The first notices of investigations of the lake-dwellings in the
Attersee were published in 1871 by Count Wurmbrand and Mr. Simony, and
these were continued by the former during the following five years,
according as fresh discoveries were made. (B. 200, 201a, 202, 229,
and 276.) There were five settlements in the lake--one, SEEWALCHEN,
near the outlet; two, ATTERSEE and AUFHAM, on the west shore; and two,
WEYEREGG and PUSCHACHER, on the east shore.
SEEWALCHEN.--This settlement formed an irregular quadrangle, some
500 by 180 feet, and distant from the nearest shore between 200 and
300 feet. The water here is about 5 feet deep, and though clear,
no relics or piles are visible, as the _débris_ are covered over
with a bed of gravel, which had to be removed by dredging. The
piles were round timbers 6 to 8 inches in diameter, and 3 to 4 feet
apart, which penetrated so deeply into the shell-marl that it was
with difficulty any of them could be pulled up. The relic-bed was a
blackish conglomerate of organic _débris_, about a foot thick, and
greatly compressed by the superincumbent gravel. Count Wurmbrand does
not think this settlement had been destroyed by fire, as the usual
symptoms of such a catastrophe are entirely wanting. The antiquities,
though numbering among them a few metal objects, are essentially of
the Stone Age, among which the following are the most typical.
_Stone._--The arrow-points of flint are all triangularly shaped, no
example with a central stem having been discovered. One remarkable
object is a small knife-flake of obsidian. Stone celts (a few
perforated and mostly broken) were made of diorite, greenstone,
granite, hornblende, etc., but none of nephrite. Grinding and
polishing stones were abundant.
_Horn and Bone._--Of these materials there were pointers (some with
double prongs), chisels, scrapers, but none of the haftings for
celts, such as those so frequently met with on the sites of the Swiss
lake-dwellings; some bone rings, probably intended for beads, and
others of cannel-coal.
_Pottery._--Pottery was not abundant, but judging from its character,
Count Wurmbrand thought that it was smeared over with graphite or some
colouring matter, and burnt in an open fire. The ornamentation was
made with the finger-nail, or with small pointed implements, in the
soft clay. Some fragments showed handles and others perforated knobs.
_Metal._--Two small bronze pins, one with conical head, and perforated
in the stem a little below the head. It is quadrilateral in its lower
two-thirds, and ornamented with dots. The other objects are an awl,
sharpened at both ends, a lump of bronze, and two small fragments of
iron.
The animal remains belonged to the pig, bear, beaver, ox, and stag.
Among the woods used were fir, lime, beech, oak, hazel, birch, and
cornel-cherry.
WEYEREGG.--The station next in importance is Weyeregg, about a third
of the way up the lake. It has yielded well-made bone implements,
worked tines of horns, perforated boars' teeth, and some finely
polished stone hatchets. One is of a sea-green colour like jade,
and another has an elegant form (=Fig. 39=, No. 22). Latterly a few
metal objects have been found on this station, among which are the
two daggers here represented (Nos. 17 and 18). On the remaining
stations only a few objects of stone and pottery have been collected,
sufficient, however, to show that they were similar to those already
described. On PUSCHACHER there were found two half-moon-shaped flint
knives (Krummesser) (Nos. 20 and 21), and a round stone ball of
polished serpentine neatly perforated, supposed to have been a mace.