In the year 1871 the proprietors of the land around this lake reduced
its level by drainage some 2½ to 3 feet, in consequence of which
indications of lake-dwellings became visible in the vicinity of the
outlet. The piles were irregularly placed along the shore, and spread
over a wide range. In one place the area attained a breadth of 400
or 500 feet, and again it contracted and the piles only appeared in
groups. In making excavations, the tops of piles became more numerous,
and at a depth of 7 feet, beds of charcoal, containing nutshells and
bits of pottery, were encountered.
Professor Amrein, who conducted the investigations, could distinguish
two kinds of piles, some older than others. Horizontal beams were
seldom met with. There was no regular relic-bed, as worked implements
were found at all depths, from 1 to 8 feet. Some beautiful specimens
of bone pointers and serpentine chisels (=Fig. 16=, Nos. 4 and 5) were
turned up from a depth of 8 to 10 feet. Beds of clay were occasionally
met with, and the piles appeared to have been arranged so as to
enclose square huts. In one of the trenches some stone celts were
lying on a bed of clay at a depth of 6 or 7 feet. One of these was
of a grass-green colour with a transparent edge, and so hard that it
could scratch glass. In an adjacent digging, at a depth of 4 feet, a
large flat stone, 2 by 1½ feet, was found resting on the tops of six
or seven piles, which penetrated through the bed of clay to the shell
marl. The space between these supporting piles was filled with clay,
and around the stone itself there were scattered bits of charcoal,
fragments of pottery, hazel-nuts, etc.
Professor Amrein concludes his report by stating his opinion that this
settlement was at its commencement a palatitte, and that subsequently
fascine structures were constructed over its ruins.
The relics collected are partly in the Archæological Museum and partly
in a small curiosity booth in the Gletscher Garten at Lucerne. Among
those in the museum are beautifully-formed daggers and chisels of bone
and horn (No. 6); four large harpoons (No. 7) and a scoop of horn; two
horn hammers (perforated), and three small cups of the same material
(No. 12); horn handles, etc.; rubbers, polishers, and celts of stone
in large numbers; two flat pebbles (perforated); and some fragments
of stone hammer-axes, one showing an effort to re-bore it (No. 3);
several bits of rock crystal and flints worked into saws, scrapers,
and arrow-points; fragments of pottery with knobs, and others
ornamented with groups of triangular lines, dots, etc., the forms of
which are extremely elegant (Nos. 9, 10, 11).