Such is, in brief, a general account of these remarkable structures.
Of course there were several variations in the methods of fixing these
piles, one of which may be mentioned as showing the ingenuity of the
builders. Where the piles did not get a firm hold of the lake bottom,
they carried out in boats or rafts loads of stones, which they threw
down between the piles, thus firmly fixing them, just as modern
engineers sometimes do for a similar purpose. As to the habits of the
people who dwelt in these lake dwellings, we get a considerable amount
of information from the various implements, refuse, etc., which fell
through the imperfectly closed platforms into the lake, and which have
been preserved in the mud at the bottom. They were fishers, hunters,
shepherds, and agriculturists. Skeletons of fish are found in large
abundance, and in some settlements even the fishing nets, and hooks
made of boar's tusks, have been discovered. Then again there is an
abundance of remains of the hunter's feast; bones of the stag, wild
boar, bear, wolf, otter, squirrel, and many other wild animals are
found in rich profusion, and often these are split and the marrow
extracted. These ancient men, however, did not entirely rely on such
precarious provision for their wants, but were so far advanced in
civilization that they kept cattle and domestic animals of various
kinds.
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