The Lake-Dwellings of Europe

The Lake-Dwellings of Europe - Being the Rhind Lectures in Archæology for 1888

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, in offering me the Rhind lectureship in Archology for the year 1888, left me no choice of a subject, as they had already suggested that the course should be on the "Lake-dwellings of Europe." Their communication embodying this proposal came upon me with complete surprise, and, indeed, it was with considerable misgiving that I pondered over the undertaking, because at that time I had no special knowledge of lake-dwellings beyond Scotland. But the kind encouragement of friends and the fact that I had two years to collect the necessary materials, ultimately overcame my scruples; and so with the acceptance of this appointment the work now offered to the public may be said to have been begun. My first and almost immediate step was a hasty run to the principal centres of lake-dwelling researches in Europe, so as to get a preliminary idea of the best and most practical way of carrying out this work. It was only then that the magnitude of the labours I had undertaken dawned upon me. The relics from the more important settlements, with few exceptions, were so widely scattered that, to form an intelligible notion of the civilisation and culture of their inhabitants from a study of their industrial remains, scores of museums and private collections had to be visited. Nor was the condition of the literature and records of the various discoveries more favourable to my purpose. The successive investigations by different parties in the more prolific stations were constantly altering the previous [Pg vi] records and, in some instances, even falsified the earlier deductions founded on them. Again, descriptive notices were directed more to illustrate the particular and rarer finds of the investigator than to convey to general readers a fair estimate of the tout-ensemble of any special station. Keller's earlier reports were really exhaustive monographs, but by-and-by the subject became so extensive that to carry out the work on the same scale would entail the publication of many volumes. In 1866, when Mr. Lee translated and arranged Keller's first six reports, his work was fairly representative of the progress then made in lake-dwelling researches; but to keep pace with this progress a second edition at the end of the following decade assumed the magnitude of two large volumes. Since then, however (1878), the results of lacustrine researches have been greater and more important than during any previous corresponding period. The "Correction des Eaux du Jura," together with various harbour alterations in the lakes of Zrich, Geneva, etc., have been the means of enormously increasing the lacustrine collections of Switzerland. In North Italy not only have new and remarkably interesting lacustrine stations been discovered and exhaustively investigated, as Lagozza and Polada, but the researches in the terremare have been such as to entirely alter the previous opinions held in regard to them. Nor has the progress in this field of research in many other countries in Europe been scarcely less important, in proof of which I have only to mention the additions made to the Scottish and Irish crannogs; the curious fascine structures brought to light in Holderness, Yorkshire; the novel revelations extracted from the terp mounds in Holland and other low-lying districts on the coast of the German Ocean; the greatly extended and more accurate details of lacustrine structures in North Germany; the discovery in Hungary of prehistoric mounds analogous to the terramara deposits of Italy, etc. In short there is hardly any corner of the lake-dwelling [Pg vii] area in Europe which has not yielded new materials, throwing more or less light on this strange phase of prehistoric life. In these circumstances I resolved to proceed de novo, and to construct my story of the lake-dwellings from whatever trustworthy sources I could lay my hands on. In order to carry out this intention my wife and I perambulated the whole of Central Europe with note and sketch books in hand, visiting, as far as practicable, the sites of lake-dwellings, and searching museums and libraries wherever we thought their relics or records were to be found. The eastern limit of the region thus visited may be represented by a line drawn from Knigsberg to Trieste, passing through the intermediate towns of Krakow, Buda-Pesth, and Agram. The materials brought together from within this area are, to a very considerable extent, absolutely new to British archologists. Of course, in a work which aims at putting into the hands of general readers an epitome of the essential facts and results of lacustrine researches since these singular remains were discovered in Europe, I had to take cognisance of some investigations that have already been fully recorded and illustrated. As it was impossible to illustrate typical groups of objects from all the lacustrine stations, I have, as a rule, in selecting the illustrations for this work, avoided those that have already come within the reach of English readers through the translation of Keller's works, except when they belonged to stations that are the best or only representatives of their kind in their respective localitiesas, for example, the Rosen Insel in the Lake of Starnberg. Acting on this principle, I have given very few illustrations of objects from Nidau, Moosseedorf, St. Aubin, Wauwyl; nor, for the same reason, is a prominent place given to the earlier discoveries at Robenhausen, Estavayer, Concise, Cortaillod, etc. In this way I have endeavoured to combine in the work now issued as much novelty as possible, without detracting from its general and comprehensive scope. [Pg viii] ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 48514
Author: Munro, Robert
Release Date: Mar 17, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English