The little lake of Inkwyl is surrounded by low pasture-land, and in
the middle of it there is a small circular island thickly wooded,
which in appearance suggests the idea of a Scottish Crannog. Professor
von Morlot first, in 1854, drew attention to the probability of
the island being artificially constructed, and a short notice to
this effect, which appeared in 1857 (B. 19), induced Mr. Amiet, of
Soleure, to make some excavations. In the following year (1858) these
explorations were continued by Mr. Roth, the proprietor of the island.
The result of their operations[18] showed that there was originally
on the site of this island a pile-dwelling, which became subsequently
a solid island, now rising about ten feet above the surface of the
water. The island measured 90 feet by 80 feet, and in the interior
of it, some 6 or 7 feet deep, there was a rough platform of logs
supported on piles. The antiquities, collected immediately on and
underneath the platform, consisted of stone axes of nephrite and
serpentine, along with their staghorn haftings; corn-crushers; flint
arrow-heads; bone implements; perforated tusks; fragments of pottery,
both rough and fine; clay rings and weights; spindle-whorls; broken
bones of various animals, such as stag, roe, marsh pig, wild boar, ox,
beaver, and some birds. (B. 22.)
In the superficial layers were found a bronze spoon, fragments of
Roman pottery and flanged roofing tiles, an iron lance-head, and a
spur, apparently relics of the Middle Ages.