Pfyn culture

Located in a depression carved by a lateral moraine of the Thur glacier, it dates from the Neolithic era (4300 BC).

During the war years 1940–41, an attempt to drain the bog to increase arable production land led to its rediscovery.

In the autumn of 1944, an area of approximately 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft) was excavated by interned Polish soldiers led by Charles Keller-Tarnuzzer.

The house floors were all built with complex support structures and overlying split boards, which were usually covered with clay.

Midden heaps in the soil and partial scorch marks on the support structures suggest that at least some buildings were lifted quite high off the ground.

That settlement has never been systematically studied, and it is believed that the industrial peat extraction during the second World War may have largely destroyed it.

However, a copper wire and dagger from the Pfyn era were found at Reute in Appenzell Ausserrhoden as well as crucibles and casting spills.