The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-12-13
Correspondence
OUR EUROPEANLETTER

hbtCliOl 10 bCibS olliaNlOu ~ III
sudden recurrence of archaeological dis
coveries beneath the waters of the Swis
lakes to remarkable and almost forgot
zen era of pre- historic times in Europe
For some months past engineering
works on large scale have been carried
on in the Swiss Jura for the purpose o
deepening the lake basins and improving
the navigation. One of the results ha!
been the withdrawal of a great body 0
water from the shallower to the deeper
areas, so that immense tracts Of sandy
beach are laid bare. Boats cannot now
enter their accustomed harbors, and
long sand flats are seen where formerly
good sized vessels mere want to find suf
ficient draught. At this place, the lake
bottom which has thus become exposed
to view proves to be rich in remains oi
the strange people, who, before the dawn
of history, erected their wooden villages
upon piles, and lived here for centuries
in large, popnlous, and prosperous com
munities. The fishermen at Neufchatel
not unwilling to make the best of hard
times, are placing their services. at the
disposal of the antiquaries, and the result
is being seen in finds" which seem TO
equal in interest any recorded. The
mysterious eras which archaologists
have agreed tc call the "Stone Age" and
the Bronze Age" are again being won
derfully illustrated from the sources
that have proved as prolific in the past
There seems every reason to believe that
the search for further remains will yield
gratifying results. The number of lake
villages which have aleady been idenii-
| fed beneath the waters at Neufchatel is
more than fifty, and competent authori-
ties are agreed in considering the dis
coyeries as far from complete. The well
known zest of the Swiss archeologist in
50 congenial work seems thoroughly
revived, and it can hardly be doubted
hat a most interesting chapter in the
annals of one of the primeval races of
Europe has been successfully re-opened.
Few things can be more interesting
than the spectacle of an ancient and
long forgotten people rising, as it were
from the waters of oblivion, to take place
which belongs to them in the history of
The human race such are the words of
John Lubbock, who, during the last 20
years. he's been carefully watching the
discoveries in the Swiss lakes. To day
The wooden piles on which the villages
were built maY be counted by thousands.
In some places they resemble sub
merged forest the tree trunks of which
have been suddenly snapped by storm
or an avalanche. Travellers who visit
the scene find it hard to believe that
these incalculable rows of wooden piers
are really thousands of years old, so fresh
and unworn dc they look as they stand
upright beneath the waters. But the
story is no longer discredited. The
ancient race whose weapons, ornaments,
manufacturers, articles of dress, and
even kitchen refuse, are found at the
bottom of the lakes, have long since
taken their place among the European
prehistoric people. The tale of their
existence from the "Stone Age' down to
the time when Helvetia came under the
Roman rule is amply recorded by the
involuntary witness of the sites them
selves. The animals they kept, the
plants they cultivated for weaving and
spinning as well as for food, their querns,
for grinding corn, and ovens for baking
bread, have in recent years been recov-
cred from their watery tomb, in such
remarkable profusion as to enable us
easily to picture the life and avocations
of the owners. So completely did these
early Helvetians adopt the waters as
their home that their store houses and
their stalls for cattle were all constructed
| upon the lake. An interval of time which
is only measured by thousands of years
is shown TO have elapsed since the.oldest
of the settlements were built; yet to day
even the fodder and litter of the stalls.
are seen to be safely preserved beneath
the sunken floors and amid the wooden
piles. Sometimes the village is found
to have, been built as far. ai two
thousand PAGES from the shore. as
if to be out of the reach of the fiery pro
jectiles of enemies, which would seem
sometimes to have been fatal to the wide
stretching village of wattled huts. The
implements and other relics which sank
into the water when the flooring gave
way have been accidentally treasured up
in the lake bed beneath, and the me
morals of successive settlements have
thus been found lying to the delight of
the archeaologist in due chronological
strata. Eccentric as may seem to our
modern ideas this preference for living
on the water instead of on the land, it is
perhaps, still more strange that the habit
should have lasted so long. During the
Stone Age the lake dwelling fashion
lappears to have spread over the whole
fof Switzerland. The commencement, it
would seem was contemporary with the
age of the earliest British barrows and
tumuli and the remarkable shell mounds
or kitchen middens which have yielded
corresponding remains on the coast of
Denmark; and it certainly lasted until at
least the beginning of the Christian era.
| The strange people who have been so
suddenly brought upon the stage of his
tory had however, no monopoly of the
fright of residing in tenements built
above the lakes. 1t might have been
thought that so remarkable custom
would be peculiar to the genius or &c
centricity of a single race. But there is
hardly doubt that it was often adopted
lin different parts of the world as means
of safety from common danger. The age
of earthworks and castles had not yet
arrived, and the lake would often offer a
safer home than the land from the at
tacks of man and wild beasts alike.
According to nerodotus, Thracian
tribe Of his own period had found out
the advantage of a lacustrine life. @Their
manner of living" says the Father Of
History, lis the following: Planks are
fitted on lofty piles which stand in the
middle of the like, with a narrow en-
trance from the mainland by single
bridge. Every man has hut on the
platform, in which he dwells.with trap
: taoorI leading down to the lake" The
+ historian goes on to describe the ar
ransements which were made for the