Lake Houses 7000 Years Old.

Hokitika Guardian, 26 May 1921, Page 4

Lake Houses 7000 Years Old.

VEYEY (Switzerland), March 18 The three months’ drought on the Swiss glaciers has caused the water of the lakes to sink so low that prehistoric lake dwellings arc visible at several places. At Greng, near the Lake of Morat, the remains of a large settlement can he seen, while by Lake Neuehntcl, and near Alorges, on the Lake of Geneva, other interesting relics arc dearly visible.

Light rain fell in different parts of Switzerland to-day.

These Swiss lake dwellings, which were revealed to the world in 1854 by <t drought similar to the present one, are believed to have been built as long as 7,000 years ago. From about 5,000 b.c. people lived in them down almost to historic times. The structure which supported the wooden platforms on which the dwellings were built was made of piles driven into the bottom of the lake.

Tlie platforms were fastened by wooden pins and the lints made of wood ami day, with hearths of fiat slabs of stone. Bark, straw, reeds, or rushes formed the thatched roof. The lints, which were partitioned into rooms, varied in size from 20 feet long by 12 feet wide to 27 feet long by 22 feet wide.

The Alorges village, one of the largest in the Lake of Geneva, was 1,200 fed long and 150 feet wide. Numerous relics have been found in the peaty accumulations below the villages, showing that the inhabitants used stone, bronze, hone, wood, and occasionally iion bn their cooking and hunting implements. Burnt wheat, bailey, fruits, and hones of oxen, swine, sheep, dogs, horse, hare, hear, bison, and other animals were also found.

Similar lake dwellings have boon excavated at Glastonbury, in Somerset.