the reverse has happened. Owing to the presence of water, and perhaps to the fact that it was strongly impregnated with iron, the soft parts of the body had been turned into a dark, greasy, substance ; and the bones, with the exception of a few fragments, were changed into a kind of blue powder. Singularly enough, the brain seems to have been the part which had undergone least change. On opening the coffin, DRESS IN THE BRONZE AGE. it was found lying at one end, where no doubt the head had originally been placed, covered by a thick hemispherical woollen cap, about six inches in height (fig. 53). The outer side of this cap was thickly covered by short loose threads, FIG. 54. FIG. 53. FIG. 55. Comb. Woollen Caps. FIG. 56. Woollen Cloak. every one of them ending in a small knot, which gave the cap a very singular appearance. The body of the corpse had been wrapped in a coarse woollen cloak (fig. 56), which was 28 DRESS OF A CHIEF almost semicircular, and hollowed out round the neck. It was about 3ft. Sin. long, and broad in proportion. On its inner side were left hanging a great number of short woollen threads, which give it somewhat the appearance of plush. On the right side of the corpse, was a box, made with a lid of the same diameter. It was 7Jin. in diameter, 6^in. high,, and was fastened together by pieces of osier or bark. In this box was a similar smaller one, without a lid,, and in this, again, were three articles, namely, a cap 7in. high, of simply woven woollen stuff (fig. 54) ; a small comb 3in. long, 2|in. high (fig. 55) ; and a small simple razor-knife. After the cloak and the bark-box had been taken away, FIG. 57. FIG. 58. Woollen Shirt. Woollen Shawl. two woollen shawls came to view, one of them covering the feet, the other lying higher up. They were of a square shape, rather less than 5ft. long, 3ft. 9in. broad, and with a long fringe (fig. 58). At the place where the body had lain, was a shirt (fig. 57) also of woollen material, cut out a little IN THE BRONZE AGE. 29 FIG. 59. for the neck, and with a long projecting tongue at one of the upper angles. It was fastened at the waist by a long woollen band, which went twice round the body, and hung down in front. On the left side of the corpse was a bronze sword (fig. 19), in a wooden sheath. It is 2ft. Sin. in length, and has a solid simple handle. At the feet were two pieces of woollen stuff, about 14iin. long and 3Jin. wide (fig. 59), the use of which does not seem quite clear, though they may be sup- posed to have been the remains of leg- gings. At the end of the coffin were found traces of leather, doubtless the remains of boots. In the cap, where the head had been, was some black hair, and the form of the brain was still recog- nisable. Finally, this ancient warrior had been wrapped round in an ox's hide, and so committed to the grave. The other two coffins were not examined by competent persons, and the valuable information which they might have afforded was thus lost to us. The more indestructible things were, however, preserved ; they consisted of a sword, a brooch, a knife, a double-pointed awl, a pair of tweezers, a large double button or stud, all of bronze ; a small double button of tin, and a javelin head of flint. The baby's coffin produced only an amber bead, and a small bronze bracelet, consisting of a simple ring of metal. There can, therefore, be no doubt that this very interesting tumulus belonged to the Bronze age, and I am inclined to place it somewhat late in that period, partly on account of the knife and razor-knife, both of which belong to forms which I have already given my reasons for referring to the close of the Bronze age, and to the beginning of that of Iron. Leggings. MODE OF BURIAL. Bronze brooches are also very rarely found in the Bronze age, and are common in that of Iron. The sword, again belongs to a form which is regarded by Professor Nilsson as being of late introduction. Finally, the mode of sepulture, though other similar cases are on record, is, to say the least, very unusual - y in the age of Iron, indeed, the corpse is generally extended, but in that of Bronze the dead were, with few exceptions, burned, or buried in a contracted attitude. In Denmark, cremation appears to have been almost universal; in England I have taken out the statistics of 100 cases of tombs containing objects of bronze, 37 recorded by Mr. Bateman and 63 by Sir H. C. Hoare ; and the following table shows the manner in which the corpse had been treated. Contracted, Burnt. Extended. Uncertain. Bateman 15 10 5 7 Hoare 4 49 2 8 19 59 7 15 We may consider, therefore, that during this period the corpse was sometimes, though rarely, extended on its back, that more frequently it was buried in a sitting or crouching position, and in a small chamber formed by large stones, but that the most usual practice was to burn the dead, and collect the ashes and fragments of bones in, or under, an urn. The ancient funeral customs, however, will be more fullr considered in a subsequent chapter. 31 CHAPTER II. THE BRONZE AGE. are four principal theories as to the Bronze age, JL According to some archaeologists, the discovery, or introduction, of bronze was unattended by any other great or sudden change in the condition of the people ; but was the result, and is the evidence of a gradual and peaceable development. Some attribute the bronze arms and imple- ments, found in Northern Europe, to the Roman armies, some to the Phoenician merchants ; while others, again, consider that the men of the Stone age were replaced by a new and more civilized people of Indo-European race, coming from the East ; who, bringing with them a knowledge of bronze, overran Europe, and dispossessed in some places entirely destroying the original, or rather the earlier inhabitants. It is not, indeed, necessary to suppose that the introduction of bronze should have been effected everywhere in the same manner ; so far, for instance, as Switzerland and Ireland are concerned, Dr. Keller* and Sir W. R. Wilde f may be quite right in considering that the so-called " primitive " popula- tion did not belong to a different race from that subse- quently characterised by the use of bronze. Still, though it is evident that the knowledge of bronze must necessarily have been preceded by the separate use of copper and of tin; yet no single implement of the latter metal * Mittheil. der Antiquar. Gesellsch. in Zurich, Bd. xiv. H. 6. f Wilde, 1. c. p. 360. 32 SIMILARITY OF has been hitherto found in Europe, while those of copper are extremely rare. Hungary and Ireland, indeed, have been sup- posed to form partial exceptions to this rule. The geographical position of the former country is probably a sufficient explana- tion; and as far as Ireland is concerned, it may perhaps be worth while to examine how far that country really forms an exception. In the great Museum at Dublin there are 725 celts and celt-like chisels, 282 swords and daggers, and 276 lances, javelins, and arrow-heads; yet out of these 1283 weapons only 30 celts and one sword-blade are said to be of pure copper.* I say " are said to be/' because they have not been analysed, but are supposed to be copper only from the " phy- sical properties and ostensible colour of the metal :" indeed one of these very celts, which was analysed by Mr. Mallet, was found to contain a small percentage of tin. It is pos- sible that for some of the purposes to which celts were applied, copper may have been nearly as useful as bronze, and at any rate it might sometimes have happened that from a deficiency of tin, some implements would be made of copper only. Taking these facts into consideration, Ireland certainly does not appear to present any strong evidence of an age of copper, while no one has ever pretended to find either there, or any where else in Europe, a trace of any separate use of tin.* Sir W. R. Wilde himself admits it to be "remarkable that so few antique copper implements have been found, although a knowledge of that metal must have been the preliminary stage in the manufacture of bronze." He thinks, however, that " the circumstance may be accounted for, either by sup- posing that but a short time elapsed between the knowledge * One even of these is with good f It was sometimes used for purposes reason considered by Dr. Wilde to be of ornamentation, but that does not of an American specimen. course affect the present argument. BRONZE IMPLEMENTS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 33 of smelting and casting copper ore, and the introduction of tin, and subsequent manufacture and use of bronze ; or from the probability of nearly all such articles having been re- cast and converted into bronze, subsequent to the introduc- tion of tin, which renders them harder, sharper, and more valuable."* There is, however, another circumstance which strongly militates against this theory of a gradual and independent development of metallurgical knowledge in different coun- tries, and that is the fact which has been broadly stated by Mr. Wright, and which I may, perhaps, repeat here, that whenever we find the bronze swords or celts, "whether in Ireland in the far west, in Scotland, in distant Scandinavia, in Germany, or still further east in the Sclavonic countries, they are the same not similar in character, but identical." The great resemblance of stone implements found in dif- ferent parts of the world may be satisfactorily accounted for by the similarity of the material, and the simplicity of the forms. But this argument cannot be applied to the bronze arms and implements. Not only are several varieties of celts found throughout Europe, but some of the swords, knives, daggers, etc., are so similar, that they seem as if they must have been cast by the same maker. Compare, for instance, figs. 1, 3, and 9, which represent Irish celts, with 10, 12, and 11, which are copied from Danish specimens ; the three swords, figs. 14, 15, and 16, which come respectively from Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, and the two, figs. 17 and 18, of which the first is Swiss, the second Scandi- navian. It would have been easy to multiply examples of this similarity, and it is not going too far to say that these resemblances cannot be the result of accident. On the other hand, it must be admitted that each country has certain * Wilde, /. c. p. 357. 34 BRONZE IMPLEMENTS NOT OF minor peculiarities. Neither the forms nor the ornaments are exactly similar. In Denmark and Mecklenburgh, spiral ornaments are most common ; farther south, these are replaced by ring ornaments and lines. The Danish swords generally have solid, and richly decorated handles, as in figs. 17-23, while those found in Great Britain (fig. 14) terminate in a plate which was riveted to pieces of wood or bone. Again, the British lance-heads frequently have loops at the side of the shaft-hole, as in fig. 27, which is never the case with Danish specimens. The discovery of moulds in Ireland, Scotland, England, Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere, shows that the art of casting in bronze was known and practised in many countries. Under these circumstances, it appears most probable that the knowledge of metal is one of those great discoveries which Europe owes to the East, and that the use of copper was not introduced into our Continent, until it had been observed that by the addition of a small quantity of tin it was rendered harder and more valuable. I have already, in the first chapter, given the reasons which render it evident to me that the bronze weapons are not of Roman origin. These may be summed up as follows : Firstly. They have never been found in company with Roman pottery, or other remains of the Roman period. Secondly. The ornamentation is not Roman in its character. Thirdly. The bronze swords do not resemble in form those used by Roman soldiers. Fourthly. The Latin word "ferrum" was used as synony- mous with a sword, showing that the Romans always used iron. Fifthly. Bronze implements are very abundant in some countries, as for instance in Denmark and Ireland, which were never invaded by Roman armies. Moreover, the bronze used by the Romans contained, ROMAN ORIGIN. 35 generally, a large proportion of lead, which is never the case in that of the Bronze age. My friend Mr. Wright* mentions, three cases in which bronze swords are supposed to have been found together with Roman remains. The first instance has been already alluded to (p. 12). As regards the other two, ho has, unfor- tunately, mislaid the references, and I have therefore been unable to verify the statements. Even granting that there is no mistake about these cases, and that the facts are as he supposes, they would prove nothing. Bronze swords are ex- cellent and beautiful weapons, and would certainly have been preserved as curiosities, sometimes even employed, long after they had been replaced in general use by iron. Mr. Wright lays much stress on the fact, that the bronze weapons have generally been found near Roman stations, and Roman roads. As regards England, this is no doubt true, but we must remember that the whole f this country is intersected by Roman roads, many of which, moreover, were old lines of communication, long before Caesar first landed on our coasts. He appears, however, to forget that bronze weapons are very common in Ireland and Denmark, where there are no Roman roads at all. But Mr. Wright sees nothing in Great Britain which can be referred to ante-Roman times. The arms and im- plements of bronze he refers, as we have seen, to the Romans themselves, those of stone to the Britons, their contempo- raries. Thus, having noticed that flint implements are more common near Bridlington than near Leeds, "If these stone implements,"* he says, "belong to a period anterior to the Romans, and before the metals were extracted from the ground, why are they not found as frequently in the neighbourhood of Leeds as in that of Bridlington ?" * Lecture on the Early History of Leeds, p. 19. f Ibid. p. 12. 36 REFERRED BY SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO The reason seems to me to be pbvious. Bridlington is in a chalk country, and flint is therefore abundant, while near Leeds none occurs in situ. But if we are to refer not only the bronze implements, but also those of stone, to the Roman period, what implements, we may ask, does Mr. Wright sup- pose were used by the ancient Britons before the arrival of Caesar ? It would be more reasonable to deny the existence of ancient Britons at once, than thus to deprive them, as it were, of all means of obtaining subsistence ; nor can we forget that these so-called barbarians manufactured chariots, coined money, and offered a not unsuccessful opposition, even to the forces of Rome, and the genius of Caesar. Their weapons, however, were made of iron, not of bronze ; and, on the whole, it may, I think, be concluded that the use of this alloy was neither discovered in Northern Europe, nor introduced by the Romans ; we may pass on, therefore, to consider the views of those who attribute the Bronze age civilisation to the influence of Phoenician commerce. This theory has recently been maintained, with great ability, by Professor Nilsson ;* Sir George Cornewall Lewis f on the other hand, while admitting that Cornwall was the great source of tin in ancient times, has endeavoured to prove that this metal found its way " to the nations in the east of the Mediterranean by the overland route across Gaul, and that the Phoenician ships brought it from the mouth of the Rhone, without sailing as far as Britain." He regards, therefore, the accounts of ancient voyages as being in many cases either mythical, or at least exaggerated, but he does not make sufficient allowance for the fact that our knowledge of them is often derived from unfriendly critics or poetical allusions ; nor need we go farther than Sir * Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-inva- nomy of the Ancients. By the Right nare. Af. S. Nilsson, Stockholm, 1862. Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, 1862. f An Historical Survey of the Astro- THE PHOENICIANS. 37 Cornewall Lewis' own work to show how authors may suffer by this mode of treatment.* Take, for instance, the case of Himilco, who was sent during the prosperous times of Carthage to examine the north-western coasts of Europe. His writings have unfor- tunately perished, and our knowledge of them, derived from the " Ora maritima," a geographical poem by Avienus, is thus summed up by Sir Cornewall Lewis : " The report of Himilco, that the voyage from Gades to the Tin Islands (i.e. to Cornwall) occupied at least four months; and that navigation in these remote waters was impeded by the motionless air, by the abundance of seaweed, and by the monsters of the deep fables which the ancient mariners recounted of unexplored seas would not be very attractive for the traders of the Carthaginian colonies." This argument does not seem to be quite satisfactory, because, if Himilco really did make this voyage, then such voyages were possible ; and, on the other hand, if he did not do so, and if his statements were such mere fables, we may safely assume that the shrewd merchants of Carthage would detect the imposition, and would extract the truth, if not from Himilco himself, at any rate from some of those by whom he was accompanied. But let that pass ; we will examine the four " fables " specially referred to by Sir G. C. Lewis. It is unnecessary to say anything about the "motionless air;" it would be doing an injustice to Sir Cornewall Lewis to suppose that he regarded this as a serious objection. It may be an invention, but it is not an improbability. Neither is the time occupied by an exploring expedition any test of that which would be required for a commercial voyage. Nor will I lay any stress on the statement that Himilco's * In the long chapter which he de- Hieroglyphics, the name of Dr. Young votes to the Egyptian Chronology and is not once mentioned. 38 PHOENICIAN VOYAGES. HIMILCO. vessels were " impeded " by the monsters of the deep. What Avienus really said was, as Sir Cornewall Lewis admits in another passage, that while becalmed and lying in a help- less state, the ships were "surrounded by marine monsters."* It might fairly be argued that whales were in all probability more numerous on our coasts in ancient times than they are now ; the great mammalia of the sea, as well as those of the land, have given way before the overwhelming power of man. But it is unnecessary to urge this hypothesis ; the great monsters of the deep have in all ages appealed strongly to the imagination of mankind, and no poet would fail to allude to them in describing the dangers which beset those "who go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great waters." The third point alluded to by Sir Cornewall Lewis, so far from throwing -any doubt on the veracity of Himilco, appears rather to be an argument in his favor. His ships, he says, or at least Avienus says for him, were " surrounded by sea- weed." Where was he when this took place? All that we can say in answer to this question is, that he sailed through the Pillars of Hercules into the Atlantic Ocean, and we know, that a few days' sail in this direction would have brought him to the " Mare di Sargasso," a sea which has actually taken its name from the quantity of sea- weed growing in it. Sir C. Lewis says, "the notion of remote seas beirtg impassable by ships, either from their shoals, t>r from the obstacles to navigation produced by the semi-fluid and muddy properties of the water, frequently recurs among the ancients;" and it is true, no doubt, that statements of this kind are made by many ancient writers, as for instance by Herodotus, Plato, Scylax, and even Aris- totle; but not one of these writers alludes to "seaweed" as an impediment to navigation, and it can hardly be acci- * See Appendix. PYTHEAS. 39 dental, that the only voyager by whom this is referred to, was one who sailed on a course which, if persevered in for a few days, would have brought him to that which is even now known as the Sea of Seaweed.* Pytheas is another ancient writer, whose character has suffered very much in the hands of Sir C. Lewis, who, rely- ing on the authority of Polybius and Strabo, does not hesi- tate to stigmatise him as a mendacious impostor. Polybius doubts the journeys of Pytheas, because Pytheas was a poor man ; but the great travellers and explorers of the present day do not generally belong to our wealthy fami- lies. Strabo seems to have been prejudiced against Pytheas because he professed to have visited countries, which ought, according to Strabo's theory, to have been uninhabitable. Moreover, we should remember that the first travellers in the North must have seen, and on their return would describe, many things which would appear impossible or incomprehen- sible to dwellers on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. Sir C. Lewis refers specially to four incredible assertions made by Pytheas. First, he is said to have related that "if any per- son placed iron in a rude state at the mouth of the volcano in the island of Lipari, together with some money, he found on the morrow a sword or any other article which he wanted, in its place." This, however, merely shows that the myth of Valand, Wielant, Weland,-or in our popular dialect, Way land Smith, was current in the Lipari islands at the time of Pytheas. f This myth, moreover, is but a very slightly modified account of what actually has taken place when an ignorant people, living by the side of a more civilized race, and attributing their superiority to magical arts, has been anxious to benefit * May not the belief in the "Atlan- of the other causes which are usually tis" he as probably owing to the " gulf- assigned for it ? weed," which would so naturally sug- f On this interesting subject, see gest the idea of sunken land, as to any Wright. Archaeol. vol. xxxii. p. 315. 40 THULE SUPPOSED BY NILSSON by their necromancy, and yet afraid to come in contact with the magicians themselves. Thus "the Veddahs of Ceylon, when they wanted arrows, used to bring some flesh in the night, and hang it up in a smith's shop, also a leaf cut in the form they will have their arrows made and hang by it ; which if the smith do make according to their pattern, they will requite and bring him more flesh/'* If our knowledge of this peculiar mode of barter had been derived from the Veddahs, it would undoubtedly have taken the form of the old European myth. The metallurgists of old, to preserve their monopoly, would evidently have a great interest in keeping up this superstition. Sir Cornewall Lewis, in the second place, accuses Pytheas of having described the sea round the Lipari islands as being in a boiling state. But we do not know what his exact words were, and cannot fairly judge him, for it makes a great difference whether he was repeating a statement made to him, or making one on his own authority. Moreover, we must remember that there have been submarine eruptions in the Mediterranean, and that the Lipari islands lie be- tween Mount Etna and Vesuvius, in the very centre of an active volcanic area. These two mountains, which for the last two thousand years have been more or less frequently in eruption, seem to have enjoyed a long period of rest, during which the Lipari islands served as a vent. It seems to me therefore highly probable that this statement made * Knox's Historical Relation of the 1'endroit sous le nom de Trous des Island Ceylon. London, 1681. Quoted Sottais. Us pretendent que jadis ces in the Ethnological Society's Trans., grottes servaient d'habitation a une vol. ii. p. 285, N.S. See also Sir J. E. espece huraaine d'une tres petite taille, Tennent's Ceylon, vol. i., p. 593. The Sottais, nains, pygmees, qui y vivaient Belgian form of the myth as related by de leur Industrie, et restauraient tout ce Schmerling (Ossements fossiles, vol. i., qu'on deposait pres des ouvertures, a p. 43) still more closely resembles the condition qve ran y ajoutut des vivres. account given by Knox. Speaking of En tres peu de temps ces effets etaient the caves near Liege, he says : " Ces repares, et remis a la mem place." ouvertures sont connues des habitans de TO BE NORWAY. 41 by Pytheas was a perfectly truthful record of an actual occurrence. A third difficulty is the assertion, that round the island of Thule, Pytheas saw a substance which was neither earth, air, nor water, but a substance resembling medusae or jelly fishes (irvevfjiovi Oakacr&iq) eot/co?), which could neither be passed on foot nor in ships. This passage, which has com- pletely puzzled southern commentators, is regarded by Pro- fessor Nilsson as a striking evidence of Pytheas' veracity. When the sea in the north freezes, this does not happen as in a pond or lake, but small separate plates of ice are formed, and as soon as this process commences, the fisher- men hurry to the shore, lest they should be caught in the ice, which for some time is too thick to permit the passage of a boat, yet too weak to support the weight of a man. A very similar description is given by Captain Lyon. " We came/' he says " amongst young ice, in that state called sludge, which resembles in appearance and consistency a far better thing lemon ice. From this we came to small round plates, of about a foot in diameter, which have the appear- ance of the scales of gigantic fishes/'* Richardson also particularly mentions the "circular plates of ice, six or eight inches in diameter/' t These discs of ice tossed about by the waves suggested to Professor Nilsson himself, when he first saw them, the idea of a crowd of medusae, and if we imagine a southerner who had never before witnessed such a phenomenon, and who on his return home wished to describe it to his fellow-countrymen, it would have been difficult to find an apter or more ingenious simile. It is, at any rate, not more far-fetched or less appropriate than that used by Herodotus, when, in order to describe a heavy snow- storm, he compared it to a fall of feathers. " Fourthly," says Sir C. Lewis, " Pytheas affirmed that in * Lyon's Journal, p. 84. f Arctic Expedition, vol. ii. p. 97. 42 PHCENICIAN COLONIES returning from his great northern voyage, in which he first obtained accounts of the remote island of Thule, he had sailed along the entire coast of the Ocean between Gadeira and the Tanais ; that is from Cadiz round Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Scythia, to the river Don, which was con- sidered by the ancients as the boundary of Europe and Asia. This statement furnishes an additional proof of the mendacity of Pytheas, because it is founded on the belief, received in his time, that Europe did not project far to the North, and that the Ocean swept along its shores to the north of Scythia and India." Pytheas, however, did not, in reality, lay him- self open to any such accusation ; the "passage on which Sir C. Lewis relies only affirms that after his return from the north (e7rave\0a)v evOevSe) he travelled along the whole coast of Europe from Cadiz to the Don. This, which evidently refers to a second journey, is a very different statement, and one which I see no reason to doubt. According to Geminus, Pytheas went so far north that the nights were only two or three hours long, and he adds that the Barbarians took him to see the place where the sun slept. These two statements seem to point to Donnas as the northernmost point of his voyage. Here the shortest night is two hours long, but behind the town is a mountain, the top of which is the southernmost point from which the midnight sun can be seen. The inhabitants took Professor Nilsson here in the year 1816, to show him the place where the sun rested, just as they seem to have conducted Pytheas to the same spot, for the same purpose, more than 2000 years before. On this subject I will only add that Pytheas was no mere traveller, but a distinguished astronomer, who, with the help of the gnomon only, seems to have estimated the latitude of Marseille^ at 43 17 / 8 /; , a calculation which only differs by a few seconds from the result given by modern astronomers namely, 43 17' 52". AND COMMERCE. 43 I have dwelt at some length on this part of my subject, for while we are all anxious to pay due honour to our modern travellers, to Livingstone and Galton, to Speke and Grant, we ought not to forget those who led the way. The memory of great men is a precious legacy, which we cannot afford lightly to surrender, and not the least valuable part of Professor Nilsson's work on the Bronze age is the chapter, in which, he has rescued the memory of Pytheas from the cloud by which it has been so long and so unjustly obscured. But even if Sir Cornewall Lewis could have established his case, and destroyed our faith in these particular expe- ditions, still there remain overwhelming proofs of an im- portant and extended commerce in even more ancient times than those of Pytheas or Himilco. The evidence of this has been well put together by Dr. Smith,* of Camborne, to whose work .1 would refer those who may wish for more detailed information ; for the present I must content myself with referring to a few well-known facts, which, however, will be sufficient for my present purpose. We know, then, that Marseilles was founded by the Phocean Greeks B.C. 600 ; Carthage is supposed to have been built by the Phoenicians about 800 B.C. ; and Utica, according to Strabo and Pliny, about 300 years earlier still; while, ac- cording to Velleius Paterculus and Pomponius Mela, the city of Gades (Cadiz) was founded by the Tyrians not long after the fall of Troy. Before such facts as these, all a priori improbability of Pytheas' voyage to Norway falls to the ground. The distance between Cadiz and Phoenicia is more than 2000 miles, and is greater than that between Cadiz and Norway. Even, therefore, if Pytheas effected all that has been claimed for him, he will not have made a longer voyage than hundreds of his countrymen had done, a thousand years before. * The Cassiterides, by George Smith, LL.D. 44 BRONZE COMPOSED OF COPPER AND TIN. The above- given dates must not, of course, be considered as exact ; but there is no reason to doubt their general ac- curacy. Not only do the writings of Hesiod and Homer, which certainly are not of a later date than 800 B.C., and probably somewhat earlier, show, that the nations on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean were at that time highly civilised, and had a considerable commerce, but we have very valuable evidence of the same fact in the Biblical narrative. Indeed, brass is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Genesis, which would be, according to the chronology of the established version, 3875 B.C. ; but there is so much doubt about these dates, that I do not feel disposed to rely on this isolated passage. The high civilisation of Egypt in the time of Joseph is, however, apparent to every reader of the book of Exodus. Again, when Solomon prepared to build the temple in Jerusalem, he sent unto the king .of Tyre for cedar- trees out of Lebanon, "for thou knowest," he said, " that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians " (1 Kings v. 6) ; and again we read, (I. c. vii. 13, 14) that "King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram . out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass : and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass." It is evident that the word which here, and in so many other passages, is translated "brass," should rather be " bronze." This latter, which was the com- mon metal of antiquity, is never mentioned in our version, while on the other hand, the alloy which we now term brass, and which is composed of copper and zinc, was not known in ancient times. Now this bronze, which from the wholly independent statements of Homer and of the Book of Kings, we find to have been so abundant in the East three thousand years ago, was composed of copper and tin, in the proportions of TIN OBTAINED FROM CORNWALL. 45 about nine parts of the former to one of the latter ; and the question therefore arises, whence were these metals obtained? Copper is found in so many countries, that we cannot, as yet, form any definite opinion as to the source, or sources, from which it was derived by the Phoenicians. Nevertheless, we have every reason to hope, and expect, that we shall even- tually be able to do so, because the slight impurities by which it is accompanied, are different in different places, and Dr. Fellenberg has published more than a hundred analyses of ancient bronzes, which have already thrown some light on this part of the subject. As regards tin, the case is very different ; although ores of this metal are found in other countries, as for instance in Saxony, and near Nerchinsk, in Siberia, still almost all the tin now used is derived either from Cornwall, or from the island of Banca, which lies between Sumatra and Borneo. It has been supposed that tin was at one time abundant in Spain, but as Dr. Smith observes,* "the most remarkable fea- ture in tin mining seems to be the enduring character of the mines. Wherever tin has been produced in any con- siderable quantities, within the range of authentic history, there it is still abundantly found. In Banca, we are told, the supply is inexhaustible ; and Cornwall can now supply as large a quantity annually as it ever could." The result of enquiries made of the Government Engineers, at the College of Mines in Madrid, is as follows : "I cannot learn that Spain ever produced any quantity of this metal. The Government do not work any mines of tin. The quantity being produced at present is very small, chiefly by streamers ; or rather labourers, while out of their regular employment, search some of the rivers near the granite hills in Galicia and in Zamora. I cannot learn that there is any tin mining in the country." * l.c-. p. 45. 46 AMBER FROM GERMAN OCEAN. Unless, then, the ancients had some source of tin with which we are unacquainted, it seems to be well established, and is indeed admitted even by Sir Cornewall Lewis, that the Phoenician tin was mainly, if not altogether, derived from Cornwall, and, consequently, that even at this early period a considerable commerce had been organised, and very dis- tant countries brought into connexion with one another. Sir C. Lewis, however, considers that the tin was "carried across Gaul to Massilia, and imported thence into Greece and Italy." Doubtless, much of it did in late times come by this route, but the Phoenicians were in the plenitude of their power 1200 years B.C., while Massilia was not built until 600 B.C. Moreover, Strabo expressly says that in early times the Phoenicians carried on the tin trade from Cadiz, which we must remember was nearer to Cornwall than to Tyre or Sidon. We are, therefore, surely quite justified in concluding that between B.C. 1500 and B.C. 1200, the Phoenicians sailed into the Atlantic, and discovered the mineral fields of Spain and Britain; and, when we consider how well our South Coast must have been known to them, it is, I think, more than probable that they pushed their explorations still farther, in search of other shores as wealthy as ours. Indeed, we must remember that amber, so much valued in ancient times, could not have been obtained from any nearer source than the coast of the German Ocean. M. Morlot thinks that he has found traces of the Phoeni- cians even in America, while Professor Nilsson has attempted, as already mentioned, to show that they had settlements far up on the northern shores of Norway. M. Morlot relies on some antiquities, and particularly on certain glass beads, found in American tumuli ; these, however, in the opinion of Mr. Franks, may be mediaeval, and of Venetian origin. Professor Nilsson's arguments may be reduced to seven, BAAL- WORSHIP IN NORTHERN EUROPE. 47 namely, the small size of the sword-handles, bracelets, etc. ; the character of the ornaments on the bronze implements, and the engravings in Bronze age tumuli ; the worship of Baal ; certain peculiar methods of reaping and fishing ; and the use of war chariots. The implements and ornaments of bronze certainly appear to have belonged to a race with smaller hands than those of the present European nation ; the ornaments on them are also peculiar, and have, in Professor Nilsson's opinion, a symbolic meaning. Although the great stones, in tumuli of the Bronze age, are very seldom ornamented, or even hewn into shape, still there are some few exceptions ; one of these is the remarkable monument, near Kivik in Chris- tianstad. From the general character of the engravings Professor Nilsson has no hesitation in referring this tumulus to the Bronze age, and on two of the stones are represen- tations of human figures, which may fairly be said to have a Phoenician, or Egyptian appearance. On another of the stones, an obelisk is represented, which Professor Nilssoh regards as symbolical of the Sun- God; and it is certainly remarkable that in an ancient ruin in Malta, characterised by other decorations of the Bronze age types, a somewhat similar obelisk was discovered: we know also, that in many countries Baal, the God of the Phoenicians, was worshipped under the form of a conical stone. Nor is this, by any means, the only case in which Professor Nilsson finds traces of Baal worship in Scandinavia. Indeed, the festival of Baal, or Balder, was, he tells us, celebrated on Midsummer's night in Scania, and far up into Norway, almost to the Loffoden Islands, until within the last fifty years. A wood fire was made upon a hill or mountain, and the people of the neighbourhood gathered together in order, like Baal's prophets of old, to dance round it, shouting and singing. This Midsummer's-night-fire has even retained in some 48 QUESTION STILL DOUBTFUL. parts the ancient name of " Balder sbal," or Baldersfire. Leopold von Buch long ago suggested, that this custom could not have originated in a country where at Midsummer the sun is never lost sight of, and where, consequently, the smoke only, not the fire, is visible. A similar custom also prevailed until lately in some parts of our islands. Baal has given his name to many Scandinavian localities, as, for [ instance, the Baltic, the Great and Little Belt, Belteberga, / Baleshaugen, Balestranden, etc. The ornamentation characteristic of the Bronze age, is, in the opinion of Professor Nilsson, decidedly Semitic, rather than Indo-European. He lays considerable stress on two curious vase-carriages, one found in Sweden and the other in Mecklenburg, which certainly appear to have been very like the "vases" made for Solomon's temple, and described in the first Book of Kings. Finally, he believes that the use of war chariots, the practice of reaping close to the ear, and a certain method of fishing, are all evidences of Phoenician intercourse. Professor Nilsson is so great an authority, as an archaeo- logist his labors have contributed so much to place the science on a sound basis, that his opinions are deserving of the most careful consideration. Nor can they fairly be judged by the very short abstract which has been given above, as many of his arguments must be followed in detail before they can be properly appreciated. That the Phoe- nicians have left their traces in Norway is, however, in my opinion, all that can fairly be deduced from the facts on which he relies, even if we attribute to them all the signi- ficance claimed for them by him. Farther evidence is re- quired, before it would be safe to connect them with the Bronze age. As regards the smallness of the hands, we must remember that Hindoos share this peculiarity with Egyptians ; this character is therefore as reconcileable with BRONZE AGE CIVILISATION. 49 an Indo-European, as with a Phoenician origin of the Bronze age civilisation. Moreover, there are two strong objections to the theory so ably advocated by Professor Nilsson. The first is the cha- racter of the ornamentation on the bronze weapons and im- plements. This almost always consists of geometrical figures, and we rarely, if ever, find upon them representations of animals or plants ; while on the ornamented shields, etc., de- scribed by Homer, as well as in the decoration of Solomon's temple, animals and plants were abundantly represented. Secondly, the Phoenicians, so far as we know them, were well acquainted with the use of iron ; in Homer we find the warriors already armed with iron weapons, and the tools used in preparing the materials for Solomon's temple, were of this metal. It is very remarkable, that scarcely any traces of ancient commerce have been found in Cornwall, and it is much to be regretted that our museums possess so few specimens of Phoenician art. When these wants shall have been supplied, as we may hope that ere long they will be, there is no doubt that much light will be thrown on the subject. The form of the head also would be very instructive ; but, owing to the unfortunate habit of burning the dead which prevailed at that period, we have, as yet, very few skulls which can safely be referred to the Bronze age, and, on the whole, we must admit that, for the present, the evidence is not sufficient to justify us in expressing any very definite opinion as to the source of the Bronze age civilisation. It is evident that a people who had acquired so fair a proficiency in metallurgy and manufactures, who showed so much taste in adorning the living, and so much reverence in their disposition of the dead, must have had some ideas of architecture and religion, although we have not, hitherto, found any evidence either of a coinage or an alphabet. As 4 50 BRONZE AGE ARCHITECTURE. yet, however, their architecture is almost unknown to us. Doubtless, among the numerous camps, fortifications, stone circles, etc., which still remain, there are some which belong to this period, but the difficulty is to fix upon them. The only remains of dwellings, which we can with any confidence FIG. I Staigue Fort Kerry. refer to the Bronze age, are some of the Lake- villages, which will be described in a future chapter. A large proportion of the ancient fortifications, as, for instance, Staigue Fort (fig. 60), belong, almost without a doubt, to a much later period. My own impression is, that both Abury and Stonehenge, the two greatest monuments of their kind, not only in Eng- land, but even in Europe, belong to this period. The his- torical account, if I may use such an expression, of Stone- henge is, that it was erected by Aurelius Ambrosius, in memory of the British chieftains, treacherously murdered by Hengist and the Saxons, about the year 460. Giraldus Cambrensis, writing at the close of the twelfth century, says, "That there was in Ireland, in ancient times, a pile of stones worthy of admiration, called the Giants' Dance, because Giants, from the remotest parts of Africa, brought them into Ireland ; and in the plains of Kildare, not far from the castle of Naas, as well by force of art, as strength, miraculously set them up ; and similar stones, erected in a like manner, are to be seen there at this day. STONEHENGE. 51 It is wonderful how so many and such large stones could have been collected in one place, and by what artifice they could have been erected ; and other stones, not less in size, placed upon such large and lofty stones, which appear, as it were, to be so suspended in the air, as if by the design of the workmen, rather than by the support of the upright stones. These stones (according to the British history) Aurelius Ambrosius, king of the Britons, procured Merlin, by super- natural means, to bring from Ireland into Britain. And that he might have some famous monument of so great a treason to future ages, in the same order and art as they stood formerly, set them up where the flower of the British nation fell by the cut-throat practice of the Saxons, and where, under the pretence of peace, the ill- secured youth of the kingdom, by murderous designs, were slain."* This account is clearly mythical. Moreover, the very name of Stonehenge, seems to me a very strong argument against those who attribute to it so recent an origin. It is generally considered to mean the Hanging-stones, as indeed was long ago suggested by Wace, an Anglo-Norman poet, who says, Stanhengues ont nom en Englois Pieres pandues en Francois, f but it is surely more natural to derive the last syllable from the Anglo-Saxon word "ing," a field; as we have Keston, originally Kyst-staning, the field of stone coffins. What more natural, than that a new race, finding this magnificent ruin, standing in solitary grandeur on Salisbury Plain, and able to learn nothing of its origin, should call it simply the place of stones? what more unnatural, than that they should do so, if they knew the name of him, in whose honor it was erected ? The plan, also, of Stonehenge seems to be a sufficient reason for not referring it to post-Roman times. It * Giraldus. Topogr. of Ireland. f Wright's "Wanderings of an Antiquary, p. 301. 52 STONEHENGE. has, indeed, been urged that if Stonehenge had existed in the time of Csesar, we should find it mentioned by ancient writers. Hecatseus, however, does allude to a magnificent circular temple, in the island of the Hyperboreans, over against Cel- tica, and many archaeologists have confidently assumed that this refers to Stonehenge. But why should we expect to find it described, if it was, as we suppose, even at that time a ruin, more perfect no doubt than at this day, but still a ruin ? The Caledonian Wall was a most important fortifi- cation, constructed by the Romans themselves, and yet, as Dr. Wilson tells us,* only one of the Roman historians makes the least allusion to its erection. It is evident, that Stonehenge was at one time a spot of great sanctity. A glance at the ordnance map will show, that tumuli cluster in great numbers round, and within sight of it ; within a radius of three miles, there are about three hundred burial mounds, while the rest of the country is ' ) comparatively free from them. If, then, we could determine i c* f the date of these tumuli, we should be justified, I think, ^ in referring the Great Temple itself to the same period. Now, of these barrows, Sir Richard Colt Hoare examined a great number, 151 of which had not been previously opened. Of these, the great majority contained inter- ments by cremation, in the manner usual during the Bronze age. Only two contained any iron weapons, and these were both secondary interments ; that is to say, the owners of the iron weapons were not the original occupiers of the tumuli. Of the other burial mounds, no less than 39 contained objects of bronze, and one of them, in which were found a spear- head, and pin of bronze, was still more connected with the temple by the presence of fragments, not only of Sarcen stones, but also of the blue stones which form the inner circle at Stonehenge ; and which, according to Sir R. C. Hoare, * Pre-historic Ann. of Scot. vol. ii. p. 39. ABURY. 53 do not naturally occur in Wiltshire. Under these circum- stances, we may surely refer Stonehenge to the Bronze age. Abury is much less known than Stonehenge, and yet, though a ruder, it must have been originally even a grander temple. According to Aubrey, Abury "did as much ex- ceed Stonehenge as a cathedral does a parish church." When perfect, it consisted of a circular ditch and em- bankment, containing an area of 28 1 acres ; inside the ditch was a circle of great stones, and within this, again, two smaller circles, formed by a double row of similar stones, standing side by side. From the outer embankment, started two long winding avenues of stones, one of which went in the direc- tion of Beckhampton, and the other in that of Kennet, where it ended in another double circle. Stukely supposed that the idea of the whole was that of a snake transmitted through a circle ; the Kennet circle representing the head, the Beck- hampton avenue the tail. Midway between the two avenues, stood Silbury Hill, the largest artificial mound in Great Britain, measuring no less than 170 feet in height. From its position, it appears to form part of the general plan, and though it has been twice examined, no primary interment has been found in it. On the whole, this appears to have been the finest megalithic ruin in Europe ; but, un- fortunately for us, the pretty little village of Abury, like some beautiful parasite, has grown up at the expense, and in the midst, of the ancient temple, and out of 650 great stones, not above 20 are still standing. In a very interesting article,* Mr. Fergusson has attempted to prove, that both Stonehenge and Abury belong to post-Roman times. Some of his arguments I have already replied to, in dis- cussing the age of Stonehenge. There is one, however, which relates specially to Silbury Hill. " The Roman road," he says, "from Bath to Marlborough, either passes under the hill, * Quarterly Review, July, 1860, p. 209. 54 SILBURY HILL or makes a sudden bend to get round it in a manner that no Roman road, in Britain at least, was ever known to do No one standing on Oldborough Down, and casting his eye along its straight unbending line, can avoid seeing that it runs straight at the centre of Silbury Hill. It is true, it may have diverged just before hitting it, but nothing can be more unlikely. It would have been just as easy for the Roman engineer to have carried its arrow-like course a hundred yards to the right. This, indeed, would have been a prefer- able line, looked at from a Roman point of view, straight for Marlborough, to which it was tending, and fitting better to a fragment of the road, found beyond the village of Kennet. But all this was disregarded, if the hill existed at that time, and the road runs straight at its heart, as if on purpose to make a sharp turn to avoid it, a thing as ab- horrent to a Roman road-maker, as a vacuum is said to be to nature. From a careful examination of all the circumstances of the case, the conclusion seems inevitable, that Silbury Hill stands on the Roman road, and consequently must have been erected subsequently to the time of the Romans leaving the country/' Startled by this argument, and yet satisfied that there must be some error, I turned to the ordnance map, and found, to my surprise, that the Roman road was distinctly laid down as passing, not under, but .at the side of, Silbury Hill. Not content with this, I persuaded Professor Tyndall to visit the locality with me, and we convinced ourselves that upon this point the map was quite correct. The impression on our minds was, that the Roman engineer, in constructing the road from Morgans Hill, had taken Silbury Hill as a point to steer for, swerving only just before reaching it. Moreover, the map will show that not only this Roman road, but some others in the same part of England, are less straight than is usually the case. MORE ANCIENT THAN THE ROMAN ROAD. 55 Mr. Fergusson admits, in the passage just quoted, that the pieces of the road, on the two sides of Silbury Hill, are not in the same straight line, so that by his own showing there must have been a bend somewhere. On the whole, therefore, I quite agree with old Stukeley, that the Roman road curved abruptly southwards, to avoid Silbury Hill, and that " this shows Silbury Hill was ancienter than the Roman road."* How much more ancient, it is impossible to say. Stukeley thinks it was founded in 1859 B.C., the year of the death of Sarah, Abraham's wife. It is wiser to confess our ignorance, than to waste valuable time in useless guesses. Still, as the stones of Stonehenge are roughly hewn, and as this is not the case with any of those at Abury, it seems reasonable to conclude, with Sir R. C. Hoare, and other able archaeolo- gists, that Abury was the older of the two ; and those who are disposed to agree with me, in referring Stonehenge to the later part of the Bronze age, will perhaps also do so in attri- buting Abury to the commencement, or at least the earlier portion, of the same period, for, though far from impossible, it is hardly probable, that so great a work should belong to the Stone age.f * Mr. Blandford, who superintended in selecting some competent archseolo- the opening of the Hill in 1849, came gist, who might be appointed Con- also to the same conclusion. servator of the National Antiquities ; f It is impossible to mention Abury, whose duty it would be to preserve, as without regretting that so magnificent far as possible, from wanton injury, a national monument should have been the graves of our ancestors, and other destroyed, for a paltry profit of a few interesting memorials of the past ; to pounds. As population increases, and make careful drawings of all those land grows more valuable, these ancient which have not yet been figured, and monuments become more and more to report, from time to time, as to their liable to mutilation or destruction. condition. At a very trifling expense "We cannot afford them the protec- the Danish Government have bought tion of our museums, nor, perhaps, for the nation a large number of tumuli, would it be desirable to do so, but it and have thus preserved many national is well worthy of consideration whether monuments which would otherwise have Government would not act wisely been destroyed. 56 STONE CIRCLES. There is not, as yet, any satisfactory evidence either as to the age or origin of the great stone-circles. They are con- sidered by most antiquaries to have been originally temples : some, however, are rather disposed to regard them as courts of law, or battle-rings. Dr. Wilson* tells us that Mr. George Petrie has called his attention to several cases, in which the Orkney circles have been thus used, in comparatively modern times. In 1349, William de Saint Michael was summoned to attend a court held " apud stantes lapides de Eane en le Garniach," to answer for his forcible detention of certain ecclesiastical property ; and in 1380, Alexander, Lord of Regality of Badenoch, and son of Robert II., held a court "apud le standand stanys de la Rathe de Kyngucy Estir," to enquire into the titles, by which the Bishop of Moray held certain of his lands. Even so late as the year 1438, we find a notice, that " John off Erwyne and Will. Bernardson swor on the Hirdmane Stein before oure Lorde ye Erie off Orknay and the gentiless off the euntre." Opinions, how- ever, will differ, as to how far this comparatively recent use of the stone circles justifies us in forming an opinion, \\ibh regard to the purpose for which they were originally intended. Megalithic erections, resembling those which are generally, but hastily, ascribed to the Druids, are found in very different countries. Mr. Maurice f was, I believe, the first to point out, that in some parts of India, there are various monuments of stone, which "recal strongly those mysterious, solitary, or clustered monuments of un- known origin, so long the puzzle and delight of antiquaries, which abound in our native country, and are seen here and there in all parts of Europe and Western Asia." Mr. Fergusson goes farther, and argues with great in- genuity that the "Buddhist architecture in India, as prac- * Pre-historic Annals of Scotland, second edition, vol. i. p. 164. f India Antiqua. STONE CIRCLES, ETC. IN INDIA. 57 tised from the third century B.C. to seventh A.D., is essentially tumular, circular, and external, thus possessing the three great characteristics of all the so-called Druidical remains."* These resemblances, indeed, are too great to be accidental, and the differences represent, not so much a difference in style, as in civilisation. Thus, the tumuli of India, though sometimes of earth, are " generally of rubble masonry internally, and of hewn stone or brick on the external surface, and originally were apparently always surrounded by a circular enclosure of upright stones, though in later times this came to be attached to the building as an ornamental band, instead of an inde- pendent feature. In the most celebrated example in India, that at Sanchee, the circle consists of roughly squared up- right stone posts, joined at the top by an architrave .of the same thickness as the posts, exactly as at Stonehenge ; the only difference being the insertion of three stone rails be- tween each of the uprights, which is a masonic refinement hardly to be expected among the Celts." In India, then, the circles of stones seem generally to have surrounded tumuli ; but this is not always the case, and there are some, " which apparently enclose nothing." Again, they are generally covered with sculpture ; but to this also there are exceptions, as, for instance, at Amravati, where there are numberless little circles of rude unhewn stone, identical with those in this country, but smaller." The great stones at Stonehenge are, as we know, roughly hewn, and there is a very remarkable cromlech, near Con- folens in Charente, in which the upper stone is supported, not on rude stone blocks, but on four slender columns."! At this stage, the Druidical architecture in Western Europe was replaced by a totally different style, while in India, on the contrary, it was permitted to follow its natural course of development ; so that it requires an observant eye to detect, * I. c. p. 212. f Statestique Monumentale de la Charente. 58 STONE CIRCLES IX PALESTINE in the rude cromlechs, stone circles, and tumuli, the proto- types of the highly decorated architecture of the Buddhists. It is a very remarkable fact that even to the present day, some of the hill tribes in India continue to erect cromlechs, and other combinations of gigantic stones, sometimes in rows, sometimes in circles, in either case very closely resembling those found in Western Europe. Among the Khasias,* "the funeral ceremonies are the only ones of any importance, and are often conducted with barbaric pomp and expense ; and rude stones of gigantic proportions are erected as monuments, singly or in rows, circles, or supporting one another like those of Stonehenge, which they rival in dimensions and appearance." Those who believe that the use of metal was introduced into Europe by a race of Indo-European origin, will find, in these interesting facts a confirmation of their opinion ; but, on the other hand, Professor Nilsson might appeal to pas- sages in the Old Testament, which show the existence of similar customs, if not among the Phoenicians, at least among their neighbours. Thus, we are told in Genesis xxxi. that " Jacob took a stone and set it up for a pillar ;" and in verse 51, "Laban said to Jacob, behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast between me and thee. This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, to do me harm," etc. At Mount Sinai, Moses erected twelve pillars. f And so, again, when the children of Israel had crossed over Jordan, Joshua took twelve stones and pitched them in Gilgal. " And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones ? Then ye shall let your * Dr. Hooker's Himalayan Journal, vol. ii., p. 276. See also p. 320. f Ex. xxiv. 4. AND ALGERIA. 59 children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land/'* In Moab, De Saulcy observed rude stone avenues, and other monuments, which he compares to Celtic dolmens ; and Stanley saw, a few miles to the north of Tyre, a circle of rough upright stones. Remains, more or less similar, occur, however, in very dif- ferent parts of the world ; thus, in Algeria MM. H. Christy and L. Feraudf have recently examined a large number of cromlechs, stone- circles, and other ancient remains, very closely resembling those, which, in Northern Europe, we have been in the habit of ascribing to the Druids. They occur in great numbers ; indeed, in the neighbourhood of Constantine, MM. Christy and Feraud saw more than a thousand, in three days. They opened fourteen of the cromlechs, all of which turned out, as might have been expected, to be places of burial. The corpse had been deposited in a contracted position, accompanied sometimes by rings of copper or iron, worked flints, and fragments of pottery ; in one case even by a coin of Faustina, who lived in the second century after Christ. Again, Arctic travellers mention stone- circles, and stone- rows, among the Esquimaux, though it would appear that these stone- circles are quite small, and merely form the lower part of their habitations. Thus, then, it is evident that similar monuments have been erected in very different countries, and at very different periods ; generally, however, in honor of some distinguished man, or to commemorate some great event. * Joshua iv. 21, 22. f Recueil des notices et Memoires de la Societe Archeologique de la Province de Constantine, 1863, p. 214. 60 CHAPTER III. THE -USE OF STONE IN ANCIENT TIMES. rE preceding chapters have been devoted to the age of Bronze. We must now revert to still earlier times and ruder races of men ; to a period which, for obvious reasons, is called by archaeologists the Stone age. The Stone age, however, if by this we signify merely the ante-metallic period, falls naturally, as has been already stated, into two great divisions. First. The period of the drift, which I have proposed to call the Archaeolithic period. Secondly. The Neolithic, or later Stone age, which we must now consider, in which the stone implements are more skil- fully made, more varied in form, and often polished. The immense number of stone implements which occur, in all parts of the world, is sufficient evidence of the im- portant part they played in ancient times. M. Herbst has favored me with the following interesting statement of the number of stone and bone implements in the Copenhagen Museum : Flint axes and wedges 1070 Broad Chisels 285 Hollow ditto 270 Narrow chisels 365 Hollow ditto 33 Poniards 250 Lance-heads ., 656 10 a, -m4 THE GREAT ABUNDANCE OF STONE IMPLEMENTS. 61 Arrow-heads 171 Halfmoon shaped implements 205 Pierced axes and axe-hammers , . . 746 Flint flakes 300 Sundries 489 4840 Rough stone implements from the Kjokkenmoddings 3678 Bone implements 171 Ditto from Kj okkenmoddings 109 8798 And if duplicates and broken specimens were counted, he thinks that the number would be between 11,000 and 12,000. He has also had the kindness to estimate for me the numbers in private and provincial museums, and, on the whole, he believes we shall be within the mark, if we consider that the Danish museums contain 30,000 stone implements, to which moreover must be added the rich stores at Flensborg and Kiel, as well as the very numer- ous specimens with which the liberality of the Danish archaeologists has enriched other countries; so that there is scarcely any important collection in Europe, which does not possess some illustrations of the Danish stone implements. The museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy includes nearly 700 flint flakes, 512 celts, more than 400 arrow-heads, and 50 spear-heads, besides 75 "scrapers," and numerous other objects of stone, such as slingstones, hammers, whetstones, querns, grain- crushers, etc. Again, the museum at Stockholm is estimated to contain between 15,000 and 16,000 specimens. The very existence, however, of a Stone age is, or has lately been, denied by some eminent archaeologists. Thus Mr. Wright, the learned Secretary of the Ethnological So- ciety, while admitting that "there may have been a period 62 STONE USED AFTER DISCOVERY OF METAL. when society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones were the only implements with which men knew how to furnish themselves/' doubts "if the antiquary has yet found any evidence of such a period. " And though the above figures are sufficient to prove that stone was at one time used for many implements, which we now make of metal, this is not in itself a conclusive answer to Mr. "Wright, nor in fact would it be denied by that gentleman. Moreover, there is no doubt, that in early ages stone and metal were used at the same time, the first by the poor, the second by the rich. If we consider the difficulties of mining in early days, the rude implements with which men had then to work, their ignorance of the many ingenious methods, by which the operations of modern miners are so much facilitated, and, finally, the difficulties of carriage either by land or water, it is easy to see that bronze implements must have been very expensive. In addition, moreover, to the a priori probability, there is plenty of direct evidence, that bronze and stone were in use at the same time. Thus, Mr. Bateman records thirty-seven instances of tumuli which contained objects of bronze, and in no less than twenty-nine of these, stone implements also were found. At the time of the discovery of America, the Mexicans, though well acquainted with the use of bronze, still used flakes of obsidian for knives and razors, and even after the introduction of iron, stone was still used for various purposes. Still, however, there appears, to be enough evidence to jus- tify us in believing, not only that there was a period "when society was in so barbarous a state that sticks or stones," (to which we must add horns and bones) " were the only imple- ments with which men knew how to furnish themselves," but also that the antiquary has found sufficient "evidence of such MATERIAL PREFERRED FOR STONE IMPLEMENTS. 63 a period." Part, at least, of this evidence will be found in the following pages ; and though it is true that much of it has been obtained since our accomplished countryman published the work from which I have just quoted, yet he has recently repeated his previous statements in a lecture delivered at Leeds. Our knowledge of this ancient period is derived princi- pally from four sources, to the consideration of which I propose to devote the four following chapters ; namely, the tumuli, or ancient burial-mounds, the Lake habitations of Switzerland, the Kjokkenmoddings, or shell -mounds, of Denmark, and the Bone- Caves. There are, indeed, other remains of great interest, such, for example, as the ancient fortifications, the "castles" and "camps" which crown so many of our hill-tops, and the great lines of embankment, such as the Wansdyke, which cross so many of our downs, where they have been spared by the plough ; there are the so-called druidical circles, and the vestiges of ancient habitations ; the " Hut-circles," " Cloghauns," "Weems," "Picts' houses," etc. The majority of these belong, however, in all probability, to a later period ; and at any rate, in the present state of our knowledge, we can- not say which, or how many of them, are referable to the Stone age. As far as the material is concerned, every kind of stone, which was hard and tough enough for the purpose, was used in the manufacture of implements. The magnificent collection of celts at Dublin has been specially studied, from a mineralogical point of view, by the Rev. S. Haughton, and the results are thus recorded by Wilde.* " Of the better qualities of rock suited for celt-making, the type of the felspathic extreme of the series of trap rocks is the pure felstone, or petrosilex, of a pale blueish * Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 72. 64 FRACTURE OF FLINT. or grayish, green, except where the surface has been acted upon, and the average composition of which is 25 parts quartz and 75 felspar. Its physical characters are absence of toughness, and the existence of a splintery conchoidal fracture almost as sharp as that of flint At the hornblendic extreme of the trap rocks we find the basalt, of which also celts were made ; tough and heavy, the siliceous varieties having a splintery fracture, but never affording so cutting an edge as the former Intermediate in character between these two rocks, we find all the varieties of felstone, slate and porphyry streaked with hornblende, from which the great majority of the foregoing implements have been made." On the whole, however, flint appears to have been the stone most often used in Europe, and it has had a much more important influence on our civilisation than is generally supposed. Savages value it on account of its hardness and mode of fracture, which is such that, with practice, a good sound block can be chipped into almost any form that may be required. If we take a rounded hammer, and strike with it on a flat surface of flint, a conoidal fracture is produced ; the size of which depends, in a great measure, on the form of the hammer. The surface of fracture is propagated downwards through the flint, in a diverging direction, and thus embraces a cone, whose apex is at the point struck by the hammer, and which can afterwards be chipped out of the mass. Flint cones, formed in this way, may sometimes be found in heaps of stones broken up to mend the roads, and have doubtless often been mistaken for casts of fossil shells. If a blow is given, not on a flat surface, but at the angle of a more or less square flint, the fracture is at first semi- conoidal or nearly so, but after expanding for a short dis- tance, it becomes flat, and may be propagated through a FRACTURE OF FLINT. 65 length of as much as ten inches, thus forming a blade-like flake (figs. 62-69), with a triangular cross section (fig. 70). The consequence is, that a perfect flint flake will always have a small bulb, or projection (fig. 63 a) at the butt end, on the flat side ; this has been called the bulb, or cone of percussion. After the four original angles of a square block have been thus flaked off, the eight new angles may be treated in a simi- lar manner, and so on. Fig. 61, and pi. 1, fig. 6, represent blocks, or cores, from FlG - 62 - FlG - 63 - FlG - 64 - which flakes have been struck off. A flake it- self is represented in pi. 1, fig. 7, and a very large one from Fannerup in Jutland is figured, one- Flint core or nucleus. Flint FlakeDenmark. half of the natural size, in figs. 62-64. The bulb is shown 5 66 FLINT FLAKES. in figs. 63 a and 64, and the flake has been worked into a point at the end. Fig. 65 is an arrow-shaped flake from FIG. 65. Arrow-shaped Flint Flake Ireland. Ireland, in which the butt end has been chipped away, apparently to adapt it to a handle or shaft. FIG. 66. FIG. 67. FIG. 68. FIG. 69. Flint Flakes Denmark. Figs. 66-69 are small Danish flakes; forms exactly simi- lar might be found in any country where the ancient in- habitants could obtain flint or obsidian. In fig. 66, we see FLINT FLAKES. 67 that another flake had been previously taken from the same block. Figs. 67, 68, represent flakes, of which the points have been broken off, but we see along their whole length the depression caused by the removal of a previous flake. The section of such a flake is, there- fore, not triangular, as in fig. 700, but four- sided, as in fig. 705. Sometimes, though not often, a wide flake is , ~ . . Sections of Flakes* taken on in such a way as to overlap two previous flakes, as in the case of the one represented in fig. 69. In this instance, the section is penta- gonal ; the flat under surface remaining always the same, but the upper side showing four facets. Easy as it may seem to make such flakes as these, a little practice will convince any one who attempts to do so, that a certain knack is required, and that it is also necessary to be careful in the selection of the flint. It is therefore evident that these flint flakes, simple as they may appear, are always the work of man. To make one, the flint must be held firmly, and then a considerable force must be applied, either by pressure or by blows, repeated three or four times, but at least three, and given in certain slightly different directions, with a certain definite force ; conditions which could scarcely occur in nature ; so that, simple as it may seem to the un- trained eye, a flint flake is to the antiquary as sure a trace of man, as the footprint in the sand was to Robinson Crusoe. It is hardly necessary to say, that the flakes have a sharp cutting edge on each side, and might therefore be at once used as knives : they are indeed so named by some archae- ologists ; but it seems to me more convenient to call them simply flakes, and to confine the name of knife to imple- STONE HATCHETS. ments more especially intended and adapted for cutting purposes. Many of the flakes were certainly never intended to serve as knives, but were chipped up into saws, awls, or arrow- heads. Many savages use flint, or chert, in this manner, even at the present day, and the Mexicans in the time of Cortez used precisely similar fragments of obsidian. Next to flint flakes, axes, wedges, or celts, are, perhaps, of most importance. The largest and finest specimens are found in Denmark ; one in my possession, of beautiful white flint, is FIG. 71. 13in. long, IJin. thick, and 3Jin. in /^lll\ breadth. The Seeland axes have very IM. /18k often, indeed generally, perpendicular sides; in Jutland a large proportion have sloping sides; this is also gene- rally the case in other parts of North- Western Europe. In Switzerland, how- ever, the axes, which are much smaller than those from Denmark, have per- pendicular sides (fig. 120). The common Danish axe or wedge is figured in pi. 1, fig. 1. Figs. 71 and 72, represent forms which, though rare in Seeland, are common in other parts of Europe. Those found in Denmark are sometimes polished, but almost, if not quite, as often, left rough. On the contrary, in other parts of North- Western Europe, the axes are usually ground to a more or less smooth surface. Fio. 72. Stone Axes Ireland. STONE HATCHETS, 69 FIG. 73. That they were fixed in wooden handles is evident, in many specimens, from peculiar polished spaces, which have been produced by the friction of the wood. In almost all cases, the wooden handle has long perished, but there are one or two instances on record, in which it has been preserved. Fig. 73 represents a stone hatchet, found, some years ago, in the County of Mona- ghan ; the handle was of pine, and was 13Jin. long. Horn handles have been frequently found in the Swiss Lakes. To us, accustomed as we are to the use of metals, it seems difficult to believe that such things were ever made use of; we know, however, that many savages of the present day have no better tools. Yet, with axes such as these, and generally with the assistance of fire, they will cut down large trees, and hollow them out into canoes. The piles used in the Swiss Stone age Lake-habi- stone celt m handle. tations were evidently, from the form of the cuts on them, prepared with the help of stone axes ; and in the Danish peat bogs, several trees have been found, with the marks of stone axes, and of fire, upon them, and in one or two cases stone celts have even been found lying at the side. That they were also weapons of war is probable, not only on d priori grounds, but also because they have frequently been found in the graves of chiefs, associated with bronze daggers. About the year 1809, a large cairn in Kirkcudbrightshire, popularly supposed to be the tomb of a King Aldus M'Galdus, was removed by a farmer. "When the cairn had been re- moved, the workmen came to a stone coffin of very rude workmanship, and on removing the lid, they found the skeleton of a man of uncommon size. The bones were in such a state of decomposition, that the ribs and vertebrae crumbled into dust on attempting to lift them. The remain- 70 SCRAPERS. ing bones being more compact, were taken out, when it was discovered that one of the arms had been almost separated from the shoulder by the stroke of a stone axe, and that u fragment of the axe still remained in the bone. The axe had been of greenstone, a material which does not occur in this part of Scotland. There were also found with this skeleton a ball of flint, about three inches in diameter, which was perfectly round and highly polished, and the head of an FIG. 74. FIG 75. Scrapers. arrow, also of flint, but not a particle of any metallic substance."* Another class of stone hatchets are those which are pierced for the handle, as in pi. 1, fig. 2. From the nature of flint, * New Statist. Ace. Kirkcudbrightshire, vol. iv., p. 332. Quoted by Wilson, Prehis. Ann. of Scotland, 2d ed. vol. i., p. 187. SCRAPERS. 71 these were scarcely ever made of that material. There are, however, in Copenhagen two such hatchets, in which ad- vantage has been ingeniously taken of a natural hole in the flint. It is very doubtful, whether this class of implements truly belongs to the Stone age. The pierced axes are generally found in graves of the Bronze period, and it is most probable that this mode of attaching the handle was used very rarely, if at all, until the discovery of metal had rendered the process far more easy than could have been the case previously. The so-called " scrapers," (figs. 74, 75, 105, 106), are oblong stones, rounded at one end, which is brought to a bevelled edge by a series of small blows. One side is flat, the other, or outer, one is more or less convex; sometimes they have a short handle, which gives them very much the appearance of a spoon. They have been found in England, France, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland and other countries. FIG. 76. FIG. 77. FIG. 78. Esquimaux Scraper. They vary from one to four inches in length, and from half an inch to two inches in breadth. A modern Esquimaux scraper is represented in figs. 76-78. These modern speci- mens are in form identical with the old ones. 72 THE SMALL AXES To the small, triangular " axes/' (figs. 79-81) which are very characteristic of the Kjokkenmoddings, as well as of the Coastfinds, I have applied the name by which they are usually known, but without wishing to prejudge the question as to their purpose. They are flat on one side, and more or less convex on the other ; rudely triangular or quadrangular in Fie. 79. Fio. 80. FIG. 81. Danish Axe. shape, with the cutting edge at the broader end ; and from 2|in. to 5|in. in length, with a breadth of I|in. to 2Jin. They are never ground, and the cutting edge, though not sharp, is very strong, as it is formed by a plane, meeting the flat side at a very obtuse angle. Professor Steenstrup doubts whether these curious and peculiar implements were ever intended for axes, and regards them as having been, in all probability, mere weights for fishing lines, in support of which view he figures some not, perhaps, very dissimilar stone objects, used for that purpose by the Esquimaux. The so-called edge, in his opinion, neither has, nor could OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 73 have, been used for cutting, but is merely the result of that form, which was found by the fishermen to be most con- venient. He also calls attention to the polished facets on their surfaces, which he regards as affording strong support to his opinion. It must be at once admitted, that there are many of these FIG. 82. FIG. 84, New Zealand Adze. "axes" which can never have been used for cutting, but these may be regarded as failures, and are certainly not to be taken as normal specimens. It is true that the two surfaces, constituting the edge, form a very obtuse angle with one another, but we must remember that if this detracts from the sharpness, it adds greatly to the strength. Moreover, the angle is almost exactly the same as that which we find in the adzes of the New Zealanders, and other South Sea Islanders. Figs. 82-84, represent a recent adze, brought by the Rev. R. Taylor from New Zealand, and now in the British Museum, which very closely resembles the typical 74 CHISELS. FIG. 85. axes of the Kjokkenmoddings. The edge, indeed, is polished, but is after all not smoother than the natural fracture of the flint. The projection on the underside of the Danish speci- men (fig. Sla.) is accidental, and due to some peculiarity in the flint. This surface is usually as flat in the Danish speci- mens, as in the New Zealand. The chisels (pi. 1, fig. 5) resemble the Danish axes, in having perpendicular sides, but they are narrower, and are almost always ground to a smooth surface. Many of them are slightly hollowed on one side, as in fig. 85. There is a curious flat, semi-circular, flint instrument (pi. 1, fig. 3), common in Denmark, but very rarely, if ever, found in Great Britain. The convex edge was evidently fastened into a handle of wood, the marks of which are still in many cases plainly visible. The other edge, which is either straight or concave, is generally provided with a number of teeth, giving it more or less resemblance to a saw. In some cases, it is so much worn away by use, that the implement takes the form of a new moon or a boomerang. The edge is in many cases quite polished, evidently by continuous friction against a soft substance. I say a soft substance, because the polished part overlaps on both sides, and passes in between the teeth of the saw, which would not have been otherwise the case. It is probable that the semi-lunar instruments were fixed in wooden handles, and then used in cleaning skins. Similarly shaped instruments are even now used as knives by the Esquimaux women, under the Hollow Chisel. SPEAR-HEADS. DAGGERS. Fio, 87. Fio. 86. name of Ooloos. It might be convenient to apply this term to the ancient Danish specimens. The so-called "awls" are rude pieces of flint, or flakes worked up at one place by a number of small chips to a point (fig. 125). Though not very sharp, they are pretty strong. The spear-heads (fig. 86) are very vari- able in size and form ; some of them are scarcely distinguishable from large arrow-heads ; others are much larger. Some are so rude that it is questionable whether they were finished, while others are marvellous specimens of ancient art. One in my possession is 12in. in length, l^in. in breadth, and of wonderfully beautiful work- manship. It is one of six, found together inside a large &,!, tumulus in the island offe Moen. The daggers (pi. 1, fig. 4, and fig. 87) are also marvels of skill in flint - chipping. Their form so closely resem- bles that of metallic daggers, that some antiquaries are in- clined to regard them as copies of bronze daggers, and therefore as not belonging to the Stone age. The localities Spearhead Daggen in which they have been found do not, however, offer any support to this hypothesis* 76 SLINGSTONES. Another form of flint weapon (fig. 88), which is common in Denmark, has a handle like that of the last form, but instead of a blade, it ends in a point, and suggests the idea, that if the tip of a dagger had been accidentally broken off, the rest of the weapon might have been worked up into FIG. 88. one of these poniards, and thus utilized. In both these classes, the crimping along the edges of the handle is very curious. The slingstones are of two kinds. The first are merely rough pieces of flint, (pi. 1, fig. 12), reduced by a few blows of a hammer to a convenient size and form. But for the situations in which they are found, these might almost be regarded as natural fragments. Professor Steenstrup is now disposed to think that many of them were used as sinkstones for nets, but that some have really served as slingstones seems to be indicated by their presence in the Peat- mosses, which it is difficult to account for in any other way. The other kind of sling- stones are round flattish flint disks, some of which are beautifully made. The oval tool-stones (fig. 89), or "Tilhug- gersteens" of the northern antiquaries, are oval or egg-shaped stones, more or less indented on one or both surfaces. Their use is not at present thoroughly understood. Some antiqua- ries suppose that they were held between the finger and thumb, and used as hammers or chippers. If, however, a large series is obtained, it will be found that the depression varies greatly in depth, and FIG. 89. Oval Toolstone. Dagger (broken at the point). ARROW-HEADS. 77 that sometimes the stone is completely perforated, which favors the views of those who regard these implements as ringstones for nets, or small hammer heads. Other stones, in which the longer axis is encircled by a groove, appear to have been evidently intended as sinkstones for nets. The arrow-heads are divided by Sir "W. R. Wilde into five varieties. Firstly, the triangular (fig. 90), which frequently had a notch on each side to receive the string which attached it to the shaft ; secondly, that which is hollowed out or indented at the base, FIQ. 93. FIG. 90. Fio. 91. Arrow-heads. as in fig. 91 ; thirdly, the stemmed arrow, which has a tang or projection for sinking into the shaft ; fourthly, when the wings are prolonged on each side, this passes into the barbed arrow (fig. 92) ; finally, we have the leaf-shaped form, a beautiful example of which is represented in fig. 93. The true arrow-heads are generally about an inch in length, but they pass gradually into the javelin, and from that into the spear-head. There are various other kinds of flint imple- ments, such as hammers, saws, harpoons, etc., but omitting for the present the drift types these are the principal forms. Some of the old Spanish writers on Mexico give us a 78 MANUFACTURE OF FLINT IMPLEMENTS. description of the manner in which the Aztecs obtained their obsidian flakes. Torquemada,* who is confirmed by Hernandez, tells us I quote from Mr. Tylor's Anahuac " They had, and still have, workmen who make knives of a certain black stone or flint (obsidian), which it is a most wonderful and admirable thing to see them make out of the stone ; and the ingenuity which invented this art is much to be praised. They are made and got out of the stone (if one can explain it) in this manner. One of these Indian workmen sits down upon the ground, and takes a piece of this black stone, which is like jet, and as hard as flint ; and is a stone which might be called precious, more beautiful and brilliant than alabaster or jasper, so much so that of it are made tablets and mirrors. The piece they take is about eight inches long or rather more, and as thick as one's leg or rather less, and cylindrical ; they have a stick as large as the shaft of a lance, and three cubits or rather more in length, and at the end of it they fasten firmly another piece of wood, eight inches long, to give more weight to this part ; then, pressing their naked feet together, they hold the stone as with a pair of pincers, or the vice of a carpenter's bench. They take the stick (which is cut off smooth at the end) with both hands, and set it well home against the edge of the front of the stone (y ponenlo avesar con el canto de la /rente de la piedra), which also is cut smooth in that part ; and then they press it against their breast, and with the force of the pressure there flies off a knife, with its point and edge on each side, as neatly as if one were to make them of a turnip with a sharp knife, or of iron in the fire. Then they sharpen it on a stone, using a hone to give it a very fine edge; and in a very short time these workmen will make more than twenty knives in the aforesaid manner. They * Torquemada. Monarquia Indiana. Seville, 1615. BONE IMPLEMENTS. 79 come out of the same shape as our barbers' lancets, except that they have a rib up the middle and have a slight graceful curve towards the point." Thus it appears that the obsidian flakes were made, not by blows, but by strong pressure ; and the same is the case with the chert implements of the Esquimaux, according to the description given by Sir E. Belcher.* "Selecting," he says, " a log of wood, in which a spoon- shaped cavity was cut, they placed the splinter to be worked over it, and by pressing gently along the margin vertically, first on one side, then the other, as one would set a saw, they splintered off alternate fragments, until the object, thus properly outlined, presented the spear or arrow-head form, with two cutting serrated sides." A very similar account is also given by Lieutenant Beckwith of the method used by the North American Indians, f Besides being employed for handling the stone axes, the bones and horns of animals were much used as the ma- terial of various simple implements, and those of the stag FIG. 94. Bone Awl Scotland. appear to have been preferred as being the hardest. The commonest bone implement is the pin or awl (fig. 94) : not much less numerous are certain oblong chisel-like imple- ments (fig. 122), the use of which it is not easy to determine. Ribs split open, and pointed at one end, are sometimes found, and have been supposed by some archaeologists to have served as netting rules ; while by others they are considered to have been used in the manufacture of pottery. Bone * Trans, of the Ethnological Soc. New Ser. Vol. i., p. 138. t Report of Explorations and Surreys of the Pacific Railroad, 1855. Vol. ii., p. 43. 80 DANISH COASTFINDS. harpoons, arrow-heads, and spear-heads, also occur; and FIG. 95. pierced teeth seem to have been not unfrequently worn as amulets. Stone implements of the forms above described are frequently found on the surface of the ground, or are dug up in agricultural or other operations. But those found singly in this manner have com- paratively little scientific value; it is only when found in considerable numbers, and especially when associated with other remains, that they serve to throw much light on the manners and customs of ancient times. As already mentioned, the tumuli, the Lake -habitations, and the shell -mounds, are specially valuable in this respect, but I must also say a few words about the "Coastfinds" of the Danish antiquaries. "Coastfinds" are discoveries of rude flint implements, which are found lying in large numbers on certain spots along the old line of coast. These discoveries have received from the Danish antiquaries the name of "Kyst- funden," or, as we may translate it, " Coastfinds/' Owing, probably, to the elevation of the land which has taken place in Jutland since the Stone age, some of them are now on dry ground, and as the shore is very flat, the elevation, slight as it is, has in some cases been sufficient to separate them by a considerable distance from the present water- line. Some, on the other hand, are at lower levels ; one, for instance, close to the Railway station at Korsoer, is exposed only at low tide, and others are always covered. The "Coastfinds," however, belong probably to different classes. Thus, one at Denmark" Anholt was evidently a workshop of flint imple- ments, as is shown by the character of the chips, and by the FLINTFINDS. 81 discovery of more than sixty flint cores. Those, on the con- trary, which even at the present day are under water, must have been so in old times, and as there are no traces of Lake- habitations in Denmark, it seems the most natural suppo- sition that they were the places where the fishermen used to drag their nets. It is still usual to choose particular spots for this purpose, and it is evident that many of the rude objects used in fishing, especially of the stones employed as net- weights, would there be lost. The objects discovered are just what might have been expected under these cir- cumstances. They consist of irregular flint chippings, net- weights or slingstones, flakes, scrapers, awls, and axes. These six different classes of objects have been found in most, if not all of the coastfinds, though in different pro- portions. To give an idea of the numbers in which they occur, I may mention that Professor Steenstrup and I gathered in about an hour at Froelund, near Korsor, 141 flakes, 84 weights, 5 axes, 1 scraper, and about 150 flint chips ; while at a similar spot, near Aarhuus in Jutland, I myself picked up, in two hours and a half, 76 weights, 40 flakes, 39 scrapers, 17 awls, and a considerable number of flint chips. In the sheltered and shallow fjords of Denmark, the sea is generally calm, and, in many instances, a layer of sand has accumulated over and thus protected the flint fragments. This was the case with both the above-mentioned coastfinds, one of which was exposed in draining the land, the other in a railway cutting. Sometimes a change of currents will re- move the light sand, and leave the heavier stones, which again in other cases have lain apparently undisturbed and exposed from the first ; and in such instances, the spots are so thickly strewn with white flints that they may often be distinguished by their color, even at a considerable distance. Of course, in a sea like that which surrounds our coast, 6 82 FLINTFINDS. such remains would soon be reduced to mere gravel ; besides which, we must remember that on our Southern or Eastern shores, even in historical times, the sea has encroached greatly. " Flintfinds," however, resembling in many re- spects these Danish " coastfinds," are not altogether unknown in this country. A great number of flint flakes, with a few arrows and cores, were found some years ago by Mr. Shelley in a field near Reigate, but, so far as I am aware, no other forms have yet been observed at this place. In the Aberdeen Journal (October, 1863), Mr. T. K Jamieson mentions a spot on the banks of the Ythan below Ellon, where in a few minutes he filled his "pockets with flint flakes, abortive arrow-heads, flint blocks from which the flakes have been struck off, and other such nondescript articles of ancient cutlery." There are other places, as, for instance, Bridlington, Pont le Yoy, Spiennes, near Mons, Pressigny le Grand, etc., where immense numbers of rude hatchets, cores, flakes, spear-heads, etc., have been found. Now that our attention has been called to these flintfinds, no doubt many similar discoveries will be made elsewhere. CHAPTER IV. TUMULI. ALL over Europe; we might indeed say, all over the world, wherever they have not been destroyed by the plough or the hainmer ; we find relics of pre-historic times camps, fortifications, dykes, temples, tumuli, etc. ; many of which astonish us by their magnitude, while all of them excite our interest by the antiquity of which they remind us, and the mystery with which they are surrounded. Some FIG. 96. Danish Tumulus. few, indeed, there are, such, for instance, as the Roman Wall in England, the Dannevirke, and Queen Thyra's tumulus, ia Denmark, of which the date and origin are known to us, but 84 PRE-HISTORIC by far the greater number, such, as the Wansdyke, the Fio. 97. Plan of the preceding. "temple" of Carnac in Brittany, the tumuli supposed to be those of Thor, Odin, and Freya at TJpsala,* and the great FIG. 98. bepulchral Stone Circle. tumuli near Drogheda, are entirely pre-historic. Some of * See Frontispiece. TUMULI. 85 them, doubtless, belong to the metallic period, some to that of Stone, but it very rarely happens that we can attribute any of them with reasonable probability to one period rather than to another. This is particularly the case with ancient Fm. 99. Danish Cromlech. earthworks and megalithic temples or circles ; the barrows, or Lows, on the other hand, frequently contain objects from which some idea of relative antiquity may be ob- tained. These ancient burial-mounds, of which several FIG. 100. Sepulchral Stone Circle. typical examples are represented in figs. 96 to 100, are extremely numerous. In our own island they may be seen on almost every down ; in the Orkneys alone it is 86 TUMULI MENTIONED estimated that more than two thousand still remain ; and in Denmark they are even more abundant ; they are found all over Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to the Oural mountains ; in Asia they are scattered over the great steppes, from the borders of Russia to the Pacific Ocean, and from the plains of Siberia to those of Hindostan; in America we are told that they are to be numbered by thou- sands and tens of thousands ; nor are they wanting in Africa, where the Pyramids themselves exhibit the most magnificent development of the same idea ; so that the whole world is studded with these burial places of the dead. The Crom- lechs, Dolmens, and Cistvaens (fig. 99), are now generally regarded as sepulchral, and the great number in which these ancient burial places occur is very suggestive of their an- tiquity, since the labor involved in the construction of a tumulus would not be undertaken except in honor of chiefs and great men. Many of them are small, but some are very large ; Silbury Hill, the highest in Great Britain, has a height of one hundred and seventy feet; but though evidently artificial, there is great doubt whether it is sepulchral. Mr. Bateman, in the Preface to his second work,* has collected together the most ancient allusions to burial cere- monies, and we see that "Mound-burial" was prevalent in the earliest times of which we have any historical record. Achan and his whole family were stoned with stones and burned with fire, after which we are told that Israel " raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger." Again, the king of Ai was buried under a great heap of stones. According to Diodorus, Semiramis, the widow of Ninus, buried her husband within the precincts of the palace, and raised over him a great mound of earth. Some of the Ten Years' Diggings in Celtic and Saxon Gravehills. IN ANCIENT HISTORY. 87 tumuli in Greece were old even in the time of Homer, and were considered by him to be the burial places of the heroes. Pausanias mentions that stones were collected together, and heaped up over the tomb of Laius, the father of (Edipus. In the time of the Trojan war, Tydeus and Lycus are men- tioned as having been buried Tinder two earthen barrows. " Hector's barrow was of stones and earth. Achilles erected a tumulus upwards of an hundred feet in diameter, over the remains of his friend Patroclus. The mound supposed by Xenophon to contain the remains of Alyattes, father of Croesus, king of Lydia, was of stone and earth, and more than a quarter of a league in circumference.. In later times, Alexander the Great caused a tumulus to be heaped over his friend Hephaestion, at the cost of 1200 talents,., no mean sum, even for a conqueror like Alexander, it being 232,500 ster- ling."* Virgil tells us that Dercennus, king of Latium, was buried under an earthen mound ; and, according to the earliest historians,, whose statements are confirmed by the researches of archaeologists, mound-burial was practised in ancient times by the Scythians, Greeks, Etruscans, Ger- mans, and many other nations. The size of the tumulus may be taken as a rude indication of the estimation in which the deceased was held; the Scotch Highlanders f have still a complimentary proverb, "Curri mi clach er do cuirn," i.e. I will add a stone to your cairn. What Schoolcraft says of the North American Indians is applicable to many savage tribes. " Nothing that the dead possessed was deemed too valuable to be interred with the body. The most costly dress, arms, ornaments, and imple- ments, are deposited in the grave ;" which is " always placed in the choicest scenic situations on some crowning hill or gentle eminence in a secluded valley." And the North * Ten Years' Diggings in the Celtic and Saxon Gravehills, p. v. t Wilson, Pre-historic Annals of Scotland, vol. i., p. 86, second edition. . 88 RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE CHAMBERED TUMULI American Indians are said, even until within the last few years, to have cherished a friendly feeling for the French, because, in the time of their supremacy, they had at least this one great merit, that they never disturbed the resting- places of the dead. Some of the oldest tumuli of Scandinavia are large mounds, containing a passage, formed by great blocks of stone, almost always opening towards the south or east, never to the north, and leading into . a great central chamber, round which the dead sit. At Goldhavn, for instance, in the year 1830, a grave (if so it can be called) of this kind was opened, and numerous skeletons were found, sitting on a low seat round the walls, each with his weapons and ornaments by his side. Now, the dwellings used by Arctic nations the "winter-houses" of the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, the "Yurts" of the Siberians correspond closely with these " Granggraben " or "Passage graves." The Siberian Yurt, for instance, as described by Erman, consists of a central chamber, sunk a little in the ground, and, in the absence of great stones, formed of timber, while earth is heaped up on the roof and against the sides, reducing it to the form of a mound. The opening is on the south, and a small hole for a window is sometimes left >on the east side. Instead of glass, a plate of ice is used ; it is at first a foot thick, and four or five generally last through the winter. The fireplace is opposite the entrance; and round the sides of the room, against the walls, "the floor is raised for a width of about six feet, and on this elevated part, the inmates slept at night, and sat at work by day." Captain Cook gives a very similar description of the winter habitations used by the Tschutski, in the extreme north-east of Asia. They are, he says,* "exactly like a vault, the floor of which is sunk a little below the surface of * Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Tol. ii., p. 450. See also vol. iii., p. 374. AND THE DWELLINGS OF SOME ARCTIC NATIONS. 89 the earth. One of them, which I examined, was of an oval form, about twenty feet long, and twelve or more high. The framing was composed of wood, and the ribs of whales, disposed in a judicious manner, and bound together with smaller materials of the same sort. Over this framing is laid a covering of strong coarse grass; and that, again, is covered with earth : so that, on the outside, the house looks like a little hillock, supported by a wall of stone, three or four feet high, which is built round the two sides, and one end." These dwellings appear, then, to agree very closely with the " Ganggraben ;" indeed, it is possible that in some cases ruined dwellings of this kind have been mistaken for sepul- chral tumuli;* for some mounds have been examined which contained broken implements, pottery, ashes, etc., but no human bones ; in short, numerous indications of life, but no trace of death. We know, also, that several savage tribes have a superstitious reluctance to use anything which has belonged to a dead person ; in some cases this applies to his house, which is either deserted or used as a grave. The Indians of the Amazons bury their dead under their houses, which, however, are not therefore abandoned by the living. Under these circumstances, there seems much proba- bility in the view advocated by Professor Nilsson, the venerable archaeologist of Sweden, that these "Granggra- ben" are a copy, a development, or an adaptation, of the dwelling-house ; that the ancient inhabitants of Scandi- navia, unable to imagine a future altogether different from the present, or a world quite unlike our own, showed their respect and affection for the dead, by burying with them those things which in life they had valued most ; with ladies their ornaments, with warriors their weapons. They buried the house with its owner, and the grave was literally the * The so-called " Pond-barrows" perhaps belong to this class. 90 CHAMBERED dwelling of the dead. When a great man died, he was placed on his favorite seat, food and drink were arranged before him, his weapons were placed by his side, his house was closed, and the door covered up ; sometimes, however, to be opened again when his wife or children joined him in the land of spirits. Many skulls have been obtained in Scandinavia, from tumuli of this character ; they are round, with heavy, over- hanging brows, and go far to justify the opinion entertained by some archaeologists, that the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Scandinavia, and, perhaps, of Europe generally, were of Tu- ranian origin, akin to the modern Laplanders. The " cham- bered " tumuli of Great Britain resemble, in many respects, the Scandinavian " Ganggraben," and, like them, are con- sidered by some archaeologists as the earliest in time; but instead of the round, heavy-browed skulls found in the mega- lithic Scandinavian tumuli, the occupants of the "chambered" mounds in England (so far, at least, as we can judge from the somewhat scanty evidence which we possess), are charac- terised by very long and narrow skulls, which have received from Dr. Wilson the name of " Kumbecephalic," or boat- shaped skulls. Moreover (apart from the a priori improba- bility of these great megalithic tumuli being in all cases earlier than the smaller and simpler mounds), we must re- member that in the great burial mound of New Grange, in Ireland, the stones are decorated with figures very charac- teristic of the Bronze age, and evidently engraved before the stones were placed in their present position, as they are, in some cases, overlapped by the neighbouring slabs. Those who wish to see the present state of the question as to these chambered tumuli, and the Kumbecephalic skulls, will find it well stated by Dr. Wilson in the Pre-historic Annals of Scotland;* but I agree with the able authors of the * Second ed., vol. i. p. 249 TUMULI. 91 Crania Britannica, in thinking that the evidence which he adduces is far from conclusive.* It is just possible that the comparative rarity of chambered tumuli in Western Europe may be connected with the greater mildness of the climate, which did not necessitate the use of underground "winter-houses;" or it may be an indication of a difference in race. Farther investigations will, doubtless, decide this point. In the meantime, we must remember that the so-called "Picts' Houses" are abundant in the northern parts of Great Britain. These curious dwellings are "scarcely distinguishable from the larger tumuli ; but, on digging into the green mound, it is found to cover a series of large chambers, built generally with stones of considerable size, and converging towards the centre, where an opening appears to have been left for light and ventilation. These differ little from many of the subterranean weems, excepting that they are erected on the natural surface of the soil, and have been buried by means of an artificial mound heaped over them."t According to Mr. Bateman, who has recorded the sys- tematic opening of more than four hundred tumuli, (a very large proportion of which were investigated in his presence), and whose opinion is, therefore, of great value, " the funda- mental design of them (i.e., the British tumuli), with the exception of the very few chambered or galleried mounds in Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Ireland, etc., as New Grange, Wayland Smith's Cave, Uleybury and others, and those of the incalculably later Saxon period, is pretty much the same in most places ; the leading feature of these sepulchral mounds is, that they enclose either an artless stone vault, or chamber, or a stone chest, otherwise called a Kistvaen, built with more or less care ; and, in other cases, a grave cut out more or less below the natural surface, and lined, if need be, * Crania Britannica, Lc Part 2, 5. f Wilson, I.e. vol. i., p. 116. 92 OBJECTS BURIED WITH THE DEAD with stone slabs, in which the body was placed in a perfect state, or reduced to ashes by fire/'* The care with which the dead were interred, and the objects buried with them, have been regarded as proving the existence of a belief in the immortality of the soul, and in a material existence after death. "That the ancient Briton," says Dr. Wilson, f" lived in the belief of a future state, and of some doctrine of proba- tion and of final retribution, is apparent from the constant deposition beside the dead, not only of weapons, implements and personal ornaments, but also of vessels which may be pre- sumed to have contained food and drink. That his ideas of a future state were rude and degraded, is abundantly mani- fest from the same evidence." But it is very far from being " constantly " the case, that the dead were so well supplied with what we call the neces- saries of life ; indeed, it is quite the exception, and not the rule. Thus, out of more than 250 interments described by Sir R. Colt Hoare in the first volume of his great work on Ancient Wiltshire, only 18 had any implements of stone, only 31 of bone, 67 of bronze, and 11 of iron ; and while pottery was present in 107, more than 60 of these contained only sepul- chral urns, intended to receive the ashes of the dead, and certainly never meant to hold food. So far, however, as stone implements are concerned, I must confess that Sir R, C. Hoare appears to have overlooked the ruder instruments and weapons. I will, therefore, rely principally on the evidence of Mr. Bateman, one of the most experienced and careful of barrow-openers. Although a large number of the interments described by him had been already examined, there were 297 which had not been previously disturbed, and though he carefully men- tions even the rudest bit of chipped flint, there are no less * Bateman, Ten Years' Diggings, p. xi. f I.e. vol. i., p. 498. NOT ALWAYS INTENDED FOR ACTUAL USE. 93 than 100 cases without any implement at all, either of stone or metal, and the drinking- vessels and food- vases were only about 40 in number. Moreover, lest it should be supposed that these ill-provided interments were those of poor persons or enemies, we will leave all these out of consideration. This we can easily do. "We may be sure that these tumuli, which must have required much labor, were only raised in honor of the rich and great ; though they may have served, and, no doubt, often did serve, afterwards, as burial places for the poor. But it is almost always easy to distinguish the primary interment ; for though there are some few cases in which the original occupant has been ignominiously ejected from his grave to make room for a successor, these instances are rare, and can generally be detected, while the secondary interments are usually situated either above the first, or on the sides of the tumulus. The same feeling which made our ancestors prefer to bury their dead in a pre-existing tumulus, generally prevented them from desecrating the earlier interments. In the following tables, then, I have recorded the primary interments only ; the first column contains the name of the tumulus, the succeeding nine indicate the disposition of the corpse, and the articles found therewith, while the last is reserved for any special remarks. Out of 139 inter- ments, only 105 had any implements or weapons, and only 35 were accompanied by any pottery that can have held either food or drink. Moreover, if we examine the nature of the implements which were deposited with the dead, we shall find that they are far from representing complete sets of tools or ornaments. The rarity of bronze in tombs is perhaps not surprising; but to men so practised as our predecessors, it must have been an easy matter to make a rude arrow-head, or a flint flake. Yet some of the corpses are accompanied by but one single arrow-head, others by a small flint flake ; some, again, by a single scraper. 94 TABULATED ^ PH h- 1 w 3D s PH O OQ H H hH M OQ RE O M H OQ W k 02 fc -*1 3 BA REMA *ISIO i iY j & oo a o 3* 5 ^ ** i|i! i -cS j fl 'w . o ,050 . I L tfl.l 11 o'E'U oci pil ^:-.,^. '^-^ ^ 2 - 1 03* l 11 2 2 2 22 2 "2 22* ^ O O O OO O 'O OO * O : | | : I II : : i OF 1 5 : :H PQ NIVXH30KA NOIXISOJ 'aaaxaixa aaxovHXKOO i s s a 1 S ^ g^in g = fi i! |l Sl* 3 fcHfc *- oo os o 1-1 e< INTERMENTS. 95 t! S H II II csg * S S 1 sS i*i i*l< I si* r^O-3 8 P J ~ > > g3| |f|^ || |-g || M I' 5 '!! II ll ^ : : 'M o fe H cjtex, lf4I llli p^^^ E^^ CO .oo o o 1-1 Oi^e0050^(M 96 TABULATED I $ 5 II fg 1 El r ! i- fi I m 5^ i li II 6 9i g ^ H ca : '/. cc tc t t as w ; Co 3SSS5 ' :a3c 3 cc ao te * to ra oo ai T ! J ! 53 .33 3 3 - . . . s| 51.1^ .g fl PH (^ ^ . w i StI i 1 . , . - : : : s : : - : 1 ..... 1111 l . t S 8 I SwSlSl O <-l and the first thing which he came to was a jar,, which he un- fortunately broke. It contained burnt bones and a bronze pin, the head of which was ornamented with concentric lines. Towards the S.S.E. was found a cist, about an ell long, and formed of flat stones. In it were burnt bones, a bent knife, and a pair of pincers two inches in length ; both these objects were of bronze. Not far from this cist was another urn, containing burnt bones, with several objects of bronze, namely, a knife, four inches in length, part of a small sym- bolical sword, and two fragments of an awl. It is evident that these three interments belonged to the Bronze age, and also that they were secondary, that is to say, that they belonged to a later date than the original sepulchral chamber, over which the tumulus had been made. The sepulchral chamber itself (fig. 101), lay north and south, was of an oval form, about eight and a half ells in * Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historic, 1858, p. 202. DANISH TUMULUS. 105 length, and twenty and a half in circumference,, and about two and a half in height. The walls consisted of twelve very large, unhewn stones, which,, however, did not, in most cases, touch one another,, but left intervals which were filled up by smaller stones. The roof was formed by five great blocks, the spaces between them being filled up by smaller ones. The passage^ which was on the east side> was five ells long and one ell broad, and was formed by eleven side stones, and three roof stones. At the place (a) was on each side a smaller stone, which, in conjunction with another on the floor between them,, formed a sort of threshold,, probably indicating the FIG. LOL Plan of the Chamber in a Danish Tumulus in Moen. place where the door stood. Similar traces of a doorway have been found in other Danish tumuli, and may, perhaps, be taken as evidence that the mounds had been used previously as houses : at the time of the interment, the construction of a door would have been simply purposeless ; the passage leading to it being filled up with rubbish. The chamber was filled up with mould to within half an ell of the roof. About 106 DESCRIPTION OF A BARROW the middle, not far from the bottom, a skeleton was ex- tended (at 6), with the head towards the north. On the south side (at c and d), occurred two crania, each of which lay on a quantity of bones, indicating that the corpses had been buried in a sitting posture. At e was a similar skeleton, close to which were three amber beads, a beautiful flint- axe, which did not seem to have been ever used, a small unfinished chisel, and some fragments of pottery, ornamented with points and lines. At /was another skeleton in a similar position, with a flint flake, an amber bead, and some frag- ments of pottery. Figs. 102, 103 represent one of the skulls from this Stone chamber. Several other skeletons were found FIG. 102. FIG. 103. Skull from a Danish Tumulus at Moen. sitting round the side wal^ but they had unluckily been removed and thrown away before the arrival of M. Boye. With them were at least twenty different jars or urns, all of them inverted, and prettily decorated with points and lines. Besides these objects, the earth in the chamber contained five flint spear-heads ; a fragment of a flint spear which had been broken and worked up again ; two small flint chisels ; fifty- three flint flakes, varying from three to five and a half inches in length; nineteen perfect, and thirty-one broken amber AT WEST KENNET. 107 beads, of which the greater number were hammer-like, the rest tubular or ring-shaped. The passage was filled up by earth, mixed with fragments of pottery, and small stones. About the middle was a skeleton, with the head towards the east, at the side of which were five flakes and an amber bead. Close to the feet was a jar, unornamented, and much ruder than those found in the chamber itself. JSTot the smallest fragment of metal was found either in the chamber or in the v Again, as a second case of the same sort, I may mention FIG. 104. View in the Chamber looking through the entrance. the Long Barrow (fig. 104), near West Kennet, in Wiltshire, 108 STONE IMPLEMENTS AND POTTERY described by Dr. Thurnam.* The tumulus in this case is three hundred and thirty-six feet in length, forty feet wide at the west end, and seventy-five at the east, with a height of eight feet. The walls of the chamber are formed by six. great blocks of stone, and it opens into a passage, so that the ground plan very closely resembles that of the tumulus just described, and, in fact, of the "passage graves" generally. Fio. 105. Flo, 106. FIG. ior. Flint Implements from the Tumulus at West Kennet. The chamber and entrance were nearly filled with chalk- rubble, containing also bones of animals, flint implements (figs. 105 to 108), and fragments of pottery. In the chamber were four skeletons, two of which appear to have been buried in a sitting posture. In different parts of the chamber were * Archaeologia, vol. xxxviii., p. 405. FROM THE TUMULUS AT WEST KENNET. 109 found nearly three hundred flakes, three or four flint cores, a whetstone, a scraper, part of a bone pin, a bead of Kimme- ridge shale, and several heaps of fragments of pottery (figs. FIG. 109. Fm. 110. Fio. 111. FIG. 112. vyF-i f, J t r W'*' t % ' y^iTjQO Pottery from the Tumulus at West Kennet. 109 to 114), belonging apparently to no less than fifty dif- ferent vessels, and all made by hand, with one doubtful exception. No trace of metal was discovered. The two 110 TUMULI OF MODERN SAVAGES. pieces (figs. 113, 114) were found apart fronf the rest, and may, perhaps, be of later origin. Fio. 113. FIG. 114. Pottery from the Tumulus at West Kennet. Other similar cases might be mentioned,* in which tumuli of large size, covering a sepulchral chamber, constructed with great labor of huge blocks of stone, have contained several skeletons, evidently those of persons of high rank, and accompanied by many stone implements and fragments of pottery, yet without a trace of metaL It appears reason- able to conclude that these interments belong to the ante- metallic period; especially when, as in the first-mentioned case, we find several secondary interments, plainly belonging to a later age, and although presenting no such indications of high rank, still accompanied by objects of bronze. It may seem at first sight very improbable that works so considerable should have been undertaken and carried out by nations entirely ignorant of metal. The burial mound of Oberea, in Otaheiti, was nevertheless two hundred and sixty- seven feet long, eighty-seven wide, and forty-four in height. And in treating of modern savages, I shall hereafter have occasion to notice other instances quite as extraordinary. The practice of burying in old tumuli, which continued * See, for instance, Lukis, Archaeologia v. 35, p. 247. SEPULCHRAL POTTERY. Ill even down to the times of Charlemagne,* has led to some confusion, because objects of very different date are thus liable to be described as coming from one grave ; yet,, on the other hand, it is very instructive, as there are several cases on record, besides the one above mentioned, of interments characterised by bronze being found above, and being, therefore, evidently subsequent to others, accompanied by stone only. On the whole, however, though it is evident that the objects most frequently buried with the dead would be those most generally used by the living, and though the prevalence of stone implements proves the important part played by stone in ancient times, and goes far to justify the belief in a Stone age ; still, the evidence to be brought forward on this point in the following chapters will probably to many minds seem more satisfactory ; and at any rate we must ad- mit that in the present state of our knowledge there are comparatively few interments which we could with confi- dence refer to the Neolithic Stone age, however firmly we may believe that a great many of them must belong to it. Mr. Bateman has proposed to range the pottery found in ancient British tumuli under four different heads namely, 1. Urns ; 2. Incense Cups ; 3. sepulchral um. Food Vases ; 4. Drinking Cups. The urns generally accom- FIG. 115. * One of his regulations ran as fol- lows : "Jubemus ut corpora Christian- orum Saxonorum ad csemeteria ec- clesiae deferantur, et non ad tumulos paganorum." 112 SEPULCHRAL POTTERY. pany interments by cremation, and have either contained, or been inverted over, burnt human bones. They are generally of large size, "from ten to sixteen inches high, with a deep border, more or less decorated by impressions of twisted thongs, and incised patterns in which the chevron or herring-bone constantly recurs in various combinations, occasionally relieved by circular punctures, or assuming a reticulated appearance." They are all made by hand no trace of the potter's- wheel being ever found on them. The material of which they are formed is clay mixed with pebbles, and some of them have been described as "sun-dried." This is not the case with any of those found by Mr. Bateman, who, indeed, considers the statement to be altogether a mistake, arising from the imperfect manner in which they were burnt. In color they are generally brown or burnt umber outside, and black inside. Secondly, The "incense cups," so called by Sir R. Colt Hoare. They differ very much in shape, and are seldom more than three inches high. When decorated, the patterns are the same as those on the urns, but they are often left plain. It is probable that they were used for lamps, as was, I believe, first suggested by Mr. Birch. " The third division includes vessels of every style of orna- FIG. 116. FIG. 117. Vessels from a Tumulus at Arbor Low. ment, from the rudest to the most elaborate, but nearly alike SEPULCHRAL POTTERY, 113 in size, and more difficult to assign to a determinate period than any other, from the fact of a coarse v and a well-finished one having several times been found in company." The above woodcuts represent two vessels found in a barrow on the circle at Arbor Low, in Derbyshire. Fourthly, "Thedrinking-cups (fig. 118) are generally from six and a half to nine inches high, of a tall shape, contracted in the middle, globular below, and ex- panding at the mouth : they are carefully formed by hand, of fine clay, tempered with sharp sand, and well baked; the walls are thin, averaging about three- eighths of an inch, light brown outside and grey within." They are generally much orna- mented and usually accompany well-made flint implements ; but in some cases bronze awls have been found with them. Mr. Bateman considers that the greater number belong to the ante-metallic period. Numerous as are the varieties of pottery found in ante- Roman tumuli, they appear (so far, at any rate, as those discovered by Mr. Bateman are concerned) to have been all made by hand, without any assistance from the potter's wheel ; they are formed of clay tempered with sand and often with pebbles : they very rarely have handles, and spouts seem to have been unknown ; the ornaments consist of straight lines, dots, or marks, as if a cord had been impressed on the soft clay; no circular or curved lines are ever present, nor is there the slightest attempt to copy any animal or plant. Drinking Cup. 114 BONES OF ANIMALS FOUND IN TUMULI. The remains of mammals found with ancient human relics have acquired greatly increased interest, since the admirable researches of the Danish and Swiss zoologico-archaeologists, and especially of Steenstrup and Kiitimeyer, by whose skilful cross-examination much valuable and unexpected evidence has been elicited, from materials of most unpromising ap- pearance. Much, however, as we may regret, we cannot wonder at the fact, that not only the earlier archaeologists, but even Mr. Bateman himself, paid so little attention to the non-human bones met with in their researches. It would be very interesting to ascertain what animals were in a state of domestication in Northern Europe during the Stone age : some archaeologists, as, for instance, Professor Steenstrup, believe the dog to have been at that period the only animal domesticated; others, on the contrary, consider the cow, sheep, pig, and goat, if not the horse, to have been at that early period domesticated in the North. This appears to have been the case in Switzerland, as far, at any rate, as regards the cow. In the contents of British barrows, " bones " of quadrupeds have been frequently observed ; but it is difficult to form any opinion as to whether they belonged to wild or tame individuals. As far, however, as the horse is concerned, we may pro- bably assume that all the remains belong to a domesticated race, for there is no reason to suppose that any wild horses existed in Great Britain at a period so recent. I have thought, therefore, that it might be of interest to point out the class of graves in which bones or teeth of horses were found. In Mr. Bateman's valuable works there are, alto- gether, twenty-eight cases ; but of these, nine were in tumuli which had been previously opened, and in one case no body was found. Of the remaining eighteen, five were tumuli containing iron, and seven were accompanied with bronze. In one more case, that of the " Liffs," it is doubtful whether SEPULCHRAL FEASTS. SACRIFICES. 115 the barrow had not been disturbed. Of the remaining six tumuli, two contained beautiful drinking vessels, of a very well marked type, certainly in use during the Bronze age, if not peculiar to it ; and in both these instances, as well as in a third, the interment was accompanied with burnt human bones, suggestive of dreadful rites. Even, however, if these cases cannot be referred to the Bronze age, we still see that out of the two hundred and ninety- seven interments only sixty-three contained metal, or about twenty-one per cent., while out of the eighteen cases of horses' remains twelve, or about sixty-six per cent., certainly belonged to the me- tallic period. This seems to be a prima facie evidence that the horse was very rare, if not altogether unknown, in Eng- land during the Stone age. Both the horse and bull appear to have been sacrificed at graves during later times, and probably formed part of the funeral feast. The teeth of oxen are so common in tumuli, that they are even said by Mr. Bateman to be " uniformly found with the more ancient interments." The very frequent presence of the bones of animals in tumuli appears to show that sepulchral feasts were generally held in honor of the dead, and the numerous cases in which interments were accompanied by burnt human bones tend to prove the prevalence of still more dreadful customs, and that not only horses* and dogs, but slaves also, were fre- quently sacrificed at their masters' graves ; it is not impro- bable that wives often were burnt with their husbands, as in India and among many savage tribes. For instance, among the Feegees it is usual on the -death of a chief to sacri- fice a certain number of slaves, whose bodies "are called 'grass' for bedding" the grave.f "It is probable," says * Even so lately as in 1781, Frederick Casimir was laid in his grave with his slaughtered horse. Horse ferales, p. 66. f Manners and Customs of the Feegees, by T. Williams, 1860, vol. i. p. 189. 116 PRE-HISTORIC Mr. Bateman, " that the critical examination of all deposits of burnt bones would lead to much curious information re- specting the statistics of suttee and infanticide, both which abominations we are unwillingly compelled, by accumulated evidence, to believe were practised in pagan Britain." From the numerous cases in which the bones of an infant and a woman have been found together in one grave, it seems probable that if any woman died in childbirth, or while nursing, the baby was buried alive with her, as is still the practice among some of the Esquimaux tribes. I would particularly urge on those who may in future open any barrows 1. To record the sex of the person buried ; this is more satis- factorily to be determined from the form of the pelvis, than from the skull. In this manner, we may hope to determine the relative position, and the separate occupations (if any) of the two sexes. 2. To observe carefully the state of the teeth, from which we may derive information as to the nature of the food. 3. To preserve carefully any bones of quadrupeds that may be present, in order to ascertain the species, and, in the case of the ox and hog, to determine, if possible, whether they belonged to wild or domesticated individuals. As regards the pre-historic races of men we have as yet derived but little definite information from the examination of the tumuli. The evidence, however, appears to show that the Celts were not the earliest colonisers of Northern Europe. Putting on one side the mysterious " kumbecephalic " skulls which have been already alluded to (p. 90), the men of the Stone age in Northern Europe appear to have been brachy- cephalic in a very marked degree, and to have had heavy, overhanging brows. Many ethnologists are inclined to be- lieve that the Turanian race, now represented in Europe by the Fins, Lapps, and probably by the Basques, once occupied RACES OF MEN. 117 the greater part of our continent, which was, however, even before the beginning of history, wrested from them by the Celts and the Teutons. Worsaae declares without hesitation " that the inhabitants of Denmark during the Stone period cannot have been the Fins, whose descendants are the present inhabitants of Lapland;"* grounding his opinion principally on the fact that the megalithic tumuli of the Stone age are never found either in the north of Sweden or in Norway. Moreover, we must remember that the reindeer is intimately associated with the Fins, whereas no remains of this animal have yet been found in our tumuli or in the Danish shell-mounds. It seems to me, however, that we must wait for more evi- dence before we can hope to solve this question in a satis- factory manner; but even if the Turanian races did once spread over Europe, we ought not to conclude that they were the aboriginal inhabitants of our continent. It is, on the contrary, very possible that they were preceded by others, and we may be sure that in the long period which elapsed between the commencement of the Drift period and that of the Polished Stone age, there were many wars and rumours of wars, and very possibly several changes in the popu- lation. What these were, however, we have at present absolutely no evidence to show, and we can therefore only confess our ignorance, and wait, in confident expectation, for "more light." To return for a moment to the tumuli, we may fairly hope that when properly questioned they will not only answer many of these interesting questions, but that they will also tell us many things which it would never occur to us to ask. It is evident, at least, that when a sufficient number shall have been examined we shall know many important facts respecting life in those early ages ; we shall know * Primeval Antiquities of Denmark, p. 131. 118 PRE-HISTORIC RACES OF MEN. whether during the Stone age they had domestic animals, such as the ox and sheep, in the North, as would appear to have been the case in Switzerland; we shall know in part what kind of clothes they wore, and by the remains found with female skeletons we shall even be able to ascer- tain, in some measure, the position occupied by woman with reference to man. 119 CHAPTER V. THE AKCIENT LAKE-HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND. IN consequence of the extraordinary dryness and coldness of the weather during the winter months of 1853, the rivers of Switzerland did not receive their usual supplies, and the water in the lakes fell much below its ordinary level, so that, in some places, a broad strand was left uncovered along the ftiargin, tvhile in others shallow banks were converted into islands. The water level of this season was, indeed, the lowest upon record. The lowest level marked on the so-called stone of Stafa was that of 1674; but in 1854 the water sank a foot. M. Aeppli of Meilen, on the Lake of Zurich, appears to have been the first to observe in the bed of the lake certain specimens of human workmanship, which he justly supposed might throw some light on the history and condition of the early inhabitants of the Swiss valleys. In a small bay between Ober Meilen and Dollikon, the inhabitants had taken advantage of the lowness of the water to increase their gardens, by building a wall along the new water-line, and slightly raising the level of the piece thus reclaimed, by mud dredged from the lake. In the course of this dredging they found great numbers of piles, of deer-horns, and also some implements. Fortunately the attention of Dr. Keller was called to these remains, and the researches at Meilen, conducted and described by him, have been followed by similar investigations in other lakes, and have proved that 120 LAKE HABITATIONS MENTIONED BY HERODOTUS. the early inhabitants of Switzerland constructed some, at least, of their dwellings above the surface of the water, and that they must have lived in a manner very similar to that of the Pseonians, as described by Herodotus.* "Their dwellings/' he says, "are contrived after this man- ner : planks fitted on lofty piles are placed in the middle of the lake, with a narrow entrance from the main land by a single bridge. These piles, that support the planks, all the citizens anciently placed there at the public charge ; but afterwards they established a law to the following effect : whenever a man marries, for each wife he sinks three -piles, bringing wood from a mountain called Orbelus : * but every man has several wives. They live in the following manner : every man- has a hut on the planks, in which he dwells, with a trap-door closely fitted in the planks, and' leading down to the lake. They tie the young children with a cord round the foot, fearing lest they should fall into the lake beneath. To their iiorses and beasts of burden they give fish for fodder ; of which there is such an abundance, that when a man has opened his trap-door, he lets down an empty basket by a cord into the lake, and, after waiting a short time, draws it up .Ml of fish:" In Ireland a number of more or less artificial islands called "Crannoges"f (fig. 119) are known historically to have been used us strongholds by the petty chiefs. They are composed of earth and stones, strengthened by piles, and have sup- plied the Irish archaeologists with numerous weapons, imple- ments, and bones. From the Crannogeat Dunshauglin, indeed, more than .one hundred and fifty cartloads of bones were ob- tained and used as manure ! These Lake-dwellings of Ireland, however, L are referable' to a much later ^period than those of Switzerland, and are frequently mentioned in early history. Thus, according to Shirley, " One Thomas Phettiplace, in his * Terpsichore, T. 14. f See Wilde's Catalogue, vol. i. p. 220, CRANNOGES OF -IRELAND. 121 answer to an inquiry from the Government, as to what castles or forts O'JSTeil hath, and of what strength they be, states (May 15, 1567) : ' For castles, I think it be not unknown unto your honors, he trusteth no point thereunto for his safety, as appeareth by the raising of the strongest castles of all his countreys, and that fortification which he only dependeth Section of a Crannoge in Ardakillin Lough, Roscommxm, upon is in sartin freshwater loghes in his country, which from the sea there come neither ship nor boat to approach them : it is thought that there in the said fortified islands lyeth all his plate, which is much, and money, prisoners, and gages : which islands, hath in wars to fore been attempted, and now of late again by the Lord Deputy there, Sir Harry Sydney, which for want of means for safe conducts upon the water it hath not prevailed/ ' Again, the map of the escheated territories, made for the Government, A.D. 1591, by Francis Jobson, or the "Platt of the County of Monaghan," preserved in >the State Paper Office, contains rough sketches of the dwellings of the petty chiefs of Monaghan, which "are in all cases surrounded by water." In the "Annals of the Four Masters," and other records of early Irish history, we meet with numerous in- stances in which the Crannoges are mentioned, in some of which their position has not preserved them from robbery and destruction ; and we need not, therefore, be surprised to find that many of the Swiss Pfahlbauten appear to have been destroyed by fire. 122 LAKE- DWELLINGS IN* VARIOUS PARTS OF EUROPE. At the Newcastle meeting of the British Association, in 1863, Lord Lovaine described a Lake-dwelling observed by him in the South of Scotland ; and in the " Natural History Review" for July, 1863, I had already mentioned one in the North, which, however, had not at that time been thoroughly ex- amined. Sir Charles Bunbury has recorded (Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xiL 1856) some similar remains found near Thetford, which have been described at greater length by Mr. Alfred Newton, in an interesting paper "On the Zoology of Ancient Europe," read before the Cambridge Philosophical Society, in March, 1862, In his fifth memoir on the Pfahlbauten,* Dr. Keller has described a Lake-dwelling at Peschiera, on the L. di Garda ; and we are indebted to MM. B. Gastaldi,t P* Strobel, and L. Pigorini for a de- scription of ruins of a similar nature, which have been found in Northern Italy. M. Boucher de Perthes, in his celebrated work, "Antiquites Celtiques et Antediluviennes," mentions certain remains found in the peat near Abbeville, which appear to have been the ruins of Lake- dwellings ; an observation which is of special interest, as an additional argument for referring the Swiss Lake-dwellings to the period of the peat in the Somme valley, and therefore to an epoch long subsequent to that of the drift-hatchets. This inference is entirely in accordance with the conclusions de- rived from the study of the stone implements themselves. But it is not necessary to go back to pre-historic times ; nor need we appeal to doubtful history or ancient remains for evidence of the curious habit of water-dwelling. Many savage or semi- savage tribes live in the same manner, even at the present day. I have been informed by a friend who lives at * Mittheilungen der Antiquarischen pani, Prima ricerca di Abitazioni la- Gesellschaft in Zurich. 1863. custri nei Laghi di Lombardia. Atti f Nuovi Cenni sugli oggetti di Alta della Soc. Italiana di Scienze Naturali, Antiehita trovati nelle Torbiere e nelle 1863. vol. v. p. 154. Marniere dell' Italia. See also Stop- PILE-DWELLINGS STILL USED IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 123 Salonica that the fishermen of Lake Prasias still inhabit wooden cottages built over the water, as in the time of Herodo- tus. The city of Tcherkask also is built over the Don. But it is in the East Indies that this habit prevails most extensively. The city of Borneo is altogether built upon piles, and similar constructions have been described by various travellers in JSTew Guinea, Celebes, Solo, Ceram, Mindanao, the Caroline Islands, and elsewhere. Dampier long ago mentioned similar dwellings constructed over the water, and Dumont d'Urville,* quoted by M. Troy on, tells us that " Jadis toute la ville de Tondano etait construite sur le lac, et Ton ne communiquait d'une maison a une autre qu'en bateau. Forts de cette disposi- tion, en 1810, les habitants eurent des demeles avec les Hollan- dais, et voulurent secouer leur joug : ils s'armerent et furent battus. Ce ne fut pas sans peine qu'on en vint a bout : il fallut y porter de Tartillerie et construire des bateaux can- noniers. Depuis ce temps, et pour eviter cet inconvenient on a defendu aux indigenes de construire leurs habitations sur le lac/* The Bishop of Labuan thus describes the dwel- lings of the Dyaks : " They are built along the river side, on an elevated platform twenty or thirty feet high, in a long row; or rather it is a whole village in one row of some hundreds of feet long. The platforms are first framed with beams, and then crossed with laths about two inches wide and two inches apart, and in this way are well ventilated ; and nothing remains on the floors, but all the refuse falls through and goes below." f The Swiss " Pfahlbauten," or Lake-habitations, have been described by Dr. Keller, in five memoirs presented to the Anti- quarian Society of Zurich, in 1854, 1858, 1860, and 1863, and by M. Troyon, in a special work, "Sur les Habitations Lacus- tres," I860, in which the author gives a general account of * Voyage de 1* Astrolabe, vol. v. p. 635. f Trans, of the Ethnol. Soc., New Ser./vol. ii. p. 28. 124 PILE-DWELLINGS FOUND IN MOST OF THE SWISS LAKES. what has been done in Switzerland, and compares the ancient habitations of his native land, with the Lake-dwellings of other countries and times. The discoveries in Lake Moosseedorf have been described by MM. Jahn and Uhlmann (Die Pfahl- baualterthiimer von Moosseedorf. Bern, 1857) ; the Lake- habitation at the Pont de Thiele has also been described in a separate memoir by M. V. Gillieron (Actes de la Societe jurassienne d'Emulation. 1860) ; and we owe to Dr. Eiiti- meyer two works on the animal remains from the Pfahl- bauten, the first, " Untersuchung der Thierreste aus den Pfahlbauten der Schweiz," published by the Antiquarian Society of Zurich, in 1860 ; and still more recently, a larger work " Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten in der Schweiz/' Col- lections of objects from these localities have also been made by many Swiss archaeologists. The Flora has been studied by M. Heer, whose results are contained in the memoirs published by Dr. Keller. Nor must we omit to mention M. Morlot's excellent paper in the "Bulletin de la Socie*te Yaudoise (March, I860)," and his no less admirable "Legon d'Ouverture d'un cours sur la haute Antiquite fait a T Academic de Lausanne (Dec. I860)." From the conclusion of this lecture, indeed, I must express my dis- sent : not that I would undervalue what M. Morlot calls the "practical utility of geology," nor that I am less sanguine as to the future advantages of archaeology. Science, how- ever, is like virtue, its own reward, and the improvement of the mind must be regarded as the highest object of study. But M. Morlot is, to use his own metaphor, laboring earnestly in the vineyard, and is improving the soil, though, as in the old fable, it may be in the false hope of finding a concealed treasure. The Swiss archaeologists have indeed made the most of a golden opportunity. Not only in the Lake of Zurich, but also in Lakes Constance, Geneva, Neufchatel, Bienne, Morat, Sempach, in fact in most of the large Swiss STRUCTURE OF THE HUTS. 125 lakes, as well as in several of the smaller ones (Inkwyl, Pfeffikon, Moosseedorf, Luissel, etc), similar Lake-habitations have been discovered. In the larger lakes, indeed, not one, but many of these settlements existed; thus, there are already on record, in Lake Bienne, twenty ; in the Lake of Geneva, twenty-four; in Lake Constance, thirty-two; in Lake Neufchatel, as many as forty- six ; on the whole more than two hundred ; and many others, doubtless, remain to be dis- covered. Of those already known, some few belong to the Iron age, and even to Roman times ; but the greater num- ber appear to be divided in almost equal proportions between the age of Stone and that of Bronze. The dwellings of the Gauls are described as having been circular huts, built of wood and lined with mud. The huts of the Pileworks were probably of a similar nature. This supposition is not a mere hypothesis, but is confirmed by the preservation of pieces of the clay used for the lining. Their preservation is evidently due to the building having been destroyed by fire, which has hardened the clay, and enabled it to resist the dissolving action of the water. These frag- ments bear, on one side, the marks of interlaced branches, while on the other, which apparently formed the inner wall of the cabin, they are quite smooth. Some of those which have been found at "Wangen are so large and so regular, that M. Troy on feels justified in concluding that the cabins were circular, and from ten to fifteen feet in diameter. Though the architecture of this period was very simple, still the weight to be sustained on the wooden platforms must have been considerable ; and their construction, which must have required no small labor,* indicates a large population. It would, indeed, be most interesting if we could construct a retrospective census for these early periods, * " Increasing density of population production." Bastiat, Harmonies of is equivalent to increasing facility of Political (Economy, p. 12. 126 ATTEMPT TO MAKE A CENSUS. and M. Troyon has made an attempt to do so. The settle- ment at Morges, which is one of the largest in the Lake of Geneva, is 1200 feet long and 150 broad, giving a surface of 180,000 square feet. Allowing the huts to have been fifteen feet in diameter, and supposing that they oc- cupied half the surface, leaving the rest for gangways, he estimates the number of cabins at 311 ; and supposing again that, on an average, each was inhabited by four persons, he obtains for the whole a population of 1244. Starting from the same data, he assumes for the Lake of Neufchatel a population of about 5000. Sixty- eight villages, belonging to the Bronze age, are supposed to have contained 42,500 persons ; while for the preceding epoch, by the same process of reasoning, he estimates the population at 31,875. So far as these calculations rest on the fragments of the clay walls, they must be regarded as altogether unsatisfactory, since Dr. Keller informs us that the largest pieces yet discovered are only a foot in their greatest diameter. There is also good reason to believe that the huts were not circular, but rectangu- lar. Nor am I inclined to attribute much value to the esti- mates of population based on the extent of the platforms. M. Troyon himself admits that his "chiffres sont peut-etre un peu Sieve's, en e*gard aux habitations sur terre ferme, dont il ne peut etre question dans ce calcul, et vu qu'on est encore bien loin de connaitre tous les points des lacs qui ont ete occupes," and, indeed, in the three years which have elapsed since his book was written, the number of Lake-villages discovered has been doubled. Moreover, M. Troyon assumes that the Lake- villages of the Bronze age were contemporaneous, and that the same was the case with those belonging to the Stone age. This also I should be disposed to question ; both these periods, but especially the Stone age, in all probability ex- tended over a long series of years, and though in these matters it is of course necessary to speak with much caution, CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLATFORMS. 127 still if we are to make any assumption in the case, it would seem safer to suppose that in each period some of the vil- lages had perished, or been forsaken, before others were built. We might feel surprise that a people so uncivilised should have constructed their houses with immense labor on the water, when it would have been so much more easy to have built them on dry land. But we have already seen how, even in historical times, such dwellings have served as simple and yet valuable fortifications. The first settlers in Switzer- land had to contend with the boar, the wolf, the bear, and the urus ; and subsequently, when the population increased, and disputes arose, the Lake-habitations, no doubt, acted as fortifications, and protected man from man, as they had before preserved him from wild beasts ; still, though it is evident that the security thus given would amply compensate for much extra labor, it remains difficult to understand in what manner the piles were driven into the ground. In many cases, indeed, settlements of the Stone age are characterised by what are called "Steinbergs," that is to say, artificial heaps of stones, etc., evidently brought by the natives to serve as a support to the piles. In fact, they found it easier to raise the bottom round the piles, than to drive the piles into the bottom. On the other hand, some of these constructions, as, for instance, those at Inkwyl and Wauwyl, described respectively by M. Morlot and Col. Suter, more closely resemble the Irish Crannoge. We see, therefore, that, as Dr. Keller says, the Lake-dwellers followed two different systems in the construction of their dwellings, which he distinguishes as " Pfahlbauten," or Pilebuildings, and "Packwerkbauten," or Crannoges: in the first of which the platforms were simply supported on piles ; in the second of which the support consisted not of piles only, but of a solid mass of mud, stones, etc., with layers of horizontal and per- pendicular stakes, the latter serving less as a support than 128 CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLATFORMS. to bind the mass firmly together. It is evident that the "Packwerkbau" is a much simpler and ruder affair than the " Pfahlbaft," in which no small skill must have been required to connect the perpendicular and horizontal piles firmly to- gether. Still the "Packwerkbauten" were not suitable for the larger lakes, as during storms they would have been in- jured by the waves, which must have passed harmlessly through the open-work of the "Pfahlbauten." We find, therefore, that while the former method of construction prevailed only in small lakes or morasses, the latter was adopted in the larger lakes, and even sometimes, as at Ebersberg, on dry land ; a custom which, however singular, exists even at the present day, as, for instance, in the island of Borneo. After having chosen a favorable situation, the first step in the construction of the Lake-habitations was to obtain the necessary timber. To cut down a tree with a stone hatchet must have been no slight undertaking. It is, indeed, most probable that use was made of fire, in the same manner as is done by existing savages in felling trees and making canoes. Burning the wood and then scraping away the charred portion renders the task far more easy, and the men of the Stone period appear to have avoided the use of large trees, except in making their canoes. Their piles were im- bedded in the mud for from one to five feet, and must also have projected from four to six feet above the water level, which cannot have been very different from what it is at present. They must, therefore, have had a length of from fifteen to thirty feet, and they were from three to nine inches in diameter. The pointed extremity which entered into the mud still bears the marks of the fire and the rude cuts made by the stone hatchets. The piles belonging to the Bronze period being prepared with metal axes, were much more regularly pointed, and the differences between the two have been ingeniously compared to those shown by lead pencils .DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS AT WAUWYL. 129 well and badly cut. To drag the piles to the lake, and fix them firmly, must have required much labor, especially when their number is considered. At Wangen .alone M. Lohle has calculated that 40,000 piles have been used; but we must remember that these were probably not all planted at one time, nor by one generation. Wangen, indeed, was cer- tainly not built in a day, but was, no doubt, gradually en- larged as the population increased. Herodotus informs us that the Paeonians made the first platform at the public expense, but that subsequently at every marriage (and polygamy was permitted), the bridegroom was expected to add a certain number of piles to the common support. In some localities, as at Robenhausen, on Lake Pfaffikon, the piles were strengthened by cross-beams. The pile- works of subsequent periods differ little from those of the Stone age, so far at least as can be judged by the parts remaining, but the piles ;are less decayed, and project above the mud farther than :s the case with those of the preceding epoch. Through the kindness of Col. Suter I had an opportunity of examining the construction of the Lake-dwelling at Wau- wyl, near Zofingen, in the Canton of Lucerne. This ap- parently belonged to the Stone age, no trace of metal having yet been discovered in it. It is situated in a peat moss, which was evidently at one time the bed of a shallow lake. By the gradual growth of peat, however, the level has been raised several feet, and the plain has recently been drained. We were assisted by six labourers, who dug out the peat, which we then carefully examined. I mention this, because the difference in the objects collected from different Pfahlbauten, may probably be, in part at least, accounted for by the different ways in which the search has been made. The peat at Wauwyl varies in thickness from three to ten feet, and rests on a white .bed consisting of broken, fresh- water shells. This stratum, though only a few inches thick, is 9 130 DESCRIPTION OF THE REMAINS AT WAUWYL. found In the old beds of many small lakes, and is frequently mentioned by the Swiss archaeologists under the name of " weissgrund." It must not, however, be confounded with the " blancfond " of the larger lakes. The piles go through the peat and the " weissgrund " into the solid ground below. It is not easy to obtain them whole, because the lower por- tions are much altered by time, and so thoroughly saturated by water, that they are quite soft. Col. Suter, however, extracted two of them; one was 14ft. Gin. in length, of which 4ft. was in the peat, and the remaining 10ft. Gin. in the sand beneath ; the other was only 8ft. Gin. long, 4ft. of which was in the peat, the other 4ft. Gin. in the solid ground. The piles vary from three to five inches in diameter, and are always round, never having been squared. The lower part is very badly cut, so that it is difficult to understand how they can have been forced to so great a depth into the ground. In most of the Pfahlbauten the piles are scattered, more or less irregularly, over the whole extent of the settlement ; at Wauwyl this is not the case, but they en- close, as it were, four quadrangular areas, the interiors of which are occupied by several platforms one over the other, the interstices being filled up by branches, leaves, and peat. The objects of antiquity are not scattered throughout the peat, but lie either on the layer of broken shells, which formed the then bottom of the lake, or in the lower part of the peat. It is therefore evident that almost the whole, if not the whole, of the peat has grown since the time at which this interesting ruin was inhabited. The upper part had, how- ever, been removed before our arrival, so that the " cultur- chicht," the layer containing the objects of antiquity, was ex- posed ready for examination in the manner already described. Some of the piles still stand two or three feet above the level of the peat, but the greater number are broken off lower down. "We stood on one of the upper platforms, WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS OF THE LAKE-DWELLERS. 131 which, seems to have been the floor on which the huts were erected, and the beams of which are still perfectly preserved. It was at first a question in what manner the platforms at this place were supported; whether they rested like a raft on the surface of the water, rising and sinking with it ; or whether they were fixed, and rested on a sort of artificial island, formed by the clay, branches, etc., which now occupy the interspaces between the different platforms. Subsequent observations, however, confirmed as they have been by dis- coveries elsewhere, as for instance, at Inkwyl and Niederwyl, have decided the question in favor of the latter hypothesis. During my visit to Wauwyl we obtained four small stone axes, one arrow-head, forty flint flakes, fifteen rude stone hammers, eight whetstones, thirty- FIG. 120. three slingstones, eight instruments of bone, and two of wood, besides numerous bones, and a great quantity of broken pottery. Col. Suter re- garded this as a fair average day's work. Altogether, about 350 instru- ments of stone and bone have been discovered at Wauwyl \. at Moossee- dorf more than 1,300, at Wangen more than 2,000, while M. Troyon estimates that those at Concise must have amounted to 25,000. The axe was pre-eminently the implement of antiquity. It was used in war and in the chase, as well as for domestic purposes, and Swiss stone Axe - great numbers have been found, especially at Wangen (Lake of Constance) and Concise (Lake of Neufchatel). With a few exceptions, they were small, especially when compared with the magnificent specimens from Denmark ; in length they 132 AXES. KNIVES. varied from six inches to one, while the cutting edge had generally a width of from fifteen to twenty lines. Flint was sometimes used, and nephrite, or jade, in a few cases, but serpentine was the principal material. Most of the larger settlements were evidently manufacturing places, and many spoilt pieces and half-finished specimens have been found. The process of manufacture is thus described by M. Troyon : After having chosen a stone, the first step was to reduce it by blows with a hammer to a suitable size. Then grooves were made artificially, which must have been a very tedious and difficult operation, when flint knives, sand, and water were the only available instruments. Having carried the grooves to the required depths, the projecting portions were removed by a skilful blow with a hammer, and the implement was then sharpened and polished on blocks of sandstone. Sometimes the hatchet thus obtained was simply fixed in a handle of horn or wood. ^Generally, however, the whole instrument consisted of three parts. A piece of horn, two or three inches in length, received the stone at one end, and was squared at the other, so as to fit into a longer handle either of wood or horn. These intermediate pieces present several variations ; some are simply squared, while others have a pro- jecting wing which rested against the handle ; some few are forked as if to receive a wedge, and one has a small transverse hole, apparently for the insertion of a peg. It is remarkable that while in some places these horn axe-handles are numerous, this being especially the case at Concise, whence several hun- dred have been obtained, in other Lake- villages they are very scarce: at Wangen, for instance, though more than 1,100 stone axes have been found, M. Lohle has as yet met with only a few handles, all of which were of wood. The axes appear to have been fastened into the handles by means of bitumen. The stone knives may be considered as of two sorts. Some differ from the axes principally in having their width greater ARROW-HEADS, SPINDLE WHORLS, FLINT FLAKES,, ETC. 133 than their length. In other cases flint flakes were set in wooden handles and fastened, like the axes, by means of bitumen. Saws also were made in a similar manner, but with their edges somewhat rudely dentated ; we do not find in Switzerland any of the semilunar stone implements, which are frequent in Denmark. The arrow-heads were made of flint, or in some cases of rock crystal, and were of the usual forms. Spindle whorls FLO. 121. of rude earthenware (fig. 121) were abundant in some of the Lake-villages even of the Stone age. This indi- cates a certain skill in weaving, of which, as we shall presently see, there is even more conclusive evidence. There are also found rounded stones, pierced with one or sometimes two holes. The use of these is uncertain, (stone age). but they may perhaps have been used to sink fishing lines. The flint flakes ofier no peculiarities ; the Swiss specimens are, however, of small size. The presence of corn- crushers, which are round balls of hard stone, two to three inches in diameter, proves that agriculture was known and practised even in the Stone age. The list of objects hitherto found at Wauwyl is as follows : Stone axes, principally of serpen- tine 28 Small flint arrow-heads 22 Flint flakes 136 Corn-crushers 13 Rude stones used as hammers,, common (say) ... 20 "Whetstones 18 Slingstones Spindle Whorl from Robenhausen Kotall collected. In all about. . , 280 articles of stone. 13i MATERIAL USED FOR STONE IMPLEMENTS. The flint, of which the flakes and arrow-heads were formed, must have conie from a distance, and the best pieces in all probability were obtained from France. Yisits may have been made to the French quarries, just as Gatlin tells us that the American tribes, from far and near, visited the red pipestone quarry of Coteau des Prairies. A few fragments of Mediterranean coral have been found at Concise, and of Baltic amber at Meilen. Some archaeologists have argued from these facts, that there must have been a certain amount of commerce even in the Stone age. As, however, both these settlements appear to have belonged to the transitional period between the age of Stone and that of Bronze, it would be safer to refer both the amber and the coral to the later period. But the most important fact of this nature is the presence of nephrite. This rock is not known to occur in the Alps, or, indeed, in Europe ; some archaeologists have suggested that it may possibly have been obtained from the conglome- rate known as the "Nagelflue," others think that it must have been introduced from the East. Even if this is the case, it would not be any proof of commerce, properly so called; but I should rather be disposed to think that the nephrite had passed from hand to hand, and from tribe to tribe, by a sort of barter. Other facts of a similar nature are on record. Thus, Messrs. Squier and Davis tell us, that in the tumuli of the Mississippi valley, we find "side by side, in the same mounds, native copper from Lake Superior, mica from the Alleghanies, shells from the Gulf, and obsidian (perhaps porphyry) from Mexico." Good representations of the sea-cow, or manatee, are found a thousand miles from the shores inhabited by that animal, and shells of the large tropical Pyrula perversa are found in the tumuli round the great lakes, two thousand miles from home. Like other savages, the Lake -dwellers made the most BONE IMPLEMENTS. 135 of any animal they could catch. They ate the flesh, FIG 122 used the skin for clothing, picked every fragment of marrow out of the bones, and then, in many cases, fashioned the bones themselves into weapons. The larger and more compact ones served as hammers, and, as well as horns of the deer, were used as handles for hatchets. In some cases, pieces of bone were worked to an edge, but they are neither hard nor sharp enough to cut well. Bone awls are numerous, and may have been used in preparing skins for clothes. Fig. 122 represents a chisel, or scraper, of bone, from Wangen. .In most of the settlements, ribs split open and pointed at one end have been found, but for what purpose they were intended it is difficult to say. Perhaps they were used in netting, or in the manufacture of pottery. A few objects made of wood have also been found at Wau- wyl and elsewhere ; but these, even if originally numerous, would be difficult to distinguish from the surrounding peat, especially as it contains so many branches of trees and other fragments of wood ; and it would also be very difficult to extract them entire. Perhaps, therefore, implements of wood may have been much more varied and common than the collections would appear to indicate. The pottery of the Stone age presents nearly the same characters in all the settlements. Very rude and coarse, it is generally found in broken pieces, and few entire vessels have been obtained. There is no evidence that the potter's- wheel was known, and the baking is very imperfect, having apparently taken place in an open fire. The material is also very rude, and generally contains numerous grains of quartz. The form is frequently cylindrical, but several 01 the jars 136 POTTERY. are rounded at the base, and without feet. In some of the Bronze age villages, rings of pottery are found, which were evidently intended to serve as supports for these earthenware tumblers, but none of them have yet been met with in any of the Stone age villages.. Possibly the earthenware during the Stone age rested on the soft earth,, and tables were only introduced in the Bronze age, when by means of metallic implements it became so much easier to cut wood, and particularly to make boards. Many of the vessels had small projections, which were pierced in such a manner that strings might be passed through them, and which may, therefore, have served for suspension. Some of the vessels, also, are pierced by small holes at different levels ; it has been suggested that these may have been used in the preparation of curds, the small holes being in- tended to permit the escape of the milk. The ornaments on the pottery belonging to this age are of a very rude and simple character. Sometimes a row of knobs runs round the vase, just below the lip ; this style of ornamentation is com- mon on the pottery found by M. Gillieron at the Pont de Thiele. Another curious character is the frequent presence of a row of depressions which do not completely penetrate the thickness of the vessel ; but the commonest decorations are simple lines or furrows made sometimes by a sharp instru- ment, sometimes by the finger-nail, and occasionally produced by pressing a cord on the soft clay. No representation of any animal or vegetable has yet been met with ; indeed, curved lines can hardly be said to exist, being very rare, and when present very irregular and childish. It is true that Dr. Keller gives a figure (also copied by Troyon, I.e., pi. vii. f. 35) of a vase found at Wangen (Stone age), on which is a much more elaborate ornament, apparently in- tended to represent leaves. This surprised me very much, but having obtained, through the kindness of M. Morlot, a cast of MANUFACTURES OF THE STONE PERIOD. 137 the fragment from which this drawing was copied, I am in a position to state that the representation is very complimentary. Although there can be little doubt that the skins of ani- mals supplied the ancient Lake-dwellers with their principal articles of clothing, still in several of the settlements, and especially at Wangen and Robenhausen, both of which be- long to the Stone age, pieces of rude fabric have been found in some abundance. They consist either of flax fibres or straw (fig. 123). The presence of spindle whorls has been already mentioned. FIG. 123. Piece of Tissue from Robenhausen. The antiquities found at Wauwyl, Eobenhausen, at the Pont de Thiele, at Moosseedorf, and elsewhere in small lakes and peat-bogs, aa?e more or less covered by a thick layer of peat, which perhaps at some future date will give us a clue to their age. On the contrary, in the large lakes no peat grows. At the entrance of the rivers, indeed, much mud and gravel is of course accumulated ; the Lake of Geneva, for instance, once no doubt extended for a considerable distance up the Valley of the Rhone. But the gravel and mud brought down by that river are, as every one knows, soon deposited, and the water of the lake is else- where beautifully clear and pure. 138 COMPARISON OF THE PILES The lake itself is very deep, in parts as much as nine hundred and eighty feet; and the banks are generally steep, but round the margin there is, in most places, a fringe of shallow water, due probably to the erosive action of the waves, and known to the fishermen as the " blancfond," because the lake is there of a pale greyish hue, when con- trasted with the bright blue of the central deeper water, It is on this " blancfond," and at a depth of sometimes as much as fifteen feet, that the Pfahlbauten were generally constructed. On calm days,, when the surface of the water is unruffled, the piles are plainly visible. Few of them now project more than two feet from the bottom ; eaten away by the incessant action of the water, some of them. "n'apparais- sent plus que comme aiguilles," which finally also disappear, and leave only a black disk at the surface of the mud. This, however, is the case principally in the Lake- villages of the Stone age. "Ce qui les distingue surtout," says Prof. Desor, "c'est la qualite des pieux, qui sont beaucoup plus gros que ceux des stations du bronze : ce sont des troncs entiers, rnesu- rant jusqu'a 28 et 30 centimetres. Au lieu de faire saillie dans Feau, ils sont a fleur du fond." On the other hand, in speaking of the Bronze age piles, he says : " Les pieux sont plus greles ; ce sont frequemment des troncs fondus en quatre, n'excedant guere 4, au plus 5 pouces de diametre ; au lieu d'etre a fleur du fond, ils s'elevent de 1 a 2 pieds au-dessus de la vase, ce qui permet de les reconnaitre facilement, mal- gre leur plus grand profondeur." M. Troyon also tells us that "On peut dire que les pilotis de la fin du deuxieme age, anciens de plus de deux mille ans et saillants d'un a trois pieds au-dessus de la vase, presentent a peu pres partout le meme aspect, tandis que ceux de Tage de la pierre ont ete generalement use's jusqu'a la surface du limon dont ils sont parfois reconverts."* * Les Constructions lacustres du lac de Neufchatel. BELONGING TO THE STONE AND BRONZE AGE. 139 The more complete destruction of the piles belonging to the earlier period depends not only on their greater age, but on their occurrence in shallower water. The action of the waves being greatest near the surface, and diminishing gra- dually downwards, not only are those piles which occupy the deeper parts, least liable to destruction, but in each the erosion takes place gradually from above, so that the upper end of the piles is often more regularly pointed even than the lower. Lying among them are fragments of bone, horn, pottery, and sometimes objects of bronze. Most of these are imbedded in the mud or hidden under the stones, but others lie on the bottom yet uninjured ; so that when for the first time I saw them through the transparent water, a momentary feeling of doubt as to their age rose in my mind. So fresh and so unaltered, they look as if they were only things of yesterday, and it seems hard to believe that they can have remained there for centuries. The explanation of the difficulty is, however, to be found in the fact that the action of the most violent storms is perceptible only to a small depth. Except, therefore, near the mouths of rivers, or where there is much vegetation, the deposition of mud at depths greater than four feet is an extremely slow process, and objects which fall to the bottom in such situa- tions will neither be covered over nor carried away. " J'ai peche," says M. Troyon, "sur 1' emplacement en face du Mou- lin de Bevaix, les fragments d'un grand vase qui gisaient a peu de distance les uns des autres, et que j'ai pu reunir de maniere a les remontre completement. A la Tongue, pres d'Hermance, j'ai trouve les deux fragments d'un anneau sup- port, distants de quelques pieds, qui, en les rapprochant ne laissent aucun interstice." The upper parts of the objects also, which are bathed by the water, are generally covered by a layer of carbonate of lime, while the lower part which has sunk into the mud is quite unaltered. M. Troyon once 140 THE FAUNA OF THE obtained at Cortaillod a pair of bracelets in one haul of the dredge the first, which had been visible from the boat, was greenish and covered with incrustation ; the second, which had been in the mud immediately below, was as fresh as if it had only just been cast. As piles of the Bronze age are sometimes found at a depth of as much as fifteen feet, and it is manifest that buildings cannot have been* constructed over water much deeper than this, it is evident that the Swiss lakes cannot since that period have stood at a much higher level than at present. This conclusion is confirmed by the position of Roman remains at Thonon, on the Lake -of Geneva, and we thus obtain satisfactory evidence that the height of the Swiss lakes must have remained almost unaltered for a very long period. For our knowledge of the animal remains from the Pile- works we are almost entirely indebted to Prof. Rutimeyer, who has published two memoirs on the subject (Mittheilungen der Antiq. Gesellschaft in Zurich, Bd. xiii. Abth. 2, 1860 ; and, more recently, a separate work, Die Fauna der Pfahlbau- ten in der Schweiz, 1861). The bones are in the same frag- mentary condition as those from the Kjokkenmoddings, and have been opened in the same manner for the sake of the marrow. There is also the same absence of certain bones and parts of bones, so that it is impossible to reconstruct a perfect skeleton, even of the commonest animal. The total number of species amounts to about seventy, of which ten are fishes, three reptiles, twenty birds, and the remainder quadrupeds. Of the latter, six species may be considered as having been domesticated, namely, the dog, pig, horse, goat, sheep, ,and at least two varieties of oxen. The bones very seldom occur in a natural condition, but those of domestic and wild animals are mixed together, and the state in which they are found, the marks of knives upon them, SWISS LAKE-DWELLINGS. 141 and their having been almost always broken open for the sake >of the marrow, are all evidences of human interference. Two species, the one wild, the other domestic, are especially .numerous the stag and the ox. Indeed, the remains of these two equal those of all the others together. It is, however, an interesting fact, that in the older settlements, as at Moosseedorf, Wauwyl, and Eobenhausen, the stag exceeds the ox in the number of specimens indicated, while the reverse is the case in the more modern settlements of the western lakes, as, for instance, those at Wangen and Meilen. Next to these in order of abundance is the hog. Less nu- merous again, and generally represented by single specimens where the preceding occur in numbers, are the roe, the goat, and the sheep, which latter is most abundant in the later set- tlements. With these rank the fox and the martens. Foxes are occasionally eaten by the Esquimaux,* and Captain Lyon seems to have taken rather a fancy to them.f They also appear, whether from choice or necessity, to have been eaten during the Stone period. This conclusion is derived from the fact that the bones often present the marks of knives, and have been opened for the sake of the marrow. While, however, the fox is very frequent in the Pileworks of the Stone epoch, it has not yet been found in any settlement belonging to the Bronze period. Oddly enough, the dog is rarer than the fox, at least as far as the observations yet go, in the Lake-dwellings of the Stone period, though more common than the horse.; and of other species but few specimens have been met with, though in some localities the beaver, the badger, and the hedgehog appear in some numbers. The bear and the wolf, as well as the urus, the bison, and the elk, seem to have occasionally been captured ; it is probable that -the latter species were taken in concealed pits. * Crantz, History of Greenland, vol. i. p. 73. f Lyons' Journal, p. 77. 142 STAG. BOAR. BULL. GOAT. SHEEP. DOG. From the small lake at Moosseedorf, M. Riitimeyer has identified the following list : Of the dog, three specimens ; fox, four specimens ; beaver, five specimens ; roe, six speci- mens ; goat and sheep, ten specimens ; cow, sixteen speci- mens ; hog, twenty specimens ; stag, twenty specimens. It is certainly very striking to find two wild species repre- sented by the greatest number of specimens, and particularly so, since this is no exceptional case ; but the whole sum of the wild, exceeds that of the domesticated individuals,, a result,, moreover,, which holds good in other settlements of this epoch. Not only does this indicate a great antiquity, but it also proves that the population must have been some- times subjected to great privations, partly from the unavoid- able uncertainty of supplies so obtained, partly because it is improbable that foxes would have been eaten except under the pressure of hunger. The bones of the stag and the wild boar often indicate animals of an unusual magnitude, while, on the other hand,, the fox appears to have been somewhat smaller than at present. The dogs varied less than they do now; in fact they all belong to one variety, which was of middle size, and appears to have resembled our present beagles. (M. Riitimeyer describes it as "resembling the Jagdhund" and the " Wachtelhund.") The sheep of the Stone period differed from the ordinary form, in its small size, fine legs, and short, goat-like horns : particulars, in which it is nearly resembled by some northern, and mountain, varieties at the present day, as, for instance, by the small sheep of the Shetlands, Orkneys, Welsh hills, and parts of the Alps. At Wauwyl, however, M. Riitimeyer found traces of an individual with large horns. Our know- ledge of the wild species of sheep is so deficient, that M. Riitimeyer does not venture to express any opinion concern- ing the origin of the domestic varieties, except that he is inclined to trace them up to several wild races. TABLES OF THE ANIMAL REMAINS. 143 In his first memoir, Prof. Riitimeyer gives an interesting table, which, with some additions which I owe to> the courtesy of Prof. Rutimeyer, is here subjoined, premising that 1 denotes a single individual ; 2 r several individuals ; 3,, the species which are common ; 4, those which are very common ; 5, those which are present in great number. ! 1 3 Horse 2 > I 3 Ox 5 5 5 Goat 2 2 3 Sheep 1 2 4 Do? . 2 2 3 ones all indicate a higher civilisation for the inhabitants of Morges and Nidau, than for those of Moosseedorf and Wauwyl. Col. Schwab has found at the Steinberg more than twenty * Considered by Prof. Riitimeyer to have been at first wild, but domesticated at Nidau and in the later Pfahlbauten. 168 ABANDONMENT crescents, made of earthenware, and with the convex side flattened, to serve as a foot. They are compressed at the sides, sometimes plain, sometimes ornamented, from eight to twelve inches from one horn to the other, and from six to eight inches in height. They are considered by Dr. Keller to be religious emblems, and are taken as evidence of moon- worship. He refers to Pliny, xvi. 95 : " Est autem id (viscum) rarum admodum inventu et repertum magna re- ligione petitur et ante omnia sexta luna, quge principia mensium annorumque his facit, et saeculi post tricesimum annum, quiu jam virium abunde habeat nee sit sui dimidia ; omnia sanantem appellantes suo vocabulo." This passage he translates as follows : " The mistletoe is, however, very rare, but when it is found it is gathered with great religious cere- mony, especially on the sixth day of the moon, at which epoch begin their months, years, and divisions of thirty years, because it has then sufficient force, and yet is not in the middle of its course ; calling it Heal-all in their lan- guage/' This name has generally been referred to the mistletoe.* But the Swiss archaeologists consider that this is a mistake, and that it properly refers to the moon. The Pileworks of Switzerland appear to have become gra- dually less numerous. During the Stone age they were spread over the whole country. Confined, so far as we at present know, during the Bronze era to the Lakes of Western Switzerland ; during that of Iron they have as yet been found only on the Lakes of Bienne and Neufchatel. In these settlements not only has a new substance made its appearance, but the forms of the implements are different. We have, indeed, copies of the bronze axes made in iron, just as we found before that some of the earlier bronze celts resembled the stone axes in form, but these are exceptional cases. The swords have larger handles, and are more richly * See The Celt, Roman and Saxon, p. 48. OF THE LAKE-VILLAGES. 169 ornamented ; the knives have straight edges ; the sickles are larger ; the pottery is more skilfully made and is of the kind generally known as Roman : the personal ornaments are also more varied, and glass for the first time makes its appearance. A field of battle at Tiefenau, near Berne, is remarkable for the great number of iron weapons and implements which have been found on it. Pieces of chariots, about a hundred swords, fragments of coat of mail, lance-heads, rings, fibulae, ornaments, utensils, pieces of pottery and of glass, accom- panied by more than thirty Gaulish and Massaliote coins of a date anterior to our era, enable us to refer this battle-field to the Roman period. About forty Roman coins have also been found at the small island on the Lake of Bienne. After this period we find no more evidences of Lake-habi- tations on a large scale. Here and there, indeed, a few fishermen may have lingered on the half- destroyed plat- forms, but the wants and habits of the people^ had changed, and the age of the Swiss Pileworks was at an end. We have, however, traced them through the ages of Stone and Bronze down to the beginning of the Iron period. We have seen evidences of a gradual progress in civilisation, and improvement in the arts, an increase in the number of domestic animals, and proofs at last of the existence of an extended com- merce. We found the country inhabited only by rude savages, and we leave it the seat of a powerful nation. Changes so important as these are not effected in a day ; the progress of the human mind is but .slow ; and the gradual additions to human knowledge and power, like the rings in trees, enable us to form some idea how distant must be the date of their commencement. So varied, however, are the conditions of the human mind, so much are all nations affected by the influence of others, that when we attempt to express our impressions, so to say, in terms of years, we are baffled by the complexity of the problem. 170 CHRONOLOGY. Some attempts have, indeed, been made to obtain a more definite chronology, and they will be alluded to in a later chapter. Though we must not conceal from ourselves the imperfection of the archaeological record, still we need not despair of eventually obtaining some approximate chrono- logy. Our knowledge of primitive antiquity has made an enormous stride in the last ten years, and we may fairly look forward with hope to the future. The Swiss archaeologists are continuing their labors, and they may rest assured that we in England await with interest the result of their investigations. Few things can be more interesting than the spectacle of an ancient and long-for- gotten people thus rising, as it were, to take that place which properly belongs to it in the history of the human race. 171 CHAPTEE VI. THE DANISH KJOKKENMODDINGS, OR SHELL-MOUNDS. DENMARK occupies a larger space in the history, than on the map of Europe ; the nation is greater than the country. Though, with the growth of physical power in surrounding populations, she has lost somewhat of her influence in political councils, and has recently been most unjustly deprived of a great part of her ancient possessions : still the Danes of to-day are no unworthy representatives of their ancestors. Many a larger nation might envy them the position they hold in science and in art, and few have contributed more to the progress of human knowledge. Copenhagen may well be proud both of her museums and of her professors. I would especially point to the celebrated Museum of Northern Antiquities, as being most character- istic and unique. For the formation of such a collection Denmark offers un- rivalled opportunities. The whole country appears to have been, at one time, thickly studded with tumuli : where the land has not been brought into cultivation, many of them are often in sight at once, and even in the more fertile and thickly populated parts, the plough is often diverted from its course by one of these ancient burial places. Fortunately, the stones of which they are constructed are so large and so hard, that their destruction and removal is a laborious and expensive undertaking. While, however, land grows more 172 SHELL-MOUNDS AT FIRST valuable, or perhaps when the stones themselves are coveted for building or other purposes, no conservative tra- dition, no feeling of reverence for the dead, protects them from desecration : and it is estimated that not a day passes without witnessing the destruction of one or more of these o tumuli, and the loss of some perhaps almost irrecoverable link in the history of the human race. Almost every barrow, indeed, contains in itself a small collection of antiquities, and the whole country may even be considered as a museum on a great scale. The peat bogs, which occupy so large an area, may almost be said to swarm with antiquities, and Professor Steenstrup estimates that on an average every column of peat three feet square contains some specimen of ancient workmanship. All these advan- tages and opportunities, however, might have been thrown away, but for the genius and perseverance of Professor Thomsen, who may fairly be said to have created the museum over which he so worthily presides. In addition to the objects collected from the tumuli and the peat bogs, and te those which have been found from time to time scattered at random in the soil, the Museum of Northern Antiquities contains an immense col- lection of specimens from some very interesting shell-mounds, which are known in Denmark under the name of " Kjokken- moddings," and were long supposed to be raised beaches, like those which are found at so many points along our own shores. True raised beaches, however, necessarily contain a variety of species ; the individuals are of -different ages, and the shells are, of course, mixed with considerable quan- tity of sand and gravel. But it was observed in the first instance I believe by Professor Steenstrup, that in these sup- posed raised beaches, the shells belonged entirely to full grown, or to nearly full grown, individuals : that they con- sisted of four species which do not live together, nor require SUPPOSED TO BE RAISED BEACHES. 173 the same conditions, and would not, therefore, be found together alone in a natural deposit : and thirdly, that the stratum contained scarcely any gravel, but consisted almost entirely of shells. The discovery of rude flint implements, and of bones still bearing the marks of knives, confirmed the supposition that these beds were not natural formations, and it subsequently became evident that they were, in fact, the sites of ancient villages ; the primitive population having lived on the shore and fed principally on shell-fish, but partly also on the pro- ceeds of the chase. In many places hearths were discovered consisting of flat stones, arranged in such a manner as to form small platforms, and bearing all the marks of fire. The shells and bones not available for food gradually accumulated round the tents and huts, until they formed deposits generally from three to five feet, but sometimes as much as ten feet in thickness, and in some cases more than three hundred yards in length, with a breadth of from one hundred to two hundred feet. The name Rjokkenmodding, applied to these mounds, is derived from Kjokken, "kitchen/' and modding, (corresponding to our local word midding), "a refuse heap/' and it was, of course, evident that a careful examination of these accumulations would throw much light on the manners and civilisation of the then population. Under these circumstances a committee was formed, con- sisting of Professor Steenstrup, the celebrated author of the treatise " On the Alternation of Generations/' Professor Forchhammer, the father of Danish Geology, and Professor Worsaae, the well-known archaeologist : a happy combina- tion, promising the best results to biology, geology, and archaeology. Much was naturally expected from the labours of such a triumvirate, and the most sanguine hopes have been fulfilled. Already more than fifty of the deposits have been carefully examined, many thousand specimens have been col- 174 DESCRIPTION OF lected, ticketed, and deposited in the Museum at Copenhagen, and the general results have been embodied in six Eeports presented to the Academy of Sciences at Copenhagen.* It is from these reports, and from the excellent Memoir by M. Morlot, that the following information has prin- cipally been derived. Being, however, anxious to pre- sent to my readers a complete and accurate account of these interesting shell-mounds, I have twice visited Den- mark ; first in 1861, with Professor Busk, and again in the summer of 1863. On both these occasions, through the kindness of Professor Thomsen and Herr K. Herbst every facility has been afforded me of examining the large collec- tions made in different Kjokkenmoddings, in addition to which I had the great advantage of visiting several of the shell-mounds under the guidance of Professor Steenstrup himself one, namely, at Havelse in 1861, and those at Meilgaard and Fannerup in 1863. Mr. Busk and I also visited by ourselves one at Bilidt, on the Isefjord, close to Fredericksund, but this is one of the places at which it would seem that the inhabitants cooked their dinners actually on the shore itself, so that the shells and bones are much mixed up with sand and gravel ; and we were not very successful in the search for flint imple- ments. At Havelse, on the contrary, the settlement was on rather higher ground, and though close to the shore, quite beyond the reach of the waves ; the shells and bones are therefore almost unmixed with extraneous substances. At this place the Kjokkenmodding is of small extent, and is in the form of an irregular ring, enclosing a space on which the ancient dwelling or dwellings probably stood. In other cases, where the deposit is of greater extent, as * Untersogelser i geologisk-antiqua- also has published an excellent abstract risk Retning af G. Forchhammer, J. of the Reports in the Mem. de la So- Steenstrup, og J. "Worsaae. M. Morlot ciete Vaudoise, T. yi. 186p. THE SHELL-MOUNDS. 175 for instance in the celebrated shell-mound at Meilgaard, the surface is undulating, the greater thickness of the shelly stratum in some places apparently indicating the arrangement of the dwellings. When the shell-mound at Havelse was previously visited by Professor Steen- strup, the shells were being removed to serve as manure, and the mound, presenting a perpendicular section, was in a very favourable condition for examination. The small pit thus formed had, however, been filled in; so that we were obliged to make a fresh excavation. In two or three hours we obtained about a hundred fragments of bone, many rude flakes, slingstones, and flint fragments, together with nine rude axes of the ordinary "shell- mound " type, several of which, however, were picked up on the surface. Our visit to Meilgaard in 1863 was even more success- ful. This, which is one of the largest and most interesting shell-mounds hitherto discovered, is situated not far from the sea-coast, near Grenaa in north-east Jutland, in a beautiful beech forest called "Aigt," or " Aglskov," on the property of M. Olsen, who with a praiseworthy devotion to science, has given orders that the Kjokkenmodding should not be de- stroyed, although the materials of which it consists are well adapted for the improvement of the soil and for other pur- poses, to which, indeed, they had already been in part applied before the true nature of the deposit was discovered. Arriving at his house without invitation or notice, we were received by M. Olsen and his family with kindness and hospitality. M. Olsen immediately sent two workmen to clear away the rub- bish which had fallen in since the last archaeological visit, so that when we reached the spot we found a fresh wall of the shell-mound ready for examination. In the middle, this Kjok- kenmodding has a thickness of about ten feet, from which, however, it slopes away in all directions; round the prin- 176 DISTRIBUTION OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. cipal mound are several smaller ones, of the same nature. Over the shells a thin layer of mould has formed itself, on which the trees grow. A good section of such a Kjokken- modding can hardly fail to strike with astonishment any one who sees it for the first time, and it is difficult to convey in words an exact idea of the appearance which it presents. The whole thickness consists of shells, oysters being at Meilgaard by far the most numerous, with here and there a few bones, and still more rarely stone implements or fragments of pottery. Excepting just at the top and bottom, the mass is quite unmixed with sand and gravel ; and, in fact, contains nothing but what has been, in some way or other, subservient to the use of man. The only exceptions which I could see were a few, very few, rough flint pebbles, which were pro- bably dredged up with the oysters. While we were in this neighbourhood, we visited another Ejokkenmodding at Fan- nerup on the Kolindsund, which was even in historical times an arm of the sea, but is now a freshwater lake. Other similar deposits have been discovered on the Randersfjord and Mariagerfjord in this part of Jutland, nor are the two settlements at Havelse and Bilidt by any means the only ones on the Isefjord ; in the neighbourhood of Roeskilde, Ejokkenmoddings occur near Gjerdrup, at Kattinge, and Kattinge Vaerk, near Trallerup, at Gjershoi, and opposite the island of Hyldeholme ; besides several farther north, others have been found on the islands of Fyen, of iloen, and of Samsoe, and in Jutland along Liimfjord and Horsensfjord, as well as on the Mariagerfjord, Randersfjord, and Kolind- sund. The southern parts of Denmark have not yet been carefully examined. Generally it is evident that deposits of this nature were scattered here and there over the whole coast, but that they were never formed inland. The whole country was more intersected by fjords during the Stone period even than it is now. Under these circumstances it is SHELL-MOUNDS IN SCOTLAND. 177 evident that a nation which subsisted principally on marine mollusca would never form any large inland settlements. In some instances, indeed, Kjokkenmoddings have been found as far as eight miles from the present coast, but in these cases there is good reason for supposing that the land has encroached on the sea. On the other hand, in those FIG. 124. parts where Kjokkenmoddings do not occur, their absence is no doubt occasioned by the waves having to a certain extent eaten away the shore : an explana- tion which accounts for their . being so much more frequent on the borders of the inland fjords than on the coast itself; and which seems to deprive us of all hope of finding any similar remains on our eastern and south-eastern shores. Shell-mounds have, how- ever, actually been found on our coasts. They were observed by Dr. Gordon, of Birnie, on the shores of the Moray Firth. I have had the advantage of visiting these shell-mounds with him. The largest of the Scotch Kjokkenmoddings is at a place called Brigzes on Loch Spynie. We did not find any im- plements or pottery in it, although we searched for several hours, but a labourer who had been employed in carting it away for manure had previously found some fragments of rude pottery and the bronze pin (fig. 124). Loch Spynie has been partially drained, and is shut out from the sea by a great accumulation of shingle, so that the water is now perfectly fresh. From ancient records it appears that the shingle bar- rier was probably completed, and the lake shut out from the sea in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- turies. On the other hand, I have submitted the Bro ' nze bronze pin figured here to Mr. Franks, who gives Tsc^tS it as his opinion that it is probably not older than mound. 800 or 900 A.D. If, therefore, it really belongs to the shell- 12 178 SHELL- MOUNDS IN OTHER COUNTRIES. mound, and there seems no reason to doubt the statement of the man who found it, we thus get an approximate date for the accumulation of the mound itself. At St. Val.ery, close to the mouth of the Somme, Mr. Evans, Mr. Prestwich, and I found a large accumulation of shells, from which I ob- tained several flint flakes and some pieces of rude pottery. Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Spence Bate have recently described some shell-mounds in Cornwall and Devonshire. Similar remains have been observed by travellers in various parts of the world, as, for instance, in Australia by Dampier,* in Tierra del Fuego by Mr. Darwin, f and in the Malay Peninsula by Mr. Earle. J The fact that the majority of the Danish shell-mounds are found at a height of only a few feet above the sea appears to prove that there has been no considerable subsidence of the land since their formation, while on the other hand it clearly shows that there can have been no elevation. In certain cases, however,, where the shore is steep,, they have been found at a considerable height. It might indeed be sup- posed that where, as at Bilidt, the materials of the Kjokken- modding were rudely interstratified with sand and gravel, the land must have sunk ; but if for any length of time such a deposit was subjected to the action of the waves, all traces of it would be obliterated, and it is therefore probable that an explanation is rather to be found in the fact that the action of waves and storms may have been greater at that time than they are now. At present the tides only affect the Kattegat to the extent of about a foot and a half, and the configuration of the land protects it very much from the action of the winds. On the other hand, the tides on the west coast of Jutland rise about nine feet, and the winds have been known to produce differences of level amounting * Pinkerton's Travels, vol. ii. p. 473. f Journal, p. 234. J Ethnological Soc. Trans. New Ser. vol. ii., p. 119. FLORA OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS, 179 to twenty-nine feet ; and as we know that Jutland was anciently an archipelago, and that the Baltic was more open to the German Ocean than it is now, we can easily under- stand that the fluctuations of level may have been greater, and we can thus explain how the waves may have risen over the Kjokkenmodding at Bilidt (which is after all not much more than ten feet aBove the water),, without, resorting to the hypothesis of a subsidence and subsequent elevation of the coast. In the Lake-habitations of the Stone age in Switzerland, grains of wheat and barley, and even pieces of bread, or rather biscuit, have been found. It does not, however, ap- pear that the men of the Kjokkenmoddings had any know- ledge of agriculture, no traces of grain of any sort having been hitherto discovered.. The only vegetable remains found in them have been burnt pieces of wood,, and some charred substance, referred by M. Forchhammer to the Zbstera marina, a sea plant which was, perhaps> used in the production of salt. The four species which are the most abundant in the shell- mounds are The oyster, Ostrea edulis r L. The cockle, Cardium edule, L. The mussel, Mytilm edulis,. L. and The periwinkle, Littorina Uttorea, L. all four of which are still used as food for man. Other species occur more rarely, namely,; Nassa reticulata r L.. Buccinum undatum, L.. Venus pullastra, Mont. Helix nemoralis, Mull. Venus aurea, Gm. Trigonella plana, Da. C. Littorina obtusata, L. 180 .FAUNA OF THE SHELL-MOUNDS. Jfefaa; strigella, Mull, and Carocolla lapitida, L. It "is remarkable that the specimens of the first seven species are well developed, and decidedly larger than any now found in the neighbourhood. This is especially the case with the Cardium edule andLittorina littorea, while the oyster has entirely disappeared, and even in the Kattegat itself occurs only in a few places ; a result which may, perhaps, be partly owing to the quantities caught by fishermen. Some oysters were, however, still living in the Isefjord; at the be- ginning of this century, and their destruction cannot be alto- gether ascribed to the fishermen, as great numbers of dead shells are still present ; but in this case it is attributed to the abundance of starfishes, which are very destructive to oysters. On the whole, their disappearance, especially when taken in connexion with the dwarf size of the x)ther species, is evidently attributable . in a great measure to the smaller proportion of salt in the water. Of Crustacea only a few fragments of crabs have hitherto been found. The remains of vertebrata are very numerous and extremely interesting. In order to form an idea of the number of bones, and of the relative proportions belonging to different animals, Professor Steenstrup dug out from three different parts of the shell-mound at Havelse square pillars with sides three feet in length, and carefully collected the bones therein contained. In the first pillar he found 175 bones of mammals, and 35 of birds; in the second pillar he found 121 of mammals and 9 of birds ; in the third 309 of mammals and 10 of birds. The pillars, however, were -not exactly comparable, because their cubic contents depended on the thickness of the shell-mound at the place where they were taken, and varied between seventeen and twenty cubic feet. On the whole, Prof. Steenstrup estimates that there were from ten to twelve bones in each cubic foot. It will be FISH. BIRDS. MAMMALS. 181 seen, therefore, that the number of bones is very great. Indeed,, from .the mound at Havelse alone the Committee ob- tained in one summer.3500 bones of mammals, and, more than 200 of birds, , besides many hundred of fishes^ which latter, indeed,, are almost innumerable. The most common species are Clupea harengus, L. (the herring) Gad us callarius, L. (the dorse) Pleuronectes limanda, L. (the dab) and Murcena anguilla, L. (the eel). The remains of birds are highly interesting and instruc- tive. The domestic fowl (Gallus domesticus) is entirely absent. The two domestic swallows of Denmark (Hirundo rustica and H. urbica), . the sparrow and the stork are also missing. On the= other- hand, fine specimens of the caper- cailzie (Tetrao urogallus) which feeds principally on the buds of the pine, show that, as we knew already from the remains found in the peat, the countryivas at one time covered with pine forests. Aquatic birds, however^ are the most frequent, especially several species of ducks and geese. The wild swan (Cygnus musicus) which only visits Denmark in winter, is also frequently found ; but, perhaps, the most interesting of the birds whose remains have been identified is the Great Auk (Alca impennis, L.), a species which is now almost extinct. Of mammalia by far the most common are The stag (Cervus elaphus, E-.), The roedeer (Cervus capreolus, L.) and The wild boar (Sus scrofa, E.) Indeed, Professor Steenstrup estimates that these three species form ninety-seven per cent, of the whole ; the others are The urus (Bos urus, L.,) The dog 182 MAMMALS. The fox (Canis vulpes, L.) The wolf ( Canis lupus, L.) The marten (Maries sp. un.) The otter (Luira vulgaris, Exl.) The porpoise (Delphinus phoccena, L.) The seal (Phoca sp.) The water rat (Hypudceus amphibius, L. and Hypudceus agrestis, L.) The beaver (Castor fiber, L.) The lynx (Felis lynx, L.) The wild cat (Felis catus, L.) The hedgehog (Erinaceus europceus, L.) The bear (Ursus arctos, L.) The mouse (Mus flavicollis, Mel.) There are also traces of a smaller species of ox. The Lithu- anian aurochs (Bison europceus)}i&s been found, though rarely, in the peat bogs, but not yet in the Ejokkenmoddings. The musk ox (Bubalus moschatus) and the domestic ox (Bos taurus), as well as the reindeer, the elk, the hare, the sheep, and the domestic hog, are all absent.* Professor Steenstrup does not believe that the domestic hog of ancient Europe was directly derived from the wild boar, but rather that it was introduced from the East ; and the skulls which he showed me in support of this belief cer- tainly exhibited very great differences between the two races. It is extremely unlikely that an animal so powerful and~so intractable as the urus appears to have been, "can have been domesticated by savages, and the condition of the bones themselves confirms the idea that they belonged to wild ani- mals. The sheep, the horse, and the reindeer being entirely absent, and the domestic cat not having been known in * It is a curious fact that, as Prof. cate, as a general rule, larger and more Steenstrup informs me, the bones from powerful animals than those of the the Kjbkkenmoddings of Jutland indi- Islands. ABSENCE OF CERTAIN BONES. 183 Europe until about the ninth century, the dog* appears to have been the only domestic animal of the period; and though it may fairly be asked whether the bones may not have belonged to -a race of wild dogs, the question admits of a satisfactory answer. Among the remains of birds, the long bones which form about one- fifth of the skeleton, are, in the Kjokkenmoddings, about twenty times as numerous as the others, and are almost always imperfect, the shaft only remaining. In the same manner it would be impossible to reconstruct a perfect skele- ton of the quadrupeds, certain bones and parts of bones being always absent. In the case of the ox, for instance, the missing parts are the heads of the long bones (though while the shaft only of the femur is found, in the humerus one end is generally perfect), the back bone except the two first vertebrae, the spinous processes, and often the ribs, and the bones of the skull except the lower jaw and the portion round the eyes. It occurred to Prof. Steenstrup that these curious results might, perhaps, be referred to dogs ; and, on trying the experiment, he ascertained that the bones which are absent from the Kjokkenmoddings are precisely those which dogs eat, and those which are present are the parts which are hard and solid and do not contain much nourishment. Prof. Steenstrup has since published a diagram of a skeleton, tinted in such a manner as to show at a glance which of the bones occur in the Kjokkenmoddings, and points out that it coincides exactly with one given by M. Flourens to illustrate those portions of the skeleton which were first formed. Although a glance at the longitudinal section of a long bone, as, for instance, of a femur and a comparison of the open cancellated tissue of the two ends with the solid, close, texture of the shaft, at once * From the marks of knives on the was then, as it is still among several bones, it seems evident that the dog savage tribes, an article of food. 184 MUTILATION OF CERTAIN BONES. justifies and accounts for the selection made by the dogs, it is interesting thus to ascertain that their predilections were the same in primaeval times as at present. Moreover, we may in this manner explain. the prevalence of some bones in fossil strata. I have already mentioned that of the skull, the hard parts round the eye and the lower jaw are the only parts left ; now the preponderance of lower jaws in a fossil state is well known. For instance, in the "Proceedings of the Geological Society for 1857," p. 277, Dr. Falconer, after describing some of the fossils found by Mr. Beccles at Swanage, says: "The curious fact that only lower jaws should have turned up among the Stonesfield mammalian remains has often been the subject of speculation or remark. The same, to a certain extent, has held good with the remains found in the Purbeck beds. In these minute creatures, unless the bone be com- plete, and, supposing it to be a long bone, with both its articular surfaces perfect, it is almost hopeless, or at any rate very discouraging, to attempt to make out the creature that yielded it ; whereas the smallest fragment of a jaw, with a minute tooth in it, speaks volumes of evidence at the first glance. This I believe to be one great reason why we hear so much of jaw remains, and so little of other bones." No doubt it is so, but these observations, made by Prof. Steen- strup, afford a farther explanation of the fact, and it is to be regretted that the parts of the long bones which are most important to the palaeontologist are also those which are preferred by beasts of prey. In every case, the bones which contained marrow are split open in the manner best adapted for its extraction : this pecu- liarity, which is in itself satisfactory proof of the presence of man, has not yet been observed in bones from the true tertiary strata. The Kjokkenmoddings were not mere summer quarters; SHELL-MOUND BUILDERS NOT MERE SUMMER VISITORS. 185 the ancient fishermen resided on these spots for at least two- thirds, , if not the whole of the year. . This we learn from an examination of, the bones of the wild animals, as it is often possible to determine, within very narrow limits, the time of year at which they were killed. Por instance, the remains of the wild swan (Cygnus musicus) are very common, and this- bird is only a winter, visitor, leaving the Danish coasts in March, and returning in November. It might naturally have been hoped that the remains of young birds would have supplied evidence as to the spring and early summer, but unfortunately, as has been already explained,, no such bones are to be found. It is, therefore, fortunate that among the mammalia two periodical phenomena occur ; namely,, the shedding and reproduction of stags' antlers, which,, wiffi slight variations according to age, have a fixed season; and, secondly, the birth and growth of the young.. These, , and similar phenomena render it highly probable that the " mound-builders" resided on the Danish, coast all the year round, though I am disposed to think that, like the Fuegians, who lead, even now, a very similar life, they frequently moved from spot to spot. This appears to me to be indicated not only by the condition of the deserted hearths, but by the color of the flint flakes,, etc. ; for while many of these retains the usual dull bluish black color which is characteristic of newly-broken flints, and which remains unaltered as long as they are surrounded by carbonate of lime, .others are whitened,, as is usual with those which have been exposed for any length of, time. Perhaps, therefore, these were lying on the surface during some period of deser- tion, ,nd covered over