Chapter XIX: Part 19

While the comparative late occupancy of the crannogs in both countries is, therefore, unquestionable, their early origin is enveloped in the deepest mystery. Was the system an indigenous invention--the result of circumscribed local exigencies--or derived from foreign sources? and when was it founded or introduced? are questions that have elicited responses of different characters. Sir W. R. Wilde, undoubtedly one of the foremost authorities on Irish crannogs, assigns them to the Iron Age. "Certainly," says he, "the evidences derived from the antiquities found in ours, and which are chiefly of iron, refer them to a much later period than the Swiss; while we do not find any flint arrows or stone celts, and but very few bronze weapons, in our crannogs. Moreover, we have positive documentary evidence of the occupation of many of these fortresses in the time of Elizabeth, and some even later." (B. 24, p. 152.) Mr. G. H. Kinahan, on the other hand, thus formulates his opinion in a short article contributed to Keller's book (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 654):--"Of the time when the crannogs were first built there is no known record, but that they must have been inhabited at an early period is evident, as antiquities belonging to the Stone Age are found in them. Some were in use up to modern times, Crannough Macknavin, county Galway, having been destroyed in A.D. 1610, by the English, while Bally-na-huish Castle was inhabited fifty years ago. Some crannogs seem to have been continuously occupied until they were finally abandoned, while others were deserted for longer or shorter periods. In Shore Island, Lough Rea, County Galway, there is a lacustrine accumulation over 3 feet thick, marking the time that elapsed between two occupations."

That objects supposed to be typical of the Stone and Bronze Ages have been found on many of the Irish crannogs there can be no doubt at all. For example, among the remains described by Mr. Shirley from the crannogs of MacMahon's country are stone celts, arrow-heads of flint and bronze, three looped celts of bronze, etc.; but these were associated with many iron objects of comparatively modern manufacture, such as a gun-barrel, pistol-lock, ploughshares of iron, parts of harps, and spinning-wheels, etc., etc.

"The oldest article," writes Mr. Benn, "from the crannog at Randalstown found, so far as I know, was a stone hatchet, rather of a small size, but not remarkable or uncommon. The most recent, and the only piece of coin I ever heard of, discovered in such a locality, is a base coin of Philip and Mary." (B. 29, p. 88.) In the crannog of Roughan Lake, the last retreat of Sir Phelim O'Neil, some bronze spear-heads were found, along with a highly ornamented quern stone. On the lowering of Lough Gur an island became visible which is said to have been a crannog, and on it were found, among other things, a remarkably fine bronze spear-head,[121] having its socket ornamented with gold, a stone mould for spear-heads (=Fig. 107=), and some bones of the reindeer; but yet it existed as a stronghold till 1599, when it was surrendered by the English to the Earl of Desmond.[122] The sword-blades figured by Wood-Martin (B. 444, pl. xxxvii.) as coming from crannog sites at Toome Bar are undoubtedly characteristic specimens of the Bronze Age weapons; but then the evidence that they are crannog relics at all is so slender that for determinative purposes they may be considered valueless. Moreover they were associated with objects equally typical of all ages--from palæolithic flints to mediæval silver ornaments. "All these flint flakes are of the earliest type," says Mr. Day, who describes this locality, "many closely resembling those found in the 'drift' at Abbeville;" and the relics include flint cores, stone and bronze objects, a "ring brooch, enamelled bead, and a silver armlet." (B. 92, p. 227.) Similar remarks are equally applicable to all the Scottish crannogs on which objects apparently belonging to different ages have been found. A reviewer of my work on "Ancient Scottish Lake-dwellings" (B. 373), in which I gave it as my opinion that the Lochlee crannog must be assigned to post-Roman times, takes exception to this opinion on the grounds that amongst the relics are a polished stone celt of neolithic type, flint scrapers, which, he says, "may be of the Bronze Age, but could hardly be considered as post-Roman," and portions of the antlers of the reindeer, which, according to him, "can hardly have ranged as far south at any period later than the neolithic age." Had my reviewer read the remarks in my book at page 147, regarding this polished greenstone hatchet, he would hardly have selected it to prove that this crannog existed during the neolithic age. My words are: "As many of the relics, if judged independently of the rest and their surroundings, might be taken as good representatives of the three so-called Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron, it is but natural for the reader to inquire if superposition has defined them by a corresponding relationship. On this point I offer no dubious opinion. The polished stone celt (that referred to by my reviewer) and an iron knife were found almost in juxtaposition about the level of the lowest fire-place." The iron implements on this crannog included hatchets, chisels, gouges, and a crosscut saw, and the very lowest logs bore unmistakable evidence of having been manipulated with sharp metal tools. The entire absence of cutting instruments of bronze renders it more than probable that such tools were made of iron, and were similar to those found on the crannog. As for the conclusions educed from the presence of the horns of the reindeer (hesitatingly identified by the late Professor Rolleston), it is now actually proved that this animal was not extinct in Scotland before the twelfth century. In the "Orkneyinga Saga"[123] it is stated that "every summer the Earls were wont to go over to Caithness, and up into the forests, to hunt the red deer or the reindeer." The recent discovery of its bones and horns in refuse heaps in Caithness, and in many of the brochs in the north of Scotland, amply proves that the reindeer was hunted and eaten by the Norsemen as late as the above date.

Whatever explanation may be forthcoming as to the prevalence of prehistoric relics on these crannogs, there is no possibility of denying that the vast majority of them were not only inhabited, but constructed during the Iron Age. Mr. Wakeman, in the most carefully investigated of all the crannogs in Fermanagh, viz. that at Drumdarragh, describes three periods of occupation; yet among the relics corresponding to the earliest period were several iron objects, one being "an animal's head in iron," which he considers might be the leg of a pot. Nor am I aware that superposition has defined in any clear instance the heterogeneous mixture of relics that usually turn up on crannogs.

It must also be noticed that few, if any, of them can be classified as exclusively belonging to the earlier ages, like those so numerously recorded in Central Europe. Indeed, there are only two or three which have any claim to such delimitation, viz. those in Coal-bog (Kilnamaddo), in Drumkelin bog, county Donegal, and in Holderness. On the two former sites were found the most perfect examples of log-huts that have yet come to light, and as they were both deeply buried in peat, 17 and 25 feet respectively, they undoubtedly point to some antiquity. But the relics, which include a stone axe and some flint objects, are too few to justify such a sweeping conclusion as that these dwellings were constructed at a period when metal implements were unknown in the country. At any rate, there can be no reasonable doubt that the period of greatest development of the Scottish and Irish lake-dwellings was during the Iron Age, and, at least, as far posterior to Roman civilisation as that of the Swiss Pfahlbauten was anterior to it.

In instituting an inquiry as to how far the geographical distribution of crannogs coincides with that of the various nationalities of the period, we arrive at some striking results. Thus adopting Skene's division of the four kingdoms into which Scotland was ultimately divided by the contending nationalities of Picts, Scots, Angles, and Strathclyde Britons, after the final withdrawal of the Romans, I find that of the fifty or sixty crannogs proper none are located within the territories of the Angles; ten and seven are respectively within the confines of the Picts and Scots; while all the rest are situated in the Scottish portion of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde. That they have not been found in the south-eastern provinces of Scotland may be due to the rarity of suitable lakes, or the want of proper research on the part of antiquaries; but, as the matter actually stands, their absence suggests the theory that these districts had been occupied by a foreign element before Celtic civilisation gave such a prominence to the lake-dwellings. It will be thus seen that in the early centuries of the Christian era the distribution of crannogs in Scotland and Ireland closely coincides with a well-defined area in which the Celtic language was spoken. For proof that in those days this was the language of the south-west of Scotland, I need only point to the recent work of Sir Herbert Maxwell on the topography of Galloway.

But from an etymological analysis of the earliest topographical nomenclature of Britain, it is inferred that, during still earlier times, a much larger portion of Britain, if not the whole of it, was under the sway of the Celts. Hence it becomes interesting to inquire if, in these localities, from which Celtic influence was expelled, there exist traces of lake-dwellings. In localities where the Celtic races were never supplanted by foreigners, it would be strange indeed, and altogether at variance with archæological experience, if the habit of resorting to isolated and inaccessible islands for safety would be all at once abandoned, whenever the greater security afforded by stone buildings became known. Hence the persistence with which the island forts continued in these Celtic regions. But in this wider Celtic area, on the supposition that the Celts were the introducers or founders of the system, we ought to find some vestiges of these dwellings along the regions traversed by them before they became isolated from their Continental brethren, and cooped up in the western districts of Britain. This is precisely what the general researches into British lake-dwellings have shown in the stray remnants of them that have been found in Llangorse, Holderness, the _meres_ of Norfolk and Suffolk, Cold Ash Common, etc. All these, with perhaps the exception of the pile-structures at London Wall, appear to be older than the majority of the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland.

Taking all these facts into account, together with the distinct statement made by Cæsar that the Britons were in the habit of making use of wooden piles and marshes in their mode of entrenchments, I am inclined to believe that we have here evidence of a widely distributed custom which underlies the subsequent great development which the lake-dwellings assumed in Scotland and Ireland. Moreover, I believe it probable that the early Celts had got this knowledge from contact with the inhabitants of the pile-villages in Central Europe. On this hypothesis it would follow that the Celts had migrated into Britain when these lacustrine abodes were in full vogue in Switzerland, and that they retained their knowledge of the art long after it had fallen into desuetude in Europe. Subsequent immigrants into Britain, such as the Belgæ, Angles, etc., would cultivate new and improved methods of defensive warfare; whilst the first Celtic invaders, still retaining their primary ideas of civilisation, when harassed by enemies and obliged to act on the defensive would have recourse to their inherited system of protection, with such variations and improvements as better implements and the topographical requirements of the country suggested to them. It is as defenders, not as conquerors, that the Celts constructed their lake-dwellings.

This hypothesis, which was first enunciated in my work on "Ancient Scottish Lake-dwellings" as a mere conjecture, has elicited a considerable diversity of opinion on the part of critics. In the _Times_ of October 4th, 1882, it is thus referred to:--"This is pure theory, and is quite unnecessary to account for the facts: as well might one argue a connection between the pile-dwellers of New Guinea and Central Africa and those of the Swiss lakes." Sir John Lubbock (_Nature_, December 24th, 1882) confesses that he is disposed to doubt that there is any connection between the geographical distribution of the Scottish lake-dwellings at present known and that of the ancient Celts. On the other hand, another reviewer attempts to defend it on the ground that "in the Swiss lake-dwellings of the Iron Age there are indications, especially in the ornamentation of the sword-sheaths and other articles, of a style of art which closely corresponds to the style of decoration prevalent in the crannogs of Scotland and Ireland (_Scotsman_, November 22nd, 1882).

The indications above alluded to in support of this hypothesis as based on a comparison of the relics, will be more appropriately discussed in my next lecture, when I come to review the lake-dwellings of the Iron Age in Central Europe. There are, however, one or two objections urged on the other side--as, for example, the difference of structure and late occupancy of the crannogs, as compared with the Swiss lake-dwellings--that require now to be shortly considered.

As to the supposed difference in structure, I need only refer to the structural details of various fascine-dwellings, as in the lakes of Fuschl, Schussenried, Niederwyl, Inkwyl, Wauwyl, etc., as a sufficient proof of the resemblance between them and the Scottish and Irish crannogs. It is true that the pile-dwellings were more numerous on the Continent than the fascine structures, while the reverse is the case in Scotland and Ireland--if indeed the former can be said to have existed at all in these countries. That the pile system was, however, known to the crannog-builders, and occasionally acted upon, we are not devoid of some positive evidence. Mr. G. H. Kinahan says that a few of the Irish crannogs were built on piles (B. 119, 2nd ed. p. 654), and instances an example in Loch Cimbe (now Loch Hackett), county Galway, which was so frequently blown down that the occupiers were obliged to convert it into an island, which they did by adding boat-loads of stones to its site. One of the lake-dwellings in Lough Mourne I concluded to have been a pile-dwelling (see page 386), and it was connected to the shore by a wooden gangway. Mr. Burns Begg describes remains of a pile-dwelling in Loch Leven as an "oblong wooden platform, raised above the water on piles, twelve feet or upwards in height." (B. 460.)

Subsequently I had an opportunity of visiting the locality, along with Mr. Burns Begg, and I am convinced these remains could not have been an ordinary submerged crannog or artificial island. The lake bottom is not soft and compressible, but, on the contrary, very compact and quite incapable of yielding to any great extent. The structures, even in the present reduced level of the loch, are never less than 1 or 2 feet below the surface; but as formerly there would have been 9 feet more of water over them it is quite improbable that this amount of submergence could be accounted for by the usual subsidence or compression of the submerged materials.

Some of the examples of lake-dwellings recorded in England, such as those described by Sir Charles Bunbury and Dr. Palmer, would appear also to have been pile-structures.

If, therefore, both principles were known among the crannog-builders of the British Isles, why, it may be asked, did they give a preference to the fascine structures? I have already remarked that these structures on the Continent were confined to small mossy lakes, which, owing to the yielding nature of their sediments and peaty deposits, were unsuitable for pile-dwellings. In such conditions, which are generally prevalent in Scotland and Ireland, the wooden island supplied more readily, and perhaps with less labour, the requisite stability for platforms in boggy lakes and marshes intended for huts and other superstructures, especially when these platforms were small and the islands sparsely placed.

The wide chronological interval which separates the crannogs from the lake-dwellings of Central Europe is also supposed to militate against the supposition of there being any causal connection between them. But this gap is more apparent than real, as, when carefully looked into, it will be found to have been bridged over by a closer series of links than was hitherto imagined. Not only were there some lake-dwellings in Switzerland during the Iron Age, but in several instances Roman, Gallo-Roman and even Allemanish remains were found on their sites, as in the lakes of Starnberg, Ueberlingen, Zürich, etc. (See page 543.) Among the antiquities collected on the site of the dwellings in Lake Paladru were horseshoes, curry combs, and a variety of other antiquities which, in the opinion of M. G. de Mortillet and other archæologists, could not be accounted for as the products of any civilisation prior to Carlovingian times. We have also seen that in North Germany they existed at equally late times, having overlapped considerably into the Slavish period; while the Terp-mounds in Holland and other places were only superseded by the construction of the great sea-dykes. It must also be remembered that the custom of constructing lake-dwellings was not universally adopted in Europe. Their absence in Northern Europe, Spain and Portugal, and other places cannot be accounted for by a deficiency in the topographical and hydrographical requirements for such structures. They appear to have spread from the great central area of their first development in Europe in sporadic fringes, but never extending beyond the limits to which the ordinary waves of human intercourse and civilisation would likely reach.

Taking all these circumstances into consideration, I repeat that, while we are justified in ascribing the remains of lake-dwellings, so far as they are at present known within the British Isles, to a Celtic source, I see no _prima facie_ improbability, as regards their structure and distribution in space and time, against the hypothesis that the Celts derived their knowledge of this custom from the great system of Central Europe, though founded and developed at a much earlier period.

The only exception to the general statement that the Celts were the sole constructors of lake-dwellings in Britain (without taking into account the earlier vestiges of such structures in England from which, owing to the scarcity of industrial remains, there is, as yet, no ethnological evidence either way), is the discovery at London Wall recorded by General Pitt-Rivers. I have already remarked (page 464), on the similarity of these remains to those from the Terp-mounds in Friesland. Especially interesting are the two bone skates, made from the metacarpals of the horse, recorded from the former, because such implements are common in the latter. I do not agree with Lindenschmit (page 462) in assigning all these so-called skates to the Stone period. On the contrary, they are mostly of post-Roman date. In lake-dwellings they are very rarely met with, and only one is recorded as coming from a station of the Stone Age, viz. Moosseedorf (page 75). The other localities from which examples have been recorded are Persanzig (page 315), Dabersee (page 317), Kownatken (page 328), Starnberg (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 593), and a Terramara in Hungary (page 167).

Though the Anglo-Saxons, in coming from the mouth of the Elbe and the low-lying districts between it and the Rhine, must have been familiar with marine pile-structures, they do not appear to have cultivated the system to any great extent after immigrating into Britain. But this may be accounted for by the fact that very soon they became the conquerors of the country. It is only for defence that lake and marsh-dwellings have been resorted to.

FOOTNOTES:

[71] _Journ. R. H. A. A._, vol. v., 4th S., p. 325.

[72] _Archæological Journal_, vol. xx. p. 170.

[73] _Proc. R. I. A._, vol. v. p. 215.

[74] _R. H. Arch. As._, vol. v., 4th S., p. 330.

[75] Three iron pots were found on this crannog, one of them being of a triangular shape.

[76] Various mediæval objects collected in the mud on and near the crannog sites: iron cuirass, matchlock guns, pistols, antique keys, spurs, implements of iron, bronze ladle, bronze spear-head. The swords and gun-barrels were found sticking up in the mud from the lake-bottom.

[77] A great many piles covering an oval enclosure about 100 feet in diameter. On submarine crannogs, see Kinahan's "Manual of the Geology of Ireland," p. 264, and Note 83 (p. 443) of Scottish list of crannogs.

[78] O'Flahertie in his history mentions that the ancient castle of the O'Flaherties of Bunowen, in Ballinahinch Lake, was built on an artificial island.

[79] Two crannogs, one large and the other small. The former is only separated from the mainland by a shallow channel, and is accessible in summer by a narrow causeway. On it were found "two fine specimens of bronze pins, besides other articles of less interest in lead and iron, and a flint spear-head."

[80] A stockaded enclosure, about 35 feet in diameter, lying some 12 or 14 feet below the bog surface. "A magnificent pair of quern stones" and a large bowl-shaped vessel of oak are known to have been found on it.

[81] A curious wooden flooring, buried 14 feet in the bog. It rested on "a thick deposit of hazel and birch branches." Over it was a "collection of stone slabs, closely fitted together with a substratum of blue clay, but all laid on planks of timber forming part of the floor. On this there were quantities of ashes, proving that this was the fire-place of the ancient dwelling."

[82] "With piles round the margin and amongst the stones on its surface were found querns, some perfect, some in a broken state." A canoe became visible at a depth of 2½ to 3 feet when the water of the lake was unusually low.

[83] A small crannog discovered by turf-cutters, and "interesting from the fact of instruments made of iron and stone having been found together." Among other things were a bronze pin, fragments of crucibles, bits of anthracite coal, a socketed iron implement, two small flint knives, a stone celt, a round flat stone with an oblong-worked indentation on each side, and several bits of rude pottery.

[84] An artificial island, 30 yards in diameter, thickly planted with timber and surrounded with piles. In 1870 a canoe was found on the shore of this islet, embedded in the mud and half destroyed by fire. In the stuff lying on its floor were found some iron tools--an adze, a hammer (both with handles), a socketed chisel, two whetstones, and some fragments of iron.

[85] A small lake, scarcely a mile in circumference, and about three miles from Cavan. About a hundred yards from shore a heap of stones, surrounded by circles of stockades about fifty feet in diameter. In the moss near the lake two canoes were found 21 and 18 feet long.

[86] This lake is in the parish of Clonbroney, and contains two crannogs, called "Round Island" and "Fry's Island." The former is 18½ yards in diameter, and the "wooden piles, though in a pulpy and rotten state, are still to be seen. In the lake a small canoe, 9½ feet long, an iron spear, the nether stone of a grain-rubber, and the antlers (with eighteen points) of a deer were found embedded in the silt."

[87] This is a small lake, three and a half miles north of Enniskillen, about a mile in length and half a mile in breadth. It contains three crannogs, the largest of which is 105 feet in diameter. "Here were found querns, whetstones, worked pieces of deer-horn, some fragments of iron plated with bronze, many pieces of ornamented pottery, some of which were furnished with ears or handles; a very curious stone (apparently a tombstone), sculptured with a cross and ornamented with four human heads, and scroll work, and a large boulder, upon which a cross-like figure had been picked or punched out."

[88] A large crannog, covering about an acre, but only partly artificial. About thirty thousand piles used in strengthening the island, which had a jetty, and near this a canoe was found. The principal relics are--some stone hammers, three pieces of flint scrapers, a bead of amber and another of glass, a small stone ring the size of a finger-ring, fragments of pottery, a crucible, some articles of brass, and portions of bog-ore. The piles were cut by very sharp metal implements.

[89] In 1833 Captain W. Mudge, R.N., discovered here a wooden hut made of a framework of large oak beams mortised at the four corners. It measured 12 feet square and 9 feet high, and about half way up there was a flooring which divided the space into two storeys. The roof of this unique hut was buried in the peat 16 feet from the surface, and its base rested on a substratum of brushwood resembling a crannog. (See p. 489).

[90] Two crannogs, one large, 100 feet in diameter. An iron cauldron, found near the shore of lake, made on the same principle as the usual bronze cauldrons, of beaten iron, and riveted.

[91] Ornamented quern stone found on the crannog.

[92] "Six stone and two bronze celts, an iron spear-head and a bayonet, three fibulæ, one bridle-bit and two cheek-plates made of bronze," found on this island.

[93] From this crannog the following objects were presented to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy:--"A piece of circular grindstone, block of flint, old iron key, two portions of blades of iron swords, and a piece of bone spike."

[94] A well-defined stockade, with horizontal beams. A canoe and the following objects recorded from this crannog:--"Two iron swords; a small anvil, very bright and clean; a pair of scales and several hammers; several gold pins; metal dishes; small axe-heads; an iron cauldron of a low dilated shape; a stone of yellowish-white colour, beautifully polished, about twelve inches long, three and a half broad, and two thick, accurately squared at the sides, having a round hole about one and a quarter inch deep and half inch in diameter at each end, the top surface and one of the sides being covered with carved devices; and a quern."

[95] "In another crannog in Rahan's Lake," says Mr. Morant, "we found five Queen Mary shillings, fused into a mass; a bronze pin; a flat spear-head, and a stone celt. We also found the hearth-stones and a quantity of ashes. The piles around the island are still visible above the water."

[96] Contained three or four crannogs. "In the one opposite Cloncahir were found several querns of different sizes and patterns (chiefly flat-shaped, ornamented with the usual cross design, varied more or less), and many of these were taken away by Mr. Kane to preserve at Mohill Castle. When the water was at a low level a slight examination was made in regard to the construction of the crannog. It was found that there were two, possibly three, concentric circles of piles of small size, enclosing an area considerably larger than that of the present island, and the space so enclosed seemed to have been filled with rough unhewn logs of wood up to about the present summer level of the water. Upon this had been deposited a stratum of stones and gravel, amongst which were found the querns already mentioned. In the same lake are three other crannogs--Man Island, Crane Island, and another."

[97] Three silver coins of the reigns of Edward I., II., and III. found on this crannog.

[98] Three crannogs in this loch, two close to each other, and are approached by a causeway which terminates about sixteen feet from the crannogs, both about twenty-five feet in diameter. On the margin of this crannog, under water, a bronze spear-head was found, 5¾ inches long, and a looped celt 4 inches long.

[99] _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xv. p. 153.

[100] Among the objects from Lagore mentioned by Lord Talbot (=Fig. 103=) is a peculiar iron pipe, described as of unknown use. It is rather remarkable that it and this bayonet-like object from Buston should be the counterparts of a kind of padlock in use in the earlier Middle Ages, which acted in the following manner:--When a spring-bolt (like that of the object from Buston) was passed through the tube upwards, the spike attached to the latter passed through the perforation in the former. Inside the tube there were two small prominences, which when the bolt was pushed sufficiently home caught the tips of its springs and prevented its return. In this state the padlock was securely locked, and it could only be opened by a key consisting of another but smaller tube, which, when passed through the other end of the larger tube and over the springs, pressed the latter close to the body of the bolt until their tips became clear of the internal catches, and so allowed the spring-bolt to be extracted.

[101] Vol. i. p. 146.

[102] This crannog is of a rectangular shape, 43 feet by 41 feet, and formed of layers of large trunks laid transversely.

[103] See Note 3, p. 447.

[104] The question of submarine crannogs is still obscure, and the few facts that have come to light leave the matter in doubt as to whether the structures were originally constructed in the water or on dry land and subsequently submerged, in consequence of changes in the relative levels of sea and land. The only remains of this character that I know of in Britain are--(1) a cairn of stones on a substratum of wood near the island of Eriska, at the mouth of Loch Crerar; (2) the Black Cairn, in the Beauly Firth; and (3) some stumps of piles in Ardmore Bay, county Waterford. The mound at Eriska, which was found on examination to be of circular shape and 60 feet in diameter, was dry at low water, but submerged at spring-tides to the extent of five feet. Some ashes and charcoal and the broken bones of sheep and small oxen were the only relics of human occupancy found. The Black Cairn is noticed in the Statistical Account of Scotland, and also by Miss Maclagan. It is about four hundred yards within flood-mark. The top is only visible at low water, and the base is said to be composed of very large wooden beams.

[105] Mr. Wallace describes the island as entirely artificial, "raised upon piles and cross-beams, about fifty yards from the shore, and 189 feet long, with an average of 112 feet wide. The water immediately surrounding it is deep, and the margin of the island rises perpendicularly from the deep water, which is about seven or eight feet deep on the north and east sides, and ten or twelve feet on the south and west. The piles and cross-beams, on which it has been raised, lie like a pavement all round it, inclining to the centre. The beams are of oak, pine, and birch. Those of pine and oak are the largest. Between the beams, and all over the island, numerous pieces of charcoal were picked up. The island rises in the centre, and, after clearing away part of the luxuriant nettles and long grass, portions of a walled structure were disclosed. No trace of lime-cement could be detected, but the stones were large and well placed together. The ruins of this building raised the island to the height of seven feet above the present water-mark." The island is noticed in the historical annals, and in 1596 gave refuge to the Earl of Arran. The occurrence of vitrified materials on the surface gives to this crannog, according to Mr. Wallace, peculiar interest. I could understand this interest had it been proved that vitrified buildings had been constructed over the crannog. In the construction of the crannog, of course, stones taken from the shore were used, and in this way the vitrified materials might be accounted for, or, what is more probable, they are the slag of a smelting furnace. The following are Mr. Wallace's words: "I visited the island in July, 1885, and scarcely had I set my foot on shore when I found a small piece of true vitrified rock; and great was my astonishment when I discovered that the whole island was covered with fragments of different sizes of the same material. It was found among the piles and cross-beams in great quantities. Several larger masses--one measuring four feet by three--were found on the western margin of the island, and deeply embedded among the stones and above the piles and cross-beams, close to the water's edge. After careful examination the vitrified material was found to differ in no way from that forming our vitrified forts. Between the crannog and the shore there is a smaller island of large stones, which is only visible when the loch is exceptionally low, as it was this season. This island, which measures 90 feet by 60 feet, appears to be entirely built of stones. The sides, like those of the larger island, are perpendicular. One piece of vitrified rock was found here. The distance between the islands is about sixty feet, and between the smaller one and the shore about twenty feet."

[106] Upon the partial drainage of Carlingwark Loch, in 1765, various kinds of artificial structures were observed, as wooden roadways, dams built of stone and clay, and a couple of islets constructed on a framework of black oak. In the mud were also found various relics, as a brass dagger, 22 inches long, mounted with gold plaiting; a brass pan; a remarkable cauldron (Fig. 172), containing bronze and iron implements; and several large stag-heads.

[107] "In draining a lake at the east end of the parish of Croy, an artificial mound appeared within a few yards of the shore, about sixty feet in circumference and five in height. It was formed of alternate strata of stones, earth, and oak; piles of oak being driven in the ground were kept strongly fixed by transverse beams of smaller size. Over these were round stones, and on the surface some inches of fine black mould. Some fragments of brass rings, pieces of pottery, and the bolt of a lock of no ordinary size, were found on the mound. At about a hundred yards distance there is a circle of large piles of oak, driven deep in the earth, apparently the commencement of a second mound; but for what purpose they were intended it is impossible to conjecture. At the same time a canoe, of most beautiful workmanship, was found, which some modern Goth has since cut down for mean and servile purposes."

[108] See note 3, p. 443.

[109] Artificial lake, with two islands, said to be seats of Fergus, Lord of Galloway.

[110] Rev. R. J. Mapleton thus sums up his observations:--"Altogether, I think that it is evident that the crannog was entirely composed of rock and walling, with the middle part filled up with smaller stones; that there existed considerable works of wood on the east, south, and west sides, at least, but whether a rampart outside or a building on the structure itself, is not quite clear; that there was a partial causeway, now under water, and the interval either filled in with brushwood or passed over in a canoe."

[111] "In Loch Kinder there is an artificial mount of stones, rising six or seven feet above the surface of the water, and resting on a frame of large oaks, which is visible when the weather is clear and calm."

[112] An oval-shaped crannog, 50 feet long by 28 feet broad, constructed of layers of young trees laid transversely. Three fire-places were exposed over the structure, and among the rubbish were found two broken combs made of wood, one of which is here figured (=Fig. 173=), and a piece of wood with a Greek cross, with crosslets burnt on it.

[113] Half a century ago Loch Leven was lowered nine feet by drainage, and at the present time the remains of the lake-dwelling are always from one to three feet under water. The mound measures 35 yards by 20 yards, and 1½ to 2 feet in height. In this area were detected the stumps of two rows of piles, twelve feet apart, and each pile was four or five feet apart. Also, in a line stretching to the shore, which is about sixty yards distant, there were one or two piles encountered, as if forming part of a gangway. The lake-bottom is here firm, and not liable to compression, so that the structure, whether ancient or modern, was really a pile-building. The only relics are a bit of carved wood, which might have been a handle, and a fragment of archaic-like pottery.

[114] The island is oval in shape, 180 feet long and 135 feet broad in the widest part. Fire-places, wooden floorings, and other woodworks were exposed, and a few relics, viz. an ornamented bone comb (=Fig. 174=), a flat loop of bronze, part of the rim of a large vessel of cast bronze 3 inches in length, and portion of an armlet of greenish glass, with a blue-and-white twisted cable ornament running round it.

[115] Dr. Stuart quotes the following account of a crannog in Loch Lochy from Mr. Robertson's notes, extracted by the latter from a MS. in the Advocate's Library, written towards the end of the seventeenth century: "Ther was of ancient ane lord in Loquhaber, called my Lord Cumming, being a cruell and tyirrant superior to the inhabitants and ancient tenants of that countrie of Loquhaber. This lord builded ane iland, or an house, on the south-east head of Loghloghae; ... and when summer is, certain yeares or dayes, one of the bigge timber jests, the quantitie of an ell thereof will be sein above the water. And sundrie men of the countrie were wont to goe and se that jest of timber which stands there as yett; and they say that a man's finger will cast it too and fro in the water, but fortie men cannot pull it up, because it lyeth in another jest below the water." B. 94, p. 160.

[116] In Maitland's "History of Scotland" the curious observation is made that Boece states that in Loch Lomond there were fish without fins, waves without wind, and a floating island. (Boet. "Scot. Reg. Descript.," fol. 7.)

[117] The relics from the Wigtownshire crannogs, besides those already mentioned, are not numerous. From Barlockhart there is a stone ring (=Fig. 175=), two querns, and a spindle-whorl of clay-slate. From one of the crannogs at Machermore Loch there is a stone implement, with circular hollows on each face (=Fig. 175=). Regarding such implements Rev. George Wilson writes thus:--"These are of two types, elongated and oval, approaching a circular form, and I wish to direct attention to them because, as yet (1879), only eight have been reported in Scotland, seven of them being from Wigtownshire" (_Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. xiv. p. 127). Shortly afterwards another, described at page 422, was found on the crannog of Lochspouts, in Ayrshire.

[118] Lochavoullin, situated to the east of the Oban railway station, was formerly, as the name implies, used as a dam for a water-mill, but for many years it was a marsh in the summer time, and much frequented by sportsmen on account of the number of snipes which it sheltered. It is now in the process of being utilised, partly as a green, by filling up its bed, and partly as a skating-pond; and in the course of these operations a submerged platform of wooden beams, laid in transverse layers, was detected about the centre of the marsh. I visited the locality in the spring of 1888, but beyond seeing portions of the woodwork, and determining, by probing the mud, that it extended for several yards in all directions, nothing of archæological value was discovered. So far, however, it has all the appearance of the usual crannog, an opinion which is strengthened by the physical conditions of the environment.

[119] This loch covers about two acres. At the north end there is a small island, covered with a rank vegetation and a few stunted trees of Scottish fir and birch. A rough, crooked causeway extended from it to the shore. "Round the island could be seen driven piles, to which were attached strong transverse beams, and upon making a cut six or seven feet wide into the side of the island to ascertain its structure, we found a platform of about four feet in depth, raised by transverse beams placed alternately across each other, and kept in position by driven piles. These last were generally small oak trees, but dressed and sharpened by a metal tool, some of them mortised at the heads, where a transverse rail or beam could be fixed."

[120] Towards the north the author subsequently found a "plank with several Roman nails in it; and the number of loose nails found in the soil above it showed that they must probably have belonged to some wooden superstructure which had perished."

[121] Evans, "An. Br. Implements," p. 436.

[122] _Proc. R. I. A._, vol. ix. p. 176; and vol. i., 2nd Ser., p. 223.

[123] See translation of O. S., edited by Dr. Joseph Anderson, p. 182; also _Proc. S. A. Scot._, vol. viii.

Sixth Lecture.

THE LAKE-DWELLERS OF EUROPE--THEIR CULTURE AND CIVILISATION.

I.--STONE AGE.

In the summary of the remains of lake-dwellings which I have brought under your notice in the previous lectures, you will have observed that there was often a great diversity in the character of the relics even in stations that were lying close to each other. From the study of this feature alone we must conclude that some flourished at a time when the use of metals was entirely unknown to their inhabitants, as all tools and weapons recovered from the _débris_ were made of such materials as stone, bone, horn, etc. The substitution of bronze for these materials marks a decided change in the culture and civilisation of the lake-dwellers--a change which becomes further modified by the introduction of iron. We have thus a great variety of lake-dwellings, distinguishable from each other generally by the character of their industrial remains, according to the particular civilisation which prevailed at the period of their habitation, some dating from the pure Stone Age, others from the Bronze Age, while others again bear the imprint of various later civilisations, as Roman, Celtic, Carlovingian, Slavish, etc. In dealing, therefore, with lacustrine remains as a whole, we have to take into account not only their distribution over a wide geographical area, but also their continuance in various parts of Europe for a long period extending from the Neolithic Age to the dawn of written history.

The outlying parts of this wide field, comprising more particularly the lake-dwelling remains in North Germany and in Great Britain and Ireland, I have already sufficiently dealt with when treating of their archæological details, so that it is unnecessary to bring them again prominently forward. There remains, therefore, only the central area of Europe, where they originally developed and so extensively flourished during the Stone and Bronze Ages. To draw, from a general criticism of the mass of recovered materials which I brought before you in the first three lectures, some general notion of the culture and civilisation which characterised their occupiers is therefore the first and primary object of this lecture.

Though the famous three ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron had been established as a method of classification before lacustrine treasures became known, I question if there is in the whole range of prehistoric archæology any class of antiquities that gives greater support to this remarkable chronological sequence, or throws more light on the introduction of metals into Europe than those collected from the lake-dwellings. The period of duration of the early pile-dwellings in Central Europe entirely covers and overlaps that which witnessed the introduction of the great art of metallurgy in Europe. While the contents of graves and ceremonial burials are important in preserving special products of the technical skill of a people, we have from some of these lacustrine dwellings materials for reconstructing the entire life history of their inhabitants, giving, as it were, a complete picture of their arts, industries, luxuries, and amusements.

That many of these lake-villages, built as they were on wooden platforms and constructed of combustible materials, were liable to conflagrations, we can readily believe, and we have had conclusive evidence that many of them came to an untimely end in this manner. It is, indeed, to such catastrophes that we owe much of our information, as the sudden interruption of busy life-scenes in such a manner and especially when accompanied by circumstances that tended to preserve the ruins from decay, has been the means of supplying us, as it were, with a photographic picture of the habits, customs, and industries of the people; and it requires only a sufficient number of such instances to be able, from a comparative examination of the recovered relics, to construct a fair scale of the progressive civilisation and culture of the lake-dwellers. On the other hand, there are lacustrine villages which have existed, through various ages, such as Nidau, but the association of objects so widely separated in point of time in one place becomes misleading, especially if their relative ages cannot be tested by superposition in the relic-bed--which can rarely be the case in lacustrine investigations, as in the act of dredging the relics are all jumbled together.

Professor Desor, observing that large quantities of pottery of every description were found in certain localities, which could not belong to one family, and that many of the bronze weapons and implements were new and unused, suggested that the palafittes in Lake Neuchâtel were merely magazines or shops, and not the ordinary residences of the people. (B. 252, p. 3.) But this opinion has not been adopted by Swiss archæologists; nor indeed is it at all justified from a study of the character of the multifarious objects discovered among their _débris_, which undoubtedly point to village life and the exercise of social and domestic avocations on the spot. Dr. Gross, in combating Desor's opinion, so far as founded on the unused condition of many of the relics, remarks:--"Je possède dans ma seule collection les tronçons de plus de dix épées réduites à l'état fragmentaire par un long usage. Un grand nombre d'outils s'y montrent altérés et modifiés par la même cause." (B. 392, p. xii.)

The settlements of the pure Stone Age are found only in a limited area in Central Europe. Their greatest development has been in the lakes bordering on both sides of the Alps, and it is especially from the data there supplied that we become acquainted with their characteristic features. This area may be more specifically defined as including the lakes of Lombardy, Laibach, Bavaria, Switzerland, and Savoy, with the exception perhaps of Lake Bourget--whose palafittes appear to have been constructed exclusively in the Bronze Age.

One of the most striking facts, and one to which I invite special attention, is the advanced state of the culture and social organisations which prevailed amongst the earliest constructors of these singular abodes. It is beyond doubt that, from the very start, their inhabitants were acquainted with various industries, especially weaving, which they sedulously practised; that they reared the ordinary domesticated animals; and that they cultivated flax, fruits, and various kinds of grain. For example, at Wangen two varieties of wheat and the two-rowed barley were distinctly recognised both in whole ears and in the separate grain, the latter in quantities that could be measured in bushels. The stones of the grape, which Professor Heer (B. 123) somewhat hesitatingly announced among the fruits from this station, may now be accepted as genuine, as the grape (_Vitis vinifera_) has recently been found at Steckborn, another station of the pure Stone Age,[124] and at Haltnau. (B. 462, p. 58.) Several varieties of well-made cloth of flax, and mats of bast, were also found at Wangen. There is preserved in the Museum of Fribourg a carbonised spindle from Lake Morat, which shows fine threads still coiled round it, and Dr. Gross figures a similar object from Locras. (B. 392.) Most antiquaries are acquainted with the remarkable varieties of cloth, fringes, nets, cords, and ropes brought to light by Messikommer from the very lowest relic-bed at Robenhausen (=Fig. 25=). Even specimens of embroidery were found at the adjoining station of Irgenhausen. (B. 126, Pl. xvi.) Remains of linen cloth, thread, nets, basket-work, etc., have also been found in a great many other stations, as Vinelz, Locras, Schaffis, Lagozza, Laibach, etc. But the absence of such fragile and perishable relics from many other stations is not to be taken as evidence that their inhabitants were unacquainted with such industries; for it must be remembered that it is only when fabrics are carbonised, or deposited in circumstances exceptionally favourable to their preservation, that they are prevented from undergoing the natural process of decay. Thus, at Schussenried, though there was no actual cloth found, the impression of a well-woven fabric is clearly seen on a consolidated mass of wheat--probably that of the sack in which the grain had been stored--and at Laibach a similar impression was observed on a fragment of pottery.

One of the stations in Moosseedorfsee which became completely exposed in consequence of drainage operations, and was carefully examined by the experienced archæologists Messrs. Jahn, Morlot, and Uhlmann, yielded a large assortment of the osseous remains of animals, amongst which the following were supposed to have been in a state of domestication, viz.:--dog, sheep, goat, pig, and various kinds of oxen. A few bones and teeth of the horse were also found, but these might have belonged to the wild species, as it is not agreed, nor is there any evidence, that this animal was domesticated till the Bronze Age. The cultivated plants from this station were barley, two kinds of wheat, pea, poppy, and flax. Among an assortment of its industrial remains, now in the Bern Museum, are about a dozen celts of nephrite (one of jadeite), bits of cord, a wooden comb, a fish-hook made of a boar's tusk, flint saws in their wooden handles, and fragments of pottery, some of which are ornamented with nail-marks or perforations round the rim. One piece of dark pottery (=Fig. 184=, No. 5) has a series of triangular bits of birch bark stuck on its surface by means of asphalt. (B. 336, p. 37.) If any further evidence were required to show the skill of the early lake-dwellers in the arts of spinning and weaving, and the extent to which they followed agricultural pursuits and the rearing of domestic animals, I have only to call attention to the vast number of spindle-whorls, loom-weights, etc., which are everywhere to be met with; the corn-crushers, yokes for cattle (=Fig. 184=, No. 1), field hoes, picks, and other agricultural implements found on the sites of the earliest settlements, as Robenhausen, Schaffis, Schussenried, etc.

That the potter's art was well known to, and practised by, the early lake-dwellers hardly needs any demonstration when we look at the mass of fragments, and even whole dishes, consisting of bowls, plates, cups, jugs, spoons, and large vases, now tabulated and stored in the various museums of lacustrine objects. These dishes were made without a knowledge of the potter's wheel, and the paste generally contained coarse sand or small pebbles; but a finer kind was also used for the smaller vessels. Generally speaking they are coarsely made in the earlier stations, having perforated knobs instead of handles, yet occasional examples turn up which show that handles were not unknown. The ornamentation consists of finger and string marks, irregular scratchings with a pointed tool, raised knobs, perforations round the rim, together with dots and lines in various fantastic combinations. No two vessels exactly alike in style and ornamentation have ever been found. The only approach that I have seen is in the case of two vases, one from Bodmann (=Fig. 30=, No. 20), and the other from Schussenried (=Fig. 35=, No. 4), which certainly suggest that the vessels were made under the influence of the same artist. In Lagozza and Polada artistic patterns were made from the impressions of a small tube, probably a stiff straw or a bone instrument, alternating with panels of crossed lines. In Laibach great skill is exhibited, not only in the variety and elegance of the vessels, but also in their ornamentation, which consists of various figures, rectangles, crosses, rhombs, triangles, etc., the lines of which are flanked with small pointed impressions. In the Mondsee a similar taste for geometrical figures is displayed, and here the lines are large and deeply cut so as to admit of the insertion into them of a white substance which, on the originally black pottery, must have had a striking effect. Associated, however, with these fantastically ornamented dishes, both in Laibach and the Mondsee, are others of a much inferior type.