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LAKE DWELLINGS
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See also:LAKE DWELLINGS , the See also:term employed in See also:archaeology for habitations constructed, not on the dry See also:land, but within the margins of lakes or creeks at some distance from the See also:shore. The villages of the Guajiros in the Gulf of See also:Maracaibo are described by Goering as composed of houses with See also:low sloping See also:roofs perched on lofty piles and connected with each other by See also:bridges of planks. Each See also:house consisted of two apartments; the See also:floor was formed of split stems of trees set See also:close together and covered with mats; they were reached from the shore by dug-out canoes poled over the shallow See also:waters, and a notched See also:tree See also:trunk served as a See also:ladder. The See also:custom is also See also:common in the estuaries of the See also:Orinoco and See also:Amazon. A similar See also:system prevails in New See also:Guinea. See also:Dumont d'Urville describes four such villages in the See also:Bay of Dorei, containing from eight to fifteen ' blocks or clusters of houses, each See also:block separately built on piles, and consisting of a See also:row of distinct dwellings. C. D. See also:Cameron describes three villages thus built on piles in Lake Mohrya, or Moria, in Central See also:Africa, the See also:motive here being to prevent surprise by bands of slave-catchers. Similar constructions have been described by travellers, among the See also:Dyaks of See also:Borneo, in See also:Celebes, in the See also:Caroline Islands, on the See also:Gold See also:Coast of Africa, and in other places. See also:Hippocrates, See also:writing in the 5th See also:century s.c., says of the See also:people of the Phasis that their See also:country is hot and marshy and subject to frequent inundations, and that they live in houses of See also:timber and reeds constructed in the midst of the waters, and use boats of a single tree trunk. See also:Herodotus, writing also in the 5th century B.C., describes the people of Lake Prasias as living in houses constructed on platforms supported on piles in the See also:middle of the lake, which are approached from the land by a single narrow See also:bridge. See also:Abulfeda the geographer, writing in the 13th century, notices the fact that See also:part of the Apamaean Lake was inhabited by See also:Christian fishermen who lived on the lake in wooden huts built on piles, and See also:Sir See also: When piles were used they were the rough stems of trees of a length proportioned to the See also:depth of the water, sharpened sometimes by See also:fire and at other times chopped to a point by hatchets. On their level tops the beams supporting the platforms were laid and fastened by wooden pins, or inserted in mortices cut in the heads of the piles. In some cases the whole construction was further steadied and strengthened by See also:cross beams, notched into the piles below the supports of the See also:platform. The platform itself was usually composed of rough layers of unbarked stems, but occasionally it was formed of boards split from larger stems. When the mud was too soft to afford foothold for the piles they were mortised into a framework, of tree trunks placed horizontally on the bottom of the lake. On the other See also:hand, when the bottom was rocky so that the piles could not be driven, they were steadied at their bases by being enveloped in a See also:mound of loose stones, in the manner in which the See also:foundations of piers and breakwaters are now constructed. In cases where piles have not been used, as at Niederwil and Wauwyl, the substructure is a mass of fascines or faggots laid parallel and crosswise upon one another with intervening layers of brushwood or of See also:clay and See also:gravel, a few piles here and there being fixed throughout the mass to serve as guides or stays. At Niederwil the platform was formed of split boards, many of which were 2 ft. broad and 2 or 3 in. in thickness. On these substructures were the huts composing the settlement; for the peculiarity of these lake dwellings is that they were See also:pile villages, or clusters of huts occupying a common platform. The huts themselves were See also:quadrilateral in See also:form. The See also:size of each dwelling is in some cases marked by boards resting edgeways on the platform, like the skirting boards over the flooring of the rooms in a See also:modern house. The walls, which were supported by posts, or by piles of greater length, were formed of wattle-See also:work, coated with clay. The floors were of clay, and in each floor there was a See also:hearth constructed of See also:flat slabs of See also: At Niederwil they were 20 ft. long and 12 ft. wide, while at Robenhausen they were about 27 ft. long by about 22 ft. wide. The See also:character of the See also:relics shows that in some cases the settlements have been the dwellings of a people using no materials but stone, See also:bone and See also:wood for their implements, ornaments and weapons; in others, of a people using See also:bronze as well as stone and bone; and in others again the occasional use of See also:iron is disclosed. But, though the character of the relics is thus changed, there is no corresponding See also:change in the construction and arrangements of the dwellings. The settlement in the Lake of Moosseedorf, near See also:Bern, affords the most perfect example of a lake dwelling of the Stone See also:age. It was a parallelogram 70 ft. long by 50 ft. wide, supported on piles, and having a gangway built on faggots connecting it with the land. The superstructure had been destroyed by fire. The implements found in the relic See also:bed under it were See also:axe-heads of stone, with their haftings of See also:stag's See also:horn and wood; a See also:flint saw, set in a handle of See also:fir wood and fastened with See also:asphalt; flint flakes and arrow-heads; harpoons of stag's horn with barbs; awls, needles, See also:chisels, See also:fish-hooks and other implements of bone; a See also:comb of See also:yew wood 5 in. long; and a skate made out of the See also:leg bone of a See also:horse. The pottery consisted chiefly of roughly-made vessels, some of which were of large size, others had holes under the rims for suspension, and many were covered with See also:soot, the result of their use as culinary vessels. Burnt See also:wheat, See also:barley and See also:linseed, with many varieties of seeds and fruits, were plentifully mingled with the bones of the stag, the ox, the See also:swine, the See also:sheep and the See also:goat, representing the See also:ordinary See also:food of the inhabitants, while remains of the See also:beaver, the See also:fox, the See also:hare, the See also:dog, the See also:bear, the horse, the See also:elk and the bison were also found. The settlement of Robenhausen, in the See also:moor which was formerly the bed of the ancient Lake of Pfaffikon, seems to have continued in occupation after the introduction of bronze. The site covers nearly 3 acres, and is estimated to have contained See also:ioo,000 piles. In some parts three distinct successions of inhabited platforms have been traced. The first had been destroyed by fire. It is represented at the bottom of the lake by a layer of See also:charcoal mixed with implements of stone and bone and other relics highly carbonized. The second is represented above the bottom by a See also:series of piles with burnt heads, and in the bottom by a layer of charcoal mixed with See also:corn, apples, See also:cloth, bones, pottery and implements of stone and bone, separated from the first layer of charcoal by 3 ft. of peaty sediment inter-mixed with relics of the occupation of the platform. The piles of the third settlement do not reach down to the See also:shell See also:marl, but are fixed in the layers representing the first and second settlements. They are formed of split See also:oak trunks, while those of the two first settlements are See also:round stems chiefly of soft wood. The huts of this last settlement appear to have had See also:cattle stalls between them, the droppings and See also:litter forming heaps at the lake bottom. The bones of the animals consumed as food at this station were found in such See also:numbers that 5 tons were collected in the construction of a watercourse which crossed the site. Among the wooden See also:objects recovered from the relic beds were tubs, plates, ladles and spoons, a See also:flail for threshing corn, a last for stretching shoes of hide, See also:celt handles, clubs, long-bows of yew, floats and implements of fishing and a dug-out See also:canoe 12 ft. long. No spindle-whorls were found, but there were many varieties of cloth, platted and See also:woven, bundles of See also:yarn and balls of See also:string. Among the tools of bone and stag's horn were awls, needles, harpoons, scraping tools and haftings for stone axe-heads. The implements of stone were chiefly axe-heads and arrow-heads. Of clay and earthenware there were many varieties of domestic dishes, cups and pipkins, and crucibles or melting pots made of clay and horse dung and still retaining the drossy coating of the melted bronze. The settlement of Auvernier in the Lake of Neuchatel is one of the richest and most considerable stations of the Bronze age. It has yielded four bronze swords, ten socketed See also:spear-heads, See also:forty celts or axe-heads and See also:sickles, fifty knives, twenty socketed chisels, four hammers and an See also:anvil, sixty rings for the arms and legs, several highly ornate torques or See also:twisted See also:neck rings, and upwards of two See also:hundred See also:hair pins of various sizes up to 16 in. in length, some having spherical heads in which plates of gold were set. Moulds for sickles, See also:lance-heads and bracelets were found cut in stone or made in baked clay. From four to five hundred vessels of pottery finely made and elegantly shaped are indicated by the fragments recovered from the relic bed. The See also:Lac de Bourget, in Savoy, has eight settlements, all of the Bronze age. These have yielded upwards of 4000 implements, weapons and ornaments of bronze, among which were a large proportion of moulds and founders' materials. A few stone implements suggest the transition from stone to bronze; and the occasional occurrence of iron weapons and pottery of Gallo-See also:Roman origin indicates the survival of some of the settlements to Roman times. The relative antiquity of the earlier settlements of the Stone and Bronze ages is not capable of being deduced from existing evidence. " We may venture to See also:place them," says Dr F. See also:Keller, " in an age when iron and bronze had been long known, but had not come into our districts in such plenty as to be used for the common purposes of See also:household See also:life, at a time when See also:amber had already taken its place as an See also:ornament and had become an See also:object of See also:traffic." It is now considered that the people who erected the lake dwellings of Central See also:Europe were also the people who were spread over the mainland. The forms and the ornamentation of the implements and weapons of stone and bronze found in the lake dwellings are the same as those of the implements and weapons in these materials found in the See also:soil of the adjacent regions, and both groups must therefore be ascribed to the See also:industry of one and the same people. Whether dwelling on the land or dwelling in the lake, they have exhibited so many •indications of capacity, intelligence, industry and social organi-zation that they cannot be considered as presenting, even in their Stone age, a very low See also:condition of culture or See also:civilization. Their axes were made of tough stones, sawn from the block and ground to the fitting shape. They were fixed by the See also:butt in a socket of stag's horn, mortised into a handle of wood. Their knives and saws of flint were mounted in wooden handles and fixed with asphalt. They made and used an endless variety of bone tools. Their pottery, though roughly finished, is well made, the vessels often of large size and capable of See also:standing the fire as cooking utensils. For domestic dishes they also made wooden tubs, plates, spoons, ladles and the like. The See also:industries of See also:spinning and See also:weaving were largely practised. They made nets and fishing lines, and used canoes. They practised See also:agriculture, cultivating several varieties of wheat and barley, besides See also:millet and See also:flax. They kept horses, cattle, sheep, goats and swine. Their clothing was partly of See also:linen and partly of woollen fabrics and the skins of their beasts. Their food was nutritious and varied, their dwellings neither unhealthy nor incommodious. They lived in the See also:security and comfort obtained by social organization, and were apparently intelligent, industrious and progressive communities.
There is no indication of an abrupt change from the use of stone to the use of See also:metal such as might have occurred had the knowledge of See also:copper and bronze, and the methods of working them, been introduced through the See also:conquest of the See also:original inhabitants by an See also:alien See also:race of See also:superior culture and civilization. The improved cultural conditions become apparent in the multiplication of the varieties of tools, weapons and ornaments made possible by the more adaptable qualities of the new material; and that the development of the Bronze age culture in the lake dwellings followed the same course as in the surrounding regions where the people dwelt on the dry land is evident from the See also:correspondence of the types of implements, weapons, ornaments and utensils common to both these conditions of life.
Other classes of prehistoric pile-structures akin to the lake dwellings are the Terremare of Italy and the Terpen of See also: A similar mode of construction is found in the pile-village on the See also:banks of the See also:Save, near Donja Dolina in Bosnia, described in I904 by Dr Truhelka. Here the larger houses had platforms in front of them forming terraces at different levels descending towards the See also:river. There was a See also:cemetery adjacent to the village in which both unburnt and cremated interments occurred, the former predominating. From the See also:general character of the relics this settlement appeared to belong to the early Iron age. The Terpen of Holland appear as mounds somewhat similar to those of the terremare, and were also pile structures, on low or marshy lands subject to inundations from the See also:sea. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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