CORRESPONDENCE.
A BURIED LAKE VILLAGE.
[FROM A CORRESFONDENT.] TirE present year has been unusually rich in lacustrine " finds" in various parts of Switzerland. The long frost of January and February, by sealing up streams that generally flow all the year round, cut off the lakes from their accustomed sources of supply, and reduced them to an abnormally low level. Many hidden things have thus been brought to light, especially in the -lakes of Neuchatel and Morat, whose volume had some time before been considerably reduced by certain engineering opera- tions, undertaken for the prevention of inundations, and which had the incidental effect of leaving high and dry places that have not been uncovered for centuries, probably for hundreds of centuries. The resulting discoveries were of a most interesting character, and have already led
Swiss experts and archaeologists to revise some of their theories, and assign to the lake-dwellers of Switzerland a higher degree of civilisation than that with which they had pre- viously credited them. But perhaps the most remarkable " find" of all has been made on a turf moor (peat moss) near Seeberg,
Canton Berne. Seeberg is near Burgdorf, and not far from Herzogenbuchsee, which none who have travelled on the railway between Zurich and Berne can fail to remember, if only for its uncouth name, and for the tremendous mouthful it makes in pronunciation. In the commune of Seeberg is a small lake, about a mile in circumference, and in close contiguity to an extensive turf-moor. On this moor many curious objects had from time to time been picked up by turf-cutters and others,—bones, a flint hatchet, a bronze needle, bits of ancient pottery, Sze. Moreover, a part of it had been called " Fixestones " (" Flints ") for ages, and geologists said it had once formed part of the Burgsee (the lake). Nevertheless, no systematic exploration was attempted until a short time ago, when the authorities of the Gymnasium of Burgdorf made a -first attempt, by causing a trench to be dug in the moor, on the north side of the lake. The work was conducted by Hen• J. Keiser, assisted by Professors Bachmann, Uhlmann, and others, and the result of their labours is embodied in the last Jahres- bericht of the Gymnasium.
Directly under the turf were found numerous remains of piles; further down, flint implements and weapons, intermixed with bone tools, articles in wood, bones of animals and pottery, were turned up in great abundance. The flint implements were of the usual shape and sort—arrow and lance heads, knives and saws—and as many raw, spoiled, and broken flints, were found, it is conjectured that the dwellers on the Burgsee were in the habit of making their own tools and arms. But as flint is not found in the neighbourhood, the crude material must have been brought from a distance, probably from the country now known as France. On the other hand, they turned
to good account the erratic blocks of diorite, of serpentine, and of euphotide (or gabbro, the aggregate of diallage and saussurite, and the cede de Corsica duro of artists), which have been scattered about the valley of the Emme by the great Rhone Glacier, the " find" consisting of many articles fabricated from these minerals. Stones splintered by the action of heat abound. These, it is supposed, were used for the purpose of boiling water, the Lake-dwellers
having no vessels capable of standing the The pottery is very primitive, made entirely by hand, and baked be- fore an open fire. Nevertheless, some of the specimens —one especially, which was recovered almost entire, and with the remains of food adhering to its sides—possess a certain rude shapeliness, sufficient to show that the designers or makers of them were not altogether destitute of the artistic instinct. The Lake-dwellers were also basket-makers, and not unskilled in carpentry,—one of the " finds " being a bent basket-handle exactly like those in use now,—and the hatchet-handles are exceedingly well made. One wooden instrument bears an almost startling likeness to the stock of a pistol, and might easily be con- verted into one ; it probably served as the haft of a bone tool or weapon for boring or thrusting. Bone chisels were numerous, vary- ing in size from four to ten centimetres long, and from one to two centimetres broad. Arrow-heads of the same material were found, and the metatarsal bone of a stag, fashioned into a pair of forks, and evidently intended for use at table. This gives a higher antiquity to forks for eating than has ever before been ascribed to them, and shows that the elegancies of life were by no means unknown to the primitive inhabitants of the Burgsee ; and from the number of bone hair-pins found amongst the flint tools and weapons of war, it is evident that they paid some attention to the adornment of their persons.
The animal remains found on the turf-moor are numerous and remarkable. Among them are the bones of the dog (extras familiaris), the badger (,uelcs torus), and the common otter (infra valgaris). The latter were doubtless met with in the immediate neighbourhood of the Burgsee, but the presence of the bones of the wild ox (Los pri,nigenius), and of the bear (ursus aretos) indicate that the Lake-dwellers were bold and skil- ful hunters, as well as ingenious tool-makers. They were also keepers of cattle, for the most numerous animal remains brought to light were those of the common cow and the moor-cow (brachycems). These exist in every stage of growth, showing that their owners had a taste for both veal and beef, while their fondness for venison is proved by the many bones of the stag and the roe discovered by the explorers. Evidence of a like character shows that they were hunters of the wild boar and eaters of the domesticated pig, and the existence of the beaver in Switzerland in prehistoric times is attested by the presence, among other bones, of several which comparative anatomists declare to have belonged to that rodent. One omission on this list will strike everybody. No mention is made of the bones of horses having been found, from which we may infer with tolerable certainty that the horse was either altogether unknown to the ancient men of the Burgsee, or that they had not succeeded in capturing and taming him.
Considering the tentative character of the exploration, the results, which I have, perhaps, almost too briefly described, are really remarkable, and it is to be hoped that during the pre- sent summer farther and more extensive researches will be made. Seeberg and the valley of the Emme, albeit almost a. terra incognita to tourists, is one of the most historically and archaeologically interesting localities in all Switzerland. Many sepulchral mounds are found thereabouts, a Roman road ran through it, and, according to Dr. Jahn, the learned author of El:anent/tater Altcrailoter end &wen, the valley was once the possession of a Kelto-Helvetian prince, later the seat of a Roman colony, whose strong place was a fort on the site of the hamlet of Erdburg, which subsequently served as a refuge for the inhabitants of the valley during the passage through it of the Northern barbarians, on their way south.
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