Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/525

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

466 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899

mounds nearly fifty years ago. At Zurich, in one section of the National Museum, is the second best arranged and best exhibited archeological collection that it was my good fortune to see. This collection is especially rich in, and indeed is almost entirely devoted to, collections from early Roman times and from the Swiss lakes. This latter collection is easily the superior of all others in value to be found in Switzerland. It possesses also an historical interest, as it is the collection upon which Keller based the observations recorded in his valuable work on Lake Dwellings in Switzerland.

The importance of archeological collections in other museums visited was more or less obscured by the extensive and valuable ethnological exhibits. In London one must visit two museums at least to gain an idea of the character of early man in Britain. For the very early or so-called paleolithic period, one must visit the Natural History Museum in Cromwell road, where the collections are extensive, well arranged, and as a rule well labeled. In the British Museum there is a large collection of objects cov- ering in a general way the entire archeological field. This col- lection is especially valuable for England and northern Kurope. The Ohio and Mississippi valleys are fairly well represented, but the collections are not fully labeled. In the Natural History Museum at the Jardin des Plantes is also a very good archeologi- cal collection, especially rich, as might be expected, in objects from France. The museum at Saint-Germain -en-Lay e, which I am informed is one of the best arranged and most complete archeological museums in Europe, I was unfortunately not able to visit.

The collections of prehistoric objects in Vienna fill several well-lighted rooms, are most admirably arranged and labeled, and present a very attractive appearance. Vienna is fortunately situ- ated, for the neighboring countries abound in mounds which have yielded some of the most interesting bronze, copper, and stone implements that have ever been found in any country.

�� �