from Meilen, on Lake Zurich; one from Moosseedorf, in the canton of Berne; and one from Concise, on Lake Neuchâtel, with the following results : It follows that four of these fragments, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5, have nearly the same composition; while No. 4, from Moosseedorf, would correspond to the green jade or jadeite of M. Damour. It would represent a new bi-silicate in the group of feldspaths, or alkaline silicate of aluminum, resembling in many respects oligoclas. On the other hand, the four identical fragments agree in a striking manner with the analyses which M. Scheerer has made of the true oriental nephrite, and especially with his analysis No. 7, which yielded him: Silic acid, 57.10; alumine, 0.72; magnesia, 23.29; lime, 13.48; oxide iron, 3.39; oxide mangan., 0; water, 2.50. M. de Fellenberg thinks that, in view of this remarkable correspondence, and to the extent that chemical composition can be made subservient to ethnography, it must be admitted that the hatchets of Meilen and Concise are of the true nephrite, while that of Moosseedorf is the green oriental jade. "It might, indeed," adds M. de Fellenberg, "be asked whether the nephrites of our lacustrian stations be not of Alpine origin, like the serpentine hatchets which accompany them, since we find in the Grisons and in Valais the same masses of serpentine talcose and chloritic schists which in New Zealand accompany the true nephrites, and of which these last are but emanations, (by segregation.) But as yet the facts have not confirmed this hypothesis, so that, until proof of the contrary, the hypothesis of the oriental origin of the nephrite appears the most just and probable." Without making pretensions to combat deductions drawn from investigations so precise and conscientious as those of M. de Fellenberg, we cannot help observing that if the Asiatic origin of nephrite in itself presents difficulties, by attributing to the tribes of the age of stone commercial relations with India, Persia, or Arabia, these difficulties appear to us still greater, if not, indeed, insurmountable, when the question concerns the pursuit of this nephrite in China, New Zealand, or New Caledonia. As regards the fragments of white coral which have been found at Concise, they might well pertain, like the fragment of amber at Meilen, to the age of bronze, some vestiges of which exist in each of these stations. * Rammelsberg, Mineralchemie, p. 777, note. The green jade should not be confounded with saussurite, which, according to M. Damour, presents the following composition: Silex, 0.5069; alumine, 0.2565; oxide of iron, 0.0250; lime, 0.1061; manganese, 0.0576; soda, 0.0464. The chief difference consists in the much less considerable quantity of soda. (Letter of M. Damour to Dr. Clement.) It is from New Caledonia that proceed the beautiful translucid nephrites, of a delicate green color, which form an ornament of the museum of Montpelier. As we go to press, the Comptes Rendus of the Academy of Sciences of Paris (25th and 28th August, 1861) bring us, on this much-controverted question, a remarkable memoir of M. Damour "On the composition of the hatchets of stone found in Celtic monuments and among savage tribes," (Comptes Rendus, T. LXI,) which we cannot but commend to the attention of our readers. Meanwhile, the tribes of the age of stone were not reduced to the sole care of providing for their existence. However mean might be their arms and utensils, the requirements of personal decoration were not wholly neglected, as is attested by certain ornaments made of stone or of bone. These could of course be but very simple, being the teeth of carniverous animals pierced with a hole, and worn, doubtless, in the manner of a collar, intermingled with disks or beads of bone or buckhorn similarly pierced, (Fig. 20.) Pins for the hair occur, not deficient in a certain degree of elegance, nor differing much from those worn at present, as is witnessed by that represented above, and which comes from the station of Concise, (Fig. 11.) At other times, a pin was cut from the rib of a stag or roe, which, besides the head, had a protuberance pierced with an eye. (Fig. 206.) Figure 20a. Lastly, domestic industry is attested by a quantity of small disks pierced with a hole, which we believe to have been spindle whirls rather than weights for fishing nets. (Fig. 21.) However this may be, it is not superfluous to remark that at the lake of Neuchâtel these disks are always of stone (preferably of molassic sandstone; sometimes of limestone) in the sta Figure 206. tions of the age of stone, while they are of baked earth in the palafittes of the age of bronze.* (Fig. 21.) If the tenevieres of our lake and of western Switzerland have not yet afforded a specimen of the thread which was spun by means of these whirls, such is not the case with the canton of Zurich, where are found not only skeins of thread, but numerous remains of webs, tissues, and nets, all of flax. It does not appear that wool was ever spun. Nor was the ground left uncultivated in the age of stone, as is attested by the remains of cereals which are found here and there in our tenevieres. M. Gillieron has collected in the archæological stratum of the Pont de Thielle very fine grains of wheat, carbonized like the peat which surrounds them. The stations of eastern Switzerland, and especially that of Robenhausen, on Lake Pfæfikon, are in this respect of the highest interest. The conditions are here so favorable to the preservation of vegetable products that it has been practicable to make ample collections of fruits of all kinds-apples, cherries, beech nuts, seeds of the strawberry and raspberry, and large quantities of the water chestnut, (Trapa natans,) which must have been common in the lakes, while at present it is found only at two points north of the Alps-near Langenthal and Elgg. In the bread found there the grain is but imperfectly crushed, as in the pumpernickel of Westphalia, so that it is possible to recognize the species of cereal of which it is composed. The bread of Robenhausen is of wheat. Of late that of millet has been also discovered. All these vegetable remains have been *Quite recently Dr. Ullersberger has collected some of these disks in baked earth at the station of stone, at Ueberlingen, on Lake Constance, but their shape is different from that of the age of bronze; they are true disks, slightly convex, while those of the age of bronze are conic. recently described in a remarkable treatise by Professor O. Heer, (Die Pflan zen der Pfahlbauten, Zurich, 1865,) to which we would refer our readers, extracting from it only the annexed group, which represents different species of cereals cultivated in the age of stone. (Fig. 21a.) If thus skilled in the art of cultivating cereals, the possession by the inhabit Figure 21a. ants of implements of tillage follows by necessary implication; and it is from the station of Robenhausen again that the first revelation in this respect might have been anticipated. M. Keller, in effect, has just given us the description, aocompanied by a design, of an instrument formed of a portion of a stag's horn, fixed in a handle of wood, and so cut as to serve for a mattock on one side and a hook on the other, (Ferd. Keller, 6th Report, page 249.) while the same teneviere has yielded other implements of husbandry, made of maple wood, and remarkable for their execution when we consider the tools of that epoch, (Keller, 6th Report, page 249.) All this implies conditions very different from those of the populations of the age of the reindeer, who were only hunters, or of those of the kökkenmödings of Denmark, who lived upon shell-fish collected on the sea shore. The inhabitants of our tenevieres had fixed habitations and much cattle. They made provision for winter; they took thought for their raiment and had regard to their toilet; they were expert in the art of spinning and weaving. They were no longer, therefore, in the savage state. Let us remember, in the last place, that, according to the latest researches, the tenevieres often comprise several archæological strata, superposed and separated by deposits of peat, &c., which attain even a metre in depth (at Roben hausen.) It may be possible, some day, through a close study of these depos its, to estimate the duration of such intervals. We know with certainty that it must have been very long. It was not time, then, which was wanting to the tribes of the age of stone in order to arrive at the degree of civilization, humble no doubt, but yet remarkable, which is attested by the remains of their industry and culture. II. AGE OF BRONZE. There exists a notable difference between the palafittes of the age of stone and those of the age of bronze. The latter, which are at once more extensive* and more numerous, are found at a greater distance from the shore; their depth is consequently more considerable, generally from 3 to 5 metres below mean water. This is observable at the lake of Constance as well as our own. In a letter of M. A. Senoner to M. G. de Mortillet it is said: "There is a great difference between the stations of stone and those of metal; the former approach the shore more or less nearly, while the latter are distant from it about 330m." Sometimes they are very near the tenevieres, being separated by a space of only a few metres, as for instance at Auvernier. The piles are more slender, frequently trees cleft in four parts, scarcely exceeding 12 to 15 centimetres in diameter; instead of being on a level with the bottom, they rise from 30 to 60 centimetres above it, which allows of their being easily recognized, notwithstanding their greater depth. As they are simply sunk in the ground, they may be occasionally withdrawn, when the wood is not too much decayed. Their number is so considerable that at some stations they may be counted by thousands, now grouped by six, ten, or twenty, now arranged in several rows which seem to tend towards the shore, thus affording a proof that the question really regards constructions on pile-work elevated above the water and communicating with the shore by avenues or foot-bridges, and that these are no artificial islands, as the tenevieres or steinbergs of the age of stone might possibly be. It is in the intervals of the piles that we find the utensils, arms and habiliments of every sort which characterize this epoch, as well as the earthen vessels, of which there existed of old large deposits at certain stations, among others at Auverniert This pottery, although prepared in the same manner with that of the preceding age, without the help of the wheel, is distinguished by a much greater variety of form and outline. Like that, too, it is black, and it is only exceptionally that the surface is brown or red, tending to show that the baking was not conducted in furnaces but in the open air. If the paste of the Figure 23, ments of design, described with a point, which represent sometimes chevrons or small triangles, sometimes simple rows or points traced around the neck or handle, (Figs. 24, 25, 30.) Most of the vases *It is not easy to assign the extent of these palafittes on account of their border being often very sinuous. Some comprise a surface of several hectares, especially those on the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel. That of Auvernier is estimated to contain some 50 ares. † An aged fisherman has told us that, when a child, "he sometimes amused himself by thrusting, with a long pole, at these old pots; that there were great heaps, real mountains of them." According to Brogniart, Traité des Arts céramiques, p. 487, this mode of fabrication still exists in certain parts of France. The pottery is fashioned by the hand, after which it is baked in the open air by means of the flame of heaps of fern which surround it. |