split by means of wedges. In fact these remains belong to a very early period, though others, since discovered, claim a yet more remote antiquity. Probably they belong to a race preceding the Kelts, whose very name is lost to us. Other similar discoveries have been made in the same lake.
Of a different class are the pile-remains in the Lake of Bienne, examined by Colonel Schwab in the spring of 1854. An artificial mound exists in this lake near Nidau. It consists of a mass of round stones collected with an immense amount of labour, and which, if the theory be correct of a subsequent rise in the waters of the lake, must at that period have formed an island. The base of this mound is encircled by piles driven vertically, and among them, at the bottom of the lake, planking is observed lying in a horizontal position, possibly for the purpose of retaining the stones in their place. Horizontal planking is not usual in these lakes, though common enough in the Irish crannoges. Remains of piles are to be seen extending across the lake, which narrows here considerably, to the opposite shore. A bridge may have existed here. The depth of water at present is about 20 feet.
The discoveries at Meilen seem to have prompted these researches at the Nidau Steinberg, which have resulted in obtaining one of the most beautiful collections of bronze reliques of the Keltic period perhaps ever made in one spot. They have sufficed to furnish several cabinets, and consist of swords, spear and javelin heads, numerous examples of sickles, celts in great variety, rings, armlets, &c. all of bronze, and often covered with ornamented designs. Implements of stone seem confined to those required for grinding and crushing corn. The pottery, which occurs abundantly, is precisely similar to that found in tombs of the same period in Switzerland. It will be seen that these remains belong to another and later people than those at Meilen.
One curious result of the examination of the Nidau Steinberg is that, among other débris dredged up from the surface of the stone mound, there are masses of the clay used for plastering the interior of the huts which stood either on the island or the pile-supported platforms. This clay in its natural state would have dissolved in the water; but it had been burnt quite hard, probably in the fire which consumed the whole building. The imprints on one side of these clay masses tell us that the sides of the huts must have been of wattled work, and their curves show the diameter of the huts to have been from 10 to 15 feet.[1] Several more pile-constructions have been discovered in the Bienne Lake, one of
