WAUWYLERSEE. (B. 34 and 126.)
To the west of the little Lake of Wauwyl there is an extensive peaty plain, in which, upon the lowering of the lake for further utilisation of the peat, the remains of some curiously-constructed lake-dwellings were discovered. Wooden platforms were met with, resting, not on piles, but upon a series of successive beds of roughly-cut stems lying transversely to each other, the lowest of which reposed on the lake-bottom. Between these layers were branches and brushwood, mixed with clay, and the whole mass was pierced with vertical piles, the tops of which were at least a foot above the upper platform. These layers were as many as five, and the total thickness of the mass when exposed was about 3 feet, but there can be no doubt that, originally, it would have been greater, as there had been considerable condensation of the mass due to decay, especially of the interposing branches. The uprights were not observed to have been in any way connected with the platform, and the only peculiarity in the method of their arrangement was that they were more thickly placed at the corners, as if to keep the wooden mass in position. These artificial structures measured only 10 or 12 feet square, but they were very numerous, and so close that beams from one sometimes reached to the one next it. They were found in various parts of the moor, but in one place they were crowded into a rectangle measuring 90 feet by 50, which was surrounded by several rows of upright piles, as if for common protection. The upright piles were made of oak, alder, or fir, and they penetrated deeply into the shell marl—the stoutest being of oak, measuring 5 inches or more in diameter. It is noteworthy that the lowest horizontal woodwork lay on the shell marl, showing that these dwellings were constructed before the peat commenced to grow. The peat is now at least 6 feet thick., i.e. 3 feet of peat lying above the uppermost platforms.
No antiquarian remains were found underneath the wooden structures, but mostly in the intervals between them, where the objects lay almost directly over the shell marl. The settlement appears to have come to an end before the Bronze Age, as no metal object has been met with. A small glass bead is therefore of interest, as showing that the colonists must have had commercial relations with distant countries. Among the other antiquities are the following:—Stone celts (some of nephrite) hafted in staghorn fixings, and flint implements; chisels, pointers, flax-hecklers, etc., of bone; a lump of asphalt, harpoons of staghorn, knives made of yew, and various fragments of pottery with perforated knobs. In the Museum of Lucerne there are a few things, among which are one or two objects showing that the art of boring stone was known ([Fig. 16], Nos. 1 and 2).
Fig. 16.—Lakes of Wauwyl (1 and 2), Zug (8), and Baldegg. No. 5 = 1⁄4, all the rest = 1⁄2 real size.