At the flat shore of Zürichsee, there are Neolithic and Bronze Age (4500 to 850 BC) finds, most of them related to the lakeside settlements Kleiner Hafner and Grosser Hafner (both small former islands west of Sechseläutenplatz, near Bauschänzli at the Stadthausquai, and Alpenquai at the Bürkliplatz square.
Probably in 5th to the 7th century AD, the hilltop leveled fort became the retaining wall of the growing Gallo-Roman settlement, and so gave the Lindenhof terrace largely its current form.