MINDLISEE AND BUSSENSEE.
In the vicinity of Constance are two small lakes or bogs which have yielded important remains of lake-dwellings. These are the Bussensee and Mindlisee, both situated in the tract of country stretching between the Untersee and the Ueberlingersee. The former is near Lützelstetten, and in its marginal peat there have been found the following antiquities:—A wooden dish cut out of an alder-trunk, measuring 13 inches in diameter; two amber beads—one a perforated disc 1½ inch in diameter ([Fig. 28], No. 8), similar to one found at Ober-Meilen, and said to have been in the possession of the late Mr. Aepli, and the other a small ordinary bead (No. 9). Also several articles of stone, horn, copper, and bronze. A curiosity is a portion of the shell of a tortoise perforated with two holes for suspension (No. 17). Also a female human skull of the dolichocephalic type.[25]
The Mindlisee is near Möggingen, and its Pfahlbau is more difficult of investigation, owing to the bogginess of the peat. Some of the antiquities from this locality, and now in the Museum at Constance, consist of fragments of pottery, two ornamented pins and a dagger of copper (Nos. 2, 3 and 11), some bronze objects (Nos. 14 and 15), and a curiously shaped stone, like a hatchet and handle in one piece (No. 12). (B. 381 and 462.)
FEDERSEE.
The settlement in the Federsee was reported on by Oberförster Frank, of Schussenried, in 1876, being the result of systematic investigations conducted by him during the previous year. (B. 285.) It was situated in the south-east corner of an extensive tract of peat which now largely occupies the ancient basin of the Federsee, at a place about three miles distant from the present small lake, and 380 yards from its ancient or glacial margin. Immediately over the glacial débris in which this basin is formed there lies a layer of whitish clay, "Weissergrund," about 15 inches thick, and then follows peat for a thickness of 10 or 12 feet. The lake-dwelling remains are met with at a depth of 6½ feet, but it is impossible to form a correct idea of the extent of the entire settlement, as it is only a portion that has been exposed. At this depth in the peat wooden platforms are met with, formed of layers of round or split timbers lying transversely one above the other, and forming a kind of fascine structure. Between the wooden layers there is always placed a bed of clay, the number of which varies from three to eight, so that there is no uniformity in the thickness represented by these structures.
Inserted through these solid masses of clay and wood, at intervals of about 2¼ feet, were upright beams, only some of which reached the Weissergrund. These piles were slender, only about 4 inches in diameter, and showed no evidence of having either mortises or tenons by which they could be joined with the horizontal beams.
Relics were found not only on the surface of these fascine structures, but also in the clay between the successive layers or platforms, and even underneath the lowest, down as far as the Weissergrund, but never actually in the latter. Between the lowest layers of woodwork and the Weissergrund there is sometimes a space of 4 or 5 feet in which horns, broken bones, and other relics are found; but it is "above and between the horizontal layers of timbers, and chiefly in the immediate neighbourhood of the upright piles, that implements of all kinds are met with—of flint, stone, horn, bone, teeth, and wood; also earthenware vessels and spoons quite perfect."
In June, 1879, Mr. Frank was fortunate in finding the actual foundation of a hut, showing the flooring and portions of the side walls, the dimensions and other particulars of which I will afterwards discuss.[26]
There was no evidence that this settlement, like so many in Switzerland, came to an end by means of a conflagration; and, indeed, the freshness of the upper woodwork and the absence of burnt faggots, etc., negatived the idea of such a catastrophe.
The antiquities found on these remarkable peat dwellings are supposed to belong exclusively to the Stone Age, as hitherto no objects of metal have been found among them ([Figs. 34] and [35]).