"When I began the excavation with a few workmen on the 18th of June, I was surprised to find, under a pavement of clay and gravel, from 2 to 4 inches thick, and from the top of which 3 feet of peat had been removed, a structure of faggot-sticks, regularly laid and perfectly solid; and as the wood was exceedingly soft, we had to use every care in uncovering as large a portion of it as we could. We first bared a space, which was in perfect condition, 20 feet long, 6 feet wide at the ends, and 10 feet wide in the middle. The upper platform was of split timber or boards of oak, laid down with great care, and it rested on round timber, or faggot-sticks, from 3 to 4 inches in diameter, which were surrounded with piles. The back part of the space was covered with charcoal, and was somewhat charred; there were also found tolerably large stones (hearth-stones) in their original position. A most striking fact was that the lowest part of the side wall was still standing; it consisted of a kind of shutter pushed in between the upright piles surrounding the space. On this I had other portions uncovered, and everywhere met with the same construction, only differing in having the platform or floor made of faggot-sticks instead of boards. Here and there the floor had sunk considerably, often one or one inch and a half in six inches. "This place was then left to be examined by the members of the associations of Thurgau and Zürich, and excavations were made in another place to examine the sub-structure. The result proved no less interesting; for 1 foot deep, under the first platform, we came upon a second; a foot deeper we found a third; then a fourth, and so on; so that the arrangement is similar to that of Wauwyl. The huts were placed on masses of wood, consisting of five or six platforms, one above the other, the spaces between which were filled in with brushwood and branches of trees, chiefly alder, rushes, gravel, and clay. We were surprised to meet with bones, cones of earthenware, and a great wooden mallet between the platforms; we also found woven cloth under the fifth platform, and charcoal close to the bed of the lake. From this I conclude that the platforms were not made at the same time, but at intervals, one after the other; or that they had been repaired, a portion at a time, as we found single charred stems under fresh wood." (B. 119, 2nd ed., p. 77.) In another section Messikommer observed a slight variation in the fascine structures above described, which he thus explains: "What I have called the lattice or trellis work consisted of thin stems of trees, which were not laid close together, but at intervals of from one to two inches apart; the uppermost stems rested on others lying under them at right angles, and these again on others parallel with those on the upper layer. The spaces between the timbers were filled in with charcoal and burnt clay."