Volume 2

The natural history of man : being an account of the manners and customs of the uncivilized races of men / by J.G. Wood.

Date:
1868-1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of man : being an account of the manners and customs of the uncivilized races of men / by J.G. Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    874/880 (page 862)
    The reason for building these edifices is analogous to the feeling which induces military engineers to surround their forts with moats filled with water. In those primitive times, man waged an unequal war against the wild animals, such as the bear, the wolf, and the boar, and in consequence, these lacustrine habitations proved to be strongholds which, such enemies could not assault. It is natural, also, that persons thus threatened should congi-egate together, and in consequence we find that in one lake alone, that of Neufchatel, a population of some 5,000 had congregated. A vast number of relics of this V)ygone age have been recovered from the lakes, and are of absorbing interest to the anthropologist. In the first place, the original piles have been discovered, still standing, and several have been drawn, in order to ascertain the depth to which they were driven. Portions of the wattled walls of the huts have also been foimd, together with great numbers of stone implements, denoting a very early age. Great quantities of pottery have also been found, the crescent being a favourite ornament, and several utensils of a crescentic shape having been discovered. Then, as time went on, men improved upon their earlier works, and took to metal instead of stone, as examples of which may be mentioned the wonderful series of metallic objects that have been found in the lakes. There are axes, spear and arrow-heads, neck- laces, bracelets, and hair-pins, and—most remarkable—there is the ver}^ article that was patented some years since as the Safety Pin for nurseries. As to the food which these people ate, we have abundant evidence in the way of bones belonging to various animals, and—strangest of all—.sj^ecimens of bread have been discovered. As may be supposed, the bread in question was of the coarsest possible character, the grains of corn being roasted, slightly ground, and then pressed into lumps, whicb may by courtesy be termed cakes. Even fruits have been found ready cut and prepared for consumption, the apple being the most plentiful of these fruits. Seeds of different fruits, such as the plum, the raspberry, and the blackberry, have been found, together with the shells of hazel and beech-nuts, showing that all these different fruits were used for food in the olden times now so long passed away.