The first notices of investigations of the lake-dwellings in the Attersee were published in 1871 by Count Wurmbrand and Mr. Simony, and these were continued by the former during the following five years, according as fresh discoveries were made. (B. 200, 201a, 202, 229, and 276.) There were five settlements in the lake—one, Seewalchen, near the outlet; two, Attersee and Aufham, on the west shore; and two, Weyeregg and Puschacher, on the east shore.
Seewalchen.—This settlement formed an irregular quadrangle, some 500 by 180 feet, and distant from the nearest shore between 200 and 300 feet. The water here is about 5 feet deep, and though clear, no relics or piles are visible, as the débris are covered over with a bed of gravel, which had to be removed by dredging. The piles were round timbers 6 to 8 inches in diameter, and 3 to 4 feet apart, which penetrated so deeply into the shell-marl that it was with difficulty any of them could be pulled up. The relic-bed was a blackish conglomerate of organic débris, about a foot thick, and greatly compressed by the superincumbent gravel. Count Wurmbrand does not think this settlement had been destroyed by fire, as the usual symptoms of such a catastrophe are entirely wanting. The antiquities, though numbering among them a few metal objects, are essentially of the Stone Age, among which the following are the most typical.
Stone.—The arrow-points of flint are all triangularly shaped, no example with a central stem having been discovered. One remarkable object is a small knife-flake of obsidian. Stone celts (a few perforated and mostly broken) were made of diorite, greenstone, granite, hornblende, etc., but none of nephrite. Grinding and polishing stones were abundant.
Horn and Bone.—Of these materials there were pointers (some with double prongs), chisels, scrapers, but none of the haftings for celts, such as those so frequently met with on the sites of the Swiss lake-dwellings; some bone rings, probably intended for beads, and others of cannel-coal.
Pottery.—Pottery was not abundant, but judging from its character, Count Wurmbrand thought that it was smeared over with graphite or some colouring matter, and burnt in an open fire. The ornamentation was made with the finger-nail, or with small pointed implements, in the soft clay. Some fragments showed handles and others perforated knobs.
Metal.—Two small bronze pins, one with conical head, and perforated in the stem a little below the head. It is quadrilateral in its lower two-thirds, and ornamented with dots. The other objects are an awl, sharpened at both ends, a lump of bronze, and two small fragments of iron.
The animal remains belonged to the pig, bear, beaver, ox, and stag.
Among the woods used were fir, lime, beech, oak, hazel, birch, and cornel-cherry.
Weyeregg.—The station next in importance is Weyeregg, about a third of the way up the lake. It has yielded well-made bone implements, worked tines of horns, perforated boars' teeth, and some finely polished stone hatchets. One is of a sea-green colour like jade, and another has an elegant form ([Fig. 39], No. 22). Latterly a few metal objects have been found on this station, among which are the two daggers here represented (Nos. 17 and 18). On the remaining stations only a few objects of stone and pottery have been collected, sufficient, however, to show that they were similar to those already described. On Puschacher there were found two half-moon-shaped flint knives (Krummesser) (Nos. 20 and 21), and a round stone ball of polished serpentine neatly perforated, supposed to have been a mace.