Long before the Federsee became a moor, it was a lake with villages along its edge, and the villagers built on wet ground. In the Bronze Age, people here set their houses on timber platforms and foundations at the water's edge, and as the lake slowly silted up, the waterlogged peat sealed their remains. Wooden posts, tools and pottery survived in astonishing condition. The Siedlung Forschner, named for the farmer on whose land it lay, is one of the excavated settlements, and it belongs to the group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps that UNESCO listed in 2011.
The landscape is gentle and a bit mysterious. The Federsee is the largest moor in Upper Swabia, a patchwork of reed beds, alder woods, wet meadows and open water, with a boardwalk that leads far into the reeds. Birds are abundant, particularly in spring and autumn, when cranes, herons and many migrants stop to feed. Mist hangs over the water in the mornings, and the whole moor smells of damp earth and plants.
In Bad Buchau, the small town at the edge of the moor, the Federsee Museum has reconstructions of Bronze Age houses and finds from the digs. Another part of the story is the Schreckensee, a lake nearby that shares the same glacial origins. The town itself is quiet, with a palace and an old convent, and the pace is slow.
The roads in Upper Swabia are a pleasure for a relaxed ride. They wander over low hills and past dairy farms, orchards and onion-domed churches, with long gentle bends and little traffic on weekdays. Many of the lanes are narrow, and tractors are common, so keep speed modest. The surface is generally good but can be muddy near fields. Bad Buchau, with about four thousand people, has fuel, a bakery and a few inns. Spring and early autumn are lovely, and the museum is open daily in season, with shorter hours in winter. A short walk on the boardwalk is worth the time, whatever the weather.