| 6. | Clay earth continued | 1½ ft. |
| 7. | Packwerk (No. 2) | 1 " |
| 8. | Blackish clayey stuff (dunkle Kleierde) | 1 " |
| 9. | Light clay (containing the stumps of a second series of piles, four | |
| in number, and from three to five and a half inches thick) | 1 " | |
| 10. | Packwerk (No. 3) | 3 " |
| 11. | Whitish clay, mixed with twigs, branches, reeds, etc. | 2 " |
| 12. | A layer of cowdung (Grüngelblicher fester Kuhdünger) | 2 " |
| 13. | Sea sand (Meeressand) |
The two Packwerke here encountered are stated to be similar to the first, and the relics are also much of the same character. The under portion of both is described as being made up of twigs of oak, birch, and hazel, very much birch-bark, worked bits of wood, wooden handles of tools, burnt faggots, débris of marsh plants (Schilf, Binsen, und Samen von Polygonum), small bundles of bast and other fibres of fine roots, shells of hazel-nuts, fragments of pottery (six pounds), lumps of iron slag (five pounds), broken bones (sixteen pounds), charcoal, a piece of redstone, and the shells of some edible molluscs (Helix fruticum and Strigella, and Cardium edule).
Among the relics to be noted are a spindle-whorl, an iron buckle, and a bit of leather.
Of special interest is a third series of piles, which he describes as terminating in the sea-sand underneath all. These piles were five in number, four oak and one birch, 2 to 5½ inches in thickness, and 18 to 33 inches in length. They were placed in a zig-zag fashion about 1½ foot apart, and traced through the layer of "Kuhdünger" to the "Packwerk," where they became so rotten as to be no longer recognised. One of them had also a hole, which still retained portion of a projecting spar.
Our investigator made observations, but of a much more limited character, on nine other Wurthen, and in all of them he found the "Packwerk" to be a special feature in their structure.
Such is an epitome of the facts on which Dr. Hartmann bases his opinion that not only the Wurthen, but also the neighbouring Warfen and Terpen, were constructed like the fascine islands of prehistoric Switzerland, and the Scottish and Irish crannogs. The idea of pile-buildings can scarcely be entertained by him, and he stoutly combats Pigorini's opinions in regard to the Terpen of West Friesland.
The Fahrstedter Wurth, according to Hartmann, consisted of an original mound some seven feet high, to which on two subsequent occasions additions were made. The initiatory process of its construction was to form a basis of Kuhdünger two feet in thickness. Over this clay and rubbish were placed, to the extent of other two feet; and then came the fascine structures, which raised the mound other three feet. To keep the mass together, piles were driven here and there down to the sandy bottom. But the inhabitants soon found that this was too low to shelter them from the waves and floods, so they constructed an addition to their mound, which raised its surface to ten feet. But this was not enough, and so a third addition was made, which added six feet more to the mound. At this height its surface would be about twenty feet above the medium sea level (Normal Null), and at this height Dr. Hartmann concludes that cottages would be quite secure, as the highest tides on record—viz. 4th February, 1825, reached only 12 feet 4 inches above the medium sea level, a result which would leave a considerable margin for the Fahrstedter Wurth. Of course, the tides never reach it now, as it is protected by the sea-dykes, the first of which was constructed in the middle of the twelfth century.
Very little reflection shows the inherent improbability of Dr. Hartmann's theory. Where could the primitive builders get such a quantity of "Kuhdünger" to start with? If the "Packwerk" was constructed as a solid mass, how could its under portions be so prolific of such varied relics, and other odds and ends of human occupancy? Moreover, the disproportion between the original and final height of the mound is incompatible with the supposition that the successive increases were merely additions entailed by unforeseen circumstances, such as an unusual storm. The three platforms with their corresponding series of upright piles, the stratified assortment of the structural materials, and the position of the relics and débris of its inhabitants scattered throughout the entire mound, are, in my opinion, inexplicable on any other hypothesis than that we have here the remains of pile-dwellings, successively erected one above the other, precisely similar to the terremare already described. The more probable modus operandi was to construct in the first place a circumscribing dyke of mud, varying in size according to the number of the tribe or family, behind which the cottages were built on platforms supported on piles. When the under spaces became filled up with the accumulated débris of men and cattle, and all the other odds and ends of continued occupancy, the process was repeated again and again, until the whole enclosed area, in the course of some centuries, became a flattish mound or island within the limits of the tidal shore.