Burgäschisee Ost, October 2023

The Burgäschisee Ost-site consists of a 75x40 meter (0.3 ha) piece of meadow on the south-eastern shore of tiny lake Burgäschi, a pleasant 20-minute walk away through the rolling hills of Swiss Mittelland from the eponymous village of Aeschi, from where very regular buses plow the route from Solothurn to Herzogenbuchsee – both hubs on the Swiss rail network (the reason for the different spelling of Aeschi vs. Burgäschi is not totally clear to me).

According to the Internet, the settlement was discovered in 1943 after a lowering of the lake level and excavated in 1944/45 with the help of interned prisoners of war. The first phase of the Burgäschisee Ost site is attributed to the Egolzwil culture, the main phase belonging to the classical Cortaillod period and dating to around 3830 BC.  Further excavations were done in 2015-2017.

The site is unmarked, and there are certainly no visible remains of any settlement. Note that the lowering of the lake level explains why the site is now fully onshore.

On the photo, the core site is on the left side of the little road, bordering the lake; reeds and some small trees grow on the lakeshore, making access to the water from the core zone a bit difficult; there are openings, however, on both the southern and northern end a few meters outside the core perimeter.

Some 200 meters north of the core site is Restaurant Seeblick, along with a nice public (paid) beach. In front of the restaurant there are a couple of panels explaining in general terms the history and significance of the pile dwellings in this area. There’s even a historic photo of the excavations done during World War II; however, this photo appears to be from the digs done on the northern lake shores (boundary zone only). The retrieved artefacts can apparently be seen in the Archaeological Museum in the nearby cantonal capital of Solothurn (I did not visit, though).

As you walk from Aeschi to Burgäschisee don’t miss the sports grounds of the local Hornussen club (“Hornusserplatz Aeschi”). “Hornussen” is a very traditional, indigenous Swiss team sport, which is kind of difficult to explain, but very fun to watch. Unfortunately, when I passed by, there was no sporting activity happening; however, a couple of local model airplane enthusiasts were using the grounds to fly their planes, which was fun to watch. Note that in rural Swiss areas people are very friendly and open, it is customary to greet strangers when hiking, and many locals will happily strike up conversations with you.

Close by to Burgäschisee lies the other WHS pile dwelling site of Inkwilersee Insel; however, as the name suggests, the core site consists of a small island only (45 meters in diameter, some 100 meters offshore); hence, unless you have access to a boat, it’s probably going to be a near-miss…