In an open valley between Stein and Frauenfield there is a chain of three small lakes, the upper of which goes by the name of Nussbaumen. Here there is an artificial island, on which Mr. Morlot had observed piles and other indications of a lake-dwelling, but the matter has never been thoroughly investigated. According to Morlot, this island measures 110 feet by 60 feet, is surrounded by piles, and has a similar appearance to that in the little lake at Inkwyl. (B. 31, p. 84.)
LAKE OF CONSTANCE.
The district around the Lake of Constance appears to have had great attractions for the early lake-settlers. This predilection was no doubt due to the exceptionably favourable conditions which the lake afforded for the construction of their pile-villages, viz. a gently-sloping lake-bottom, with a wide tract of grazing or agricultural land beyond. In every sheltered bay around the Untersee, Ueberlingersee, and lower parts of the Bodensee, traces of these settlements have been found; but owing to the difficulties and expense of investigation they have not yet yielded their due quota of relics.
Wangen.—The first discovered was that at Wangen. It is recorded that Mr. Caspar Löhle, after reading Kellers first report of the Pfahlbauten, recollected having seen on the shore near his own house similar antiquities to those figured from Ober-Meilen. He then commenced, in the autumn of 1856, to collect them; and when the water was low he made excavations, which by degrees rewarded him with some remarkable remains of human industry. The station was in a small bay to the east of the village, in front of a considerable extent of flat land which intervened between it and the sunny slopes beyond. This bay, owing to its sheltered position, was subject to an unusual deposition of lake sediment, so that in the course of time the débris of the settlement became covered over with 3 or 4 feet of mud and gravel. As this deposition went on, from year to year, the bed of the lake became gradually raised, and the water was displaced, so that at certain seasons, when the water in the lake was very low, the relic-bed of the settlement could be investigated by digging on dry land.
Mr. Löhle, in the course of his extensive excavations, ascertained that the settlement extended in the form of a parallelogram some 700 paces in length and 120 in breadth. The piles were made of round or split stems of various kinds of wood, as oak, beech, elm, birch, ash, fir, elder, maple, and two species of willow. They were thickly placed, sometimes three or four together, and Mr. Löhle calculates that in the entire settlement 40,000 or 50,000 must have been used. The relics collected were very numerous, but they are widely dispersed. The best public collections that I have seen are in the Museums at Zürich, Constance, and Sigmaringen. The following notes and accompanying illustrations ([Fig. 27]) will give a fair idea of their character.
Stone.—Celts, hammer-stones, grain-rubbers, etc., were in hundreds, and in all stages of manufacture, but the great majority were badly made. Perforated tools were comparatively rare (Nos. 7, 8, 9, and 20). Flint saws hafted in wood (No. 15), and flint arrow-heads and lance-heads, were in tolerable abundance (Nos. 1, 2, and 3). The celts and chisels were made from the ordinary water-worn materials found in the neighbourhood (Nos. 6 and 10), and only a few small specimens were of nephrite and jadeite. Very few had horn fasteners, and the prevalent method of using these implements was to insert the celt into a cleft in a branch with a long handle and a crook at the other end. Slabs for grinding and polishing these celts, as well as others with marks of fire, and supposed to have been used as hearths, were also frequently met with.
Fig. 27.—Wangen. Nos. 5, and 17 to 19 = 1⁄4, and the rest = 1⁄2 real size.
Bone and Horn.—Pointers, daggers, awls, small chisels, and arrow-points were found in large numbers. Some of the bone arrow-heads had still the asphalt adhering to them by which they were fastened to the stems. Also flax-hecklers (No. 4), and a variety of fish-hooks (Nos. 11 and 16).