LAKE DWELLINGS.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3986, 7 October 1881, Page 2

LAKE DWELLINGS.

At the last meeting of the Auckland Institute, Mr Neil Heath read a paper on • the " Ancient Swiss Lake Dwellings. He stated that archaeologists generally divided the past into four periods—the old stone' period, the new stone period, the bronze period, and the iron- period. It was to the new stone period, that the owiu lake dwellings .were generally ascribed. ... He, referred'to the fifth book of'Herddotufe im which reference is made to these^d-fellings, butnodetailed history of these were extant. They were constructed by'piles being driven into the bed of, tj\e lake, then covered with a platform, and theOiouses built thereon. It' was known from Herodotus, that it was a rule among these people that when a man married he was bound to drive three new piles, and as they had many wires, the area covered by sachr dwellings naturally rapidly increased. The place where, the , dwellings were erected were connected with the main land by a bridge or platform, which during times of war were raised or destroyed, and the dwellings thus became a fortress capable of much defence. It was customary to tie a string to the foot of every child, so that in. the event of it falling off the plat form,, it could be rescued from drowning. #or fishing, they simply lifted a trap on the > platform, let down their basket, and after a time drew it up and the fiah it con* tamed. It was in 1854. that the first discovery of these dwellings in modern ' times was made. That, year Lake Zurich fell very low, and.,some ,'qf the owners of land abutting on the lake ; decided to take in a portion of the dried - beach, and it was while this work wS*^ going on that the tops of the upright pileV^ were discovered. Skilful examination followed, and it was. soon found that they ' were the remains of the lake dwellers, who had lired there it is supposed some 2000' or 3000 years ago. Some of the piles were drawn, and it was found that they ranged from 5 to 30 feet in length, aoobrdk ing to the depth of lthe water and the ' nature of the bottonvwith a thickness of from 5 to 9 inolieo-The'manner jn which these large piles had. been driven' had not been decided. Where* the bottom was soft the lake dwellers fastened board* to \ the bottom so that they would afford the necessary bearing support. When it was too hard they heaped stones around the bottom of the pile; .in one {in* stance a pile was, found around whioh canoes loaded with stones had been sunk. Cross beams were placed on the, top. of these, fastened with wooden'pins, and on the top of these the platform was usually erected, The dwellings were generally oireular, but, were of various forma. Tho walls were built of clay and twigs lib* those of the Gauls. The outside was interlaced with branches, and the inside quite smooth. Upwards of 200 separate settlements have been found, one of which had extended over fully four acres, i It - was estimated that the lake dwellers had numbered at least 30,000 at one (imW '<'' (Mr Heath described with conaideimUe. ,- minuteness the various articles iqaVby . Mr Mackelvie, and the uses, whjck the* served. Several of the atone implements were exactly similar to those to be found in some of |he Maori sottlemeuts at th*

present day). He then described the remains of their food which had been found, and the animals which existed at that period. Portions of carbonised apples had been found, shells of tbe hazel-nut, the wild plum, arid in one settlement a pea had 'been found. The hog, goat, sheep, dog, fox, elk, bison, stag, also existed in, those days. The sheep then was almost identical with that now found on the mountains of Wales and Scotland. The other domestic animals had considerably changed since then. There was no knowledge as yet of the race of men who inhabited those lake dwellings. ■