LAKE ZÜRICH.
Further discoveries in Lake Zürich were not so speedily effected as in some of the other Swiss lakes, and for a few years the interest in this subject was transferred to more distant localities. In the following year, 1855, Colonel Schwab visited Zürich and made further researches at Männedorf and Ober-Meilen. From the latter he succeeded in securing a considerable number of objects, especially stone hatchets, some of which were made of nephrite, and a bronze celt of the flat type ([Fig. 1], No. 5).
In 1858, in the course of some dredging operations for the purpose of deepening the mouth of the Limmat, fragments of pottery, bits of piles, and some peculiar beams having one or two square-cut holes ([Fig. 2], Nos. 13 and 14) were dredged up. Dr. Keller recognised here the site of a Pfahlbau which extended both under the little island called Bauschanze and outwards towards the lake. (B. 22 and 336.)
Two other localities near the outlet known as the "Kleiner Hafner" and "Grosser Hafner" were also proved to have been stations. The former was opposite the north end of the Tonhalle, and about 150 yards distant from the original shore. It occupied a circular area of about 1½ acre in extent and, when the water was low, its surface was only some 3 feet submerged. The Grosser Hafner was farther off in the lake, and its area was considerably larger than that of the Kleiner Hafner. On a clear day in both these localities stones and the tops of piles could be seen. Another locality known to Dr. Keller at this early period was about two miles from Zürich, on the west shore of the lake and just opposite the steamboat pier at Wollishofen. Here the lake-bed consisted of a deposit of fine mud, and owing to the constant commotion made by the steamers in passing to and fro the débris of the lake-dwelling had been greatly covered up. (B. 336.)
As the Kleiner Hafner lay directly along the course followed by the steamers, and greatly obstructed their passage, the authorities, in 1867, resolved to have the obstruction removed altogether. For this purpose a dredging machine was used, by means of which a segment several feet thick was removed from its surface. During this operation the same kind of perforated beams which had already attracted attention at the Bauschanze were turned up among the stuff, together with numerous objects of flint, stone, bone, etc., similar to those at Ober-Meilen ([Fig. 2], Nos. 9 to 17). In addition to these, however, there were bronze axes of the winged type, some spoon-shaped crucibles, large clay rings and fragments of pottery of an unusually fine kind ([Fig. 2], Nos. 1 to 8). But, what was considered still more strange, there were among these relics some iron weapons and Roman tiles.
Hitherto there was little or nothing done to the Grosser Hafner, and the "Haumessergrund" at Wollishofen, and so the surmises of Dr. Keller regarding them might have died with him, had it not been for the extraordinary exertions of the people of Zürich to have their beautiful environments made still more attractive by art. These extensive alterations, begun some six years ago, and scarcely yet completed, have so entirely changed the aspect of the shore in the immediate neighbourhood of the outlet, that visitors whose recollection of the town dates farther back than these transformations, will hardly recognise the locality. A splendid bridge now spans the opening of the Limmat, and on both sides of it are elegant promenades, gardens, and ornamental quays, which occupy what was formerly part of the lake. The filling up of such a great area of lake-bottom involved the use of dredgers, which, with revolving buckets, raised stuff from the most convenient shallows along the shore, and having dropped it into boats, it was then transported to its final destination. Among the localities selected for these operations were the Grosser Hafner and the outskirts of the Bauschanze. The rich loamy deposits of the Haumessergrund at Wollishofen were also found suitable for mixing with the gravel and for forming a good soil for the floral and horticultural gardens which now form such a conspicuous ornament to the fashionable walks along the northern shore of the lake.
Fig. 2.—Bauschanze (13, 14, and 21 to 23); Kleiner Hafner (1 to 12, and 15 to 17), and Grosser Hafner. All 1⁄3 real size except 13 and 14.
The Grosser Hafner[1] supplied a wonderful medley of antiquarian objects, apparently of all ages—stone hatchets (one of which was 10 inches long), horn handles, bone implements, etc. Among bronze objects were: hatchets of the winged type, chisels, sickles, knives some ornamented with half-circles, points, and lines ([Fig. 2], Nos. 30 and 35); pins with large heads, oval or round, and sometimes perforated and variously ornamented (Nos. 24, 25, and 26); arm-rings, both closed and open, and ornamented with engraved lines, dots, etc. (Nos. 18 and 28); a few spirals (No. 34), small rings and pendants (Nos. 19 and 27); two solid rings attached by a band (No. 29); a group of four rings—one being larger, on which the other three were hung (No. 20); a pin-like object, 15½ inches long, with a handle like that of a sword (No. 32); lance-heads, some of which were ornamented; a few small beads of amber. Among the fragments of pottery were two vessels complete with round bases (No. 31), and part of a moon-shaped crescent, rudely ornamented with depressions like finger-marks.
Here, again, as in the Kleiner Hafner, objects apparently of a later date were found, among which were Roman tiles, pottery of the kind known as terra sigillata, and an iron spear-head; also upwards of 16 coins of the time of Augustus, Tiberias and Vespasian.
On the other hand, at the Bauschanze, while objects of the stone age were very numerous, there were scarcely any of bronze. Most of the objects collected on this station were dispersed; but among the few that have come to the knowledge of antiquaries are some remarkable implements of horn, like picks, said to be field-hoes (Nos. 21 and 22). One of these is 14½ inches long, pointed at one end and chisel-shaped at the other. Another (10½ inches long) is also pointed at one end, but forked at the other. Both are perforated with an oval hole for the insertion of a wooden handle.[2]
Wollishofen.—The greatest of all the finds in Lake Zürich was that at Wollishofen. (B. 448, 449a, and 462.) Here, again, the dredging machines brought up a large quantity of wood, among which were some of those peculiar oak beams with square-cut holes, already noticed ([Fig. 2], Nos. 13 and 14). The wood was of various kinds, and so abundant that the poorer people were in the habit of collecting it for firewood. Although the antiquities of the stone age were numerous, the great feature of this station is that it belonged to, or at least existed during, the most flourishing period of the bronze age. Notwithstanding pilfering, and the difficulty of detecting the smaller objects, the collection, as now deposited in the Museum at Zürich, must be considered one of the most important in the whole series of lake-dwelling researches. Among the more remarkable objects were the following:—
Weapons.—Four bronze swords, one only of which is complete ([Fig. 3], No. 1); its entire length is 28½ inches, including the handle, which is also of bronze (barely 4 inches long), and to which the blade is attached by two rivets; another (No. 2), which is defective both in the blade and handle, is of a different type, especially in the formation of the handle, which was intended to have bone or wooden plates fastened with rivets to the remaining bronze portion; it is ornamented with a combination of circles or semicircles, in incised lines or dots. Three daggers, two of which have rivet-holes, and the third has what appears to be the remains of a tang. Eleven arrow-heads of bronze, and several of flint and bone. Of the former, two only have sockets (Nos. 4 and 14), the others being imitations of the ordinary flint forms (Nos. 3 and 5). Lance-heads were in much larger numbers than either the swords or daggers; they are mostly socketed, with side rivet-holes for fixing the handle; they vary in length from 3½ to 8 inches, and are sometimes ornamented, as shown in No. 7, and only two had tangs. Portions of wood are supposed to be fragments of bows.
Industrial Implements and Ornaments.—The stone hatchets are exceedingly well-made, and appear to have been partly sawn from water-worn boulders of serpentine and hornstone. None were of nephrite or jadeite; a few of horn have been noted ([Fig. 185], No. 15). The bronze hatchets ([Fig. 4], Nos. 16, 20, and 25) were numerous, the greatest number having four wings and sometimes a loop at the side; the direction of the cutting edge is generally at right angles to that of the wings, but in a few instances parallel to it (as in No. 16); at the top of the hatchet there is a hole or small recess. Of the flat kind there were a few, one of which is here figured (No. 25). Two small ones are of copper ([Fig. 3], No. 17). The knives are mostly ornamented with running patterns or circles or semicircles in dots or lines, and the blades are all more or less curved ([Fig. 4], Nos. 11 to 15); the handles were sometimes solid and of a piece with the blade, but more frequently they were of horn or wood, and attached by tangs or rivets. It is rather remarkable that amongst the large number of knives collected at Wollishofen there is not one of the socketed kind, which, as we shall afterwards see, are so frequently met with in Lake Bourget and some stations in western Switzerland. Some sickles of the usual type, fish-hooks, and a few of the socketed razor knives. Of bronze hammers there are six, all of which are socketed and either round or rectangular in shape ([Fig. 4], Nos. 8 and 18). The round one, No. 8, is ornamented with a series of circular grooves, and has a socket 1¾ inches deep; it weighs 490 grs.
Fig. 3.—Wollishofen. All 1⁄2 real size.
Fig. 4.—Wollishofen. All 1⁄3 real size.
There is a considerable number of chisels and gouges ([Fig. 4], Nos. 1 to 7), small tubes, broad-headed nails and studs. One bronze punch is bifurcated (Antiqua, 1886, Pl. v. Fig. 8). An elegant vase of solid bronze ([Fig. 3], No. 22), and fragments of large situlæ, made of thin bronze plates riveted ([Fig. 4], Nos. 17 and 22). One of the most remarkable objects is that represented on [Fig. 4], No. 21, which is supposed to be an anvil. Several long pins with sword-like handles, similar to one found on the Grosser Hafner ([Fig. 4], Nos. 9 and 10). Bronze hair-pins were so numerous that they are to be counted by hundreds in the Museum ([Fig. 3], Nos. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 19 and 23 to 26). One bronze comb and one bronze fibula ([Fig. 3], Nos. 16 and 20). Bracelets are well represented, both closed and open; they are either flat or in solid mass ([Fig. 3], No. 13), and generally ornamented; one (No. 15), open at the ends, is made of two stout wires, one of which is spirally grooved, and the other plain; these wires are united at the ends by a tin pin, which passes through a loop formed by the recoil of the ends of the wires. A large hollow ring (three inches internal, and rather more than four inches external diameter) is highly ornamented. (See [Fig. 188], No. 2.) Finger-rings ([Fig. 3], No. 28), pendants (Nos. 29, 30, and 31), buttons (No. 21), studs (No. 27), a so-called portemonnaie, for ring money (No. 33), portions of girdles ([Fig. 4], No. 19). There are also one ringlet of gold and three beads, one of amber and two of glass. Amongst the nondescript objects are several small wheels—three of pottery ([Fig. 5], No. 6), five of bronze ([Fig. 3], Nos. 12 and 18), and two of tin (No. 32)—a leaden weight, which has a high loop of bronze ([Fig. 4], No. 23). An object of the same kind (No. 24), with two loops, was found at Onnens. Besides the two copper celts ([Fig. 3], No. 17) there were two small copper awls and several bits of this metal.
Fig. 5.—Wollishofen. All 1⁄3 real size.
Pottery.—The pottery at Wollishofen shows vessels made of two kinds of paste, one fine, and the other coarse containing a mixture of rough sand. The vessels varied much in size, the smallest being only about one inch in diameter, and the larger ones, judging from the curve of the fragments, ranged from sixteen to twenty-seven inches in diameter. They had no glaze, nor can it be said that the wheel was used in their manufacture, although some are very symmetrically shaped. No quartz or sand was mixed with the fine paste, of which the more ornamental vessels were made ([Fig. 5] Nos. 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, and 12). Some had a conical-shaped base, and could only be made to sit in soft material, such as sand, or by means of a ring, like those figured from the Kleiner and Grosser Hafner. One small vessel was trilocular, having its three chambers or bowls attached to one common base. Some very flat vessels were found, which are supposed to have been lids ([Fig. 5], No. 7). Spindle whorls of burnt clay variously ornamented ([Fig. 5], Nos. 13 to 20), and some other objects like modern thread pirns (Nos. 5 and 10) are in abundance. Portions of six crescents are all differently ornamented. Some now in the Museum have been restored, so as to show their original form and ornamentation, and it is from one of these that the illustration here given was taken ([Fig. 5], No. 8). Some dishes took the forms of animals, as in No. 4, and were probably used as lamps.
Among other objects may be mentioned some bits of red stone, supposed to have been used as paint; foundry materials, as moulds and bronze dross; portion of a dug-out canoe; various bits of sawn and cut horn; etc.
Human Remains.—The only portion of a human skeleton was a skull, which, according to Dr. Kollmann, is of the mesocephalic type. (B. 420, p. 90.)
Organic Remains.—Wheat, millet, hazel-nuts, and crab-apples, were identified.
Männedorf.—I have already incidentally referred to the discovery of the site of a lake-dwelling at Männedorf before 1854, when such antiquities were not understood ([page 4]). In 1866, however, a portion of lake-bottom close to where these early discoveries were made, measuring about eighty feet by thirty, was deepened to facilitate the passage of steamers, when further evidence as to the nature of this settlement was disclosed. The piles were so closely set that there was hardly the breadth of a pile between them. The objects collected were very similar to those already described from Ober-Meilen, among which was a spoon-like crucible like those from Robenhausen. (B. 126, p. 263.) The discovery of a second station near the mouth of the Surenbach, between Männedorf and Uetikon, was noticed by Dr. Keller in his second report. (B. 22, p. 121.)
Uetikon.—Remains of another station are to be found close by the landing stage at Uetikon, from which on several occasions antiquities of the Stone Age were picked up. More decided indications of the character of this settlement were, however, revealed in 1886, in consequence of some dredging operations that were carried on. On this occasion were found not only piles, bones of various animals, as stag, ox, and pig, fragments of pottery, stone hatchets, and flint implements—the usual relics of the Stone Age—but also a few bronze rings and hair-pins. (B. 462, p. 17.)
In the Zürich Museum may be seen a considerable number of the relics from this station, among which are twenty-three stone celts (one being still in its horn fastening), five flint saws or scrapers, four pointers of horn, and a semi-globular spindle-whorl.
Erlenbach.—Near Erlenbach were two settlements, one at Winkel, a few minutes' walk above the village; and the other at Wyden, about an equal distance below it. In 1886 the usual indications of the Pfahlbau settlements, such as piles and various industrial relics, were found in the course of some dredging operations, but the objects were mostly dispersed. (B. 462, and 420a, p. 73.)
Letten.—In 1877, while digging a canal in connection with the Zürich waterworks, some remarkable antiquities of bronze and iron were dug up, which Dr. Keller describes in the eighth report of the lake-dwellings. They were found in a portion of the cutting extending some eight hundred yards in length at a place called Letten, on the right bank of the Limmat, nearly opposite to where the Zihl joins it. The objects lay in a fine mud deposited by the river, and underneath a bed of gravel of the same origin. Dr. Keller came to the conclusion that the "Lettenfunde" belonged to a settlement analogous to, and probably contemporary with, the later Pfahlbauten, with the relics from which they in many respects agree. A careful inspection of the Letten relics—which include two swords, one or two spear-heads, a variety of winged celts, a couple of sickles with raised buttons, knives, a great number of hair-pins of diversified forms, an involved ring-ornament, etc., all of bronze—shows that they are of a more recent period than the lake-dwellings. Among the bronze celts are forms (as for example that in [Fig. 3], No. 35) which have never been found in the true relic bed of a lake-dwelling; and besides there are other objects, such as a fibula, and a piece of iron partly fashioned, probably intended for a sword, which are characteristic of the La Tène period. (See [Fig. 87], No. 6.) While deepening the bed of the Limmat similar objects, as well as those of preceding and succeeding ages (Roman), have been frequently found. The Letten objects correspond more with the pre-Roman antiquities found in the Nidau-Büren Canal and in some of the later tumuli, and may therefore be said to link together the products of two very different civilisations, viz. the bronze age of the lake-dwellings, and the subsequent iron age, so characteristic in La Tène.
For the relative positions of these stations see Sketch Map, [page 9].