antiquity of these localities. Possibly indeed we may consider the presence of these larger species as an indication of their greater abundance in the oldest period; but we must not forget that not only the Bear and the Elk, but also the Aurochs and Urus come down to a much later period. On the other hand, the abundance of wild animals, and the fact that at Moosseedorf and Wauwyl the Fox was more abundant than the Dog, while elsewhere the reverse is the case, certainly speaks in favour of the greater antiquity of these two settlements.
The evidence derived from the distribution of the domestic animals is perhaps more satisfactory. The Sheep is present even at Moosseedorf, though not so numerous aa at the Steinberg. On the other hand, the Horse is frequent at the Steinberg, while at Moosseedorf only a single tooth was discovered, and even this had been worn aa an amulet or an ornament, and may have been brought from a distance. Finally, the domestic Hog of the present race is absent from all the Pileworks of the Stone period, excepting perhaps the one at Wauwyl, and becomes frequent only at the Steinberg.
If succeeding investigations confirm the conclusions thus indicated, we may perhaps conclude that the domestic animals, which were comparatively rare in the Stone period, became more frequent after the introduction of bronze, a change indicating and perhaps producing an alteration of habits on the part of the inhabitants.
Rare, indeed, as they may have been, Oxen, Horses, Sheep, and Goats could not be successfully kept through the winter in the climate of Switzerland, without stores of provisions and some sort of shelter. A pastoral people, therefore, must have reached a higher grade than a mere nation of hunters. We know, moreover, in another manner, that at this period agriculture was not entirely unknown. This is proved in the most unexpected manner, by the discovery of carbonised Cereals at various points. Wheat is most common, having been found at Meilen, Moosseedorf, and Wangen. At the latter place, indeed, many bushels were found, the grains being united in large thick lumps. At other times the grains are free, and without chaff, resembling our present wheat in size and form, while more rarely they are still in the ear. Ears of the Hordeum hexastichon L. (the six rowed Barley) are somewhat numerous. This species differs from the H. vulgare L. in the number of rows and in the smaller size of the grains. According to De Candolle, it was the species generally cultivated by the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. In the ears from Wangen, each row has generally ten or eleven grains, which however are smaller and shorter than those now grown.
Still more unexpected was the discovery of bread, or rather cakes, for leaven does not appear to have been used. They were flat and round, from an inch to 15 lines in thickness, and, to judge from one specimen, had a diameter of four or five inches. In other cases the grains seem to have been roasted, coarsely ground between stones, and then either stored up in large earthenware pots, or eaten after being slightly moistened. A similar mode of preparing grain was used in the Canary Islands at the time they were conquered by Spain,
