A memorial stone The hills from the Hallstatt period are the first traces of settlement in the municipality of Zollikon. Two of the original five mounds were dug up by amateurs in 1838 and almost completely removed. Nothing is known about any finds. In August 1862 a third attempt was successful. Under the direction of Ferdinand Keller, the main mound was carefully examined. A cremation grave with several pots, bowls and plates was found within a stone setting. The vessels were chessboard-like and decorated with notched carvings. In the same mound, 120 cm higher, a later grave was found with one, possibly two burials. Inside was a round-bottomed bronze cauldron with a diameter of 32 cm with two iron ring handles, a bronze belt plate from local production and pieces of jewelery such as fibulae, bronze and glass rings and two whetstones. The finds suggest a woman's grave; possibly the whetstones come from a second grave of a man. No skeletal remains were found. The main tomb was dated to around 650 BC. BC, the second grave about 100 years earlier. Keller found that a pit was first dug for the first dead man on the then probably unwooded hilltop with a wide view over sea and land, in which, as remains of coal show, a pyre for the cremation of the dead man was possibly piled up. The remains were then placed in an ornate urn in the center of the tomb, surrounded by a dozen storage jars. Then the pit was surrounded with a stone ring and the death chamber was covered with a vaulted stone chamber. A stone circle was placed around the base of the mound to separate the realms of the living and the dead. In addition, the washing away of the raised earth was made more difficult. Halfway up the burial mound, Keller also discovered seven hearths and a ring of small menhirs between the fires and the crest of the mound. The originals of the find are kept in the Swiss National Museum; Copies are on display in the local museum in Zollikon.