Fig. 16.—Lakes of Wauwyl (1 and 2), Zug (8), and Baldegg. No. 5 = 1⁄4, all the rest = 1⁄2 real size.
LAKE OF ZUG. (B. 61 and 126.)
The site of the first discovered settlement in this lake lay a little to the north of the town of Zug. A section of some excavations made for building purposes about 50 feet from the lake showed first a bed of common mould 2½ feet thick, then a layer of sand and rolled stones 1½ foot thick, after which came the relic-bed—a blackish band of decayed organic matter, varying in thickness from 8 inches to 1 foot, and containing the tops of piles and various industrial remains. The heads of the piles were on a level, and in some places cross-beams were observed. The relics include some stone hatchets, one fragment being of nephrite; a few flint objects—lance and arrow-heads, and one knife. There were also portions of sawn stones, apparently for making implements. From a small collection of bones Professor Rütimeyer identified the horse, cow, dog, marsh pig, red deer, roe, and hare.[19]
The surface of the soil where these discoveries were made was about 15 feet above that of the water in the lake, which of course would leave the relic-bed still on dry land—a peculiarity which is accounted for by the reported deepening of the outlet in former times. This explanation is very probable, as the channel of the Lorze, which carries off the surplus waters of Lake Zug, in passing through the town of Cham, bears evidence of having been artificially deepened. The large amount of detritus conveyed annually into this end of the lake also satisfactorily accounts for the depth at which the relic-bed lies below the surface.
Farther round the head of the lake, at Koller, near Cham, another site was discovered, on which some excavations were made, which revealed a relic-bed 3 feet below the surface. The finds here were broken celts of serpentine, fragments of pottery indicating large vessels. The present level of the lake is 3 feet below this relic-bed.
A third station was at St. Andreas, the evidence of which was the finding of a great number of stone celts, flint knives and arrow-points, over a certain part of a cultivated field bordering on the lake. Peculiar among the finds here are some curious oval objects made of limestone, with a short neck perforated ([Fig. 16], No. 8).
Traces of three other stations—viz. at Derschbach, Zweieren, and Badeplatz—have been noted beyond Cham, but they have not been carefully investigated. Pottery ornamented with triangular lines and the "meander" pattern would seem to point to a later period. (B. 126, Pl. iii.)
A few of the objects collected on these stations are in a small museum in Zug; others are at Zürich; and in Bern there are 12 stone celts and one of copper, marked as coming from the station at Lorze.