Crestaulta
Crestaulta is a Bronze Age settlement in the municipality of Lumnezia in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . The settlement has been continuously inhabited for around 500–600 years since the early Bronze Age and is considered one of the oldest in the inner Alpine region.
location
Crestaulta (= high hill) is located southwest of the village of Lumbrein on a flattened hill 300 m west of the hamlet of Surin. In the north and west, the terrain slopes steeply towards the Glenner . The highest point of the hill is at an altitude of 1283.5 m above sea level. A path that is still preserved today - previously paved with stone slabs, now overgrown - leads up the hill from the east.
discovery
The settlement site was discovered in the summer of 1935. The then canton forester Walo Burkart (1887–1952) together with the local teacher Ch. Gartmann carried out a test drill on the striking hill. After just a few minutes, the men came across animal bones, ceramic shards and half a bronze ax. After a major exploration in autumn, systematic excavations were carried out from 1936 to 1938. In 1937 15 students from the Kreuzlingen teachers' college worked on the excavations.
Findings
When the hill was taken over, it did not have the flattened shape that is visible today. As found, partly massive retaining walls inside the settlement area showed, it was created over the course of time through numerous embankments and leveling. The almost flat western edge zone was settled as the first residential zone. As a result of progressive leveling, the building area was gradually expanded towards the east, probably after fire disasters.
The culture layers begin right under the meadow at a depth of approx. 10 to 20 cm. In the west, the culture deposits measure approx. 50 cm, in the east around 3 meters. The black color of the deposits comes not only from the ejections from the herd, but also from several hut fires. Three residential horizons were determined, which could be demonstrated quite well, especially in the western, first settled hill side.
Lowest layer
The deepest layer dates from the Early Bronze Age (approx. 2000–1700 to 1600 BC) and lies directly on the moraine that forms the bottom of the hill. Numerous post holes of a simple post construction with a hearth were found. The size of the hut was about 6.5 by 4 m.
Middle layer
Various drywall constructions originate from the second, probably already Middle Bronze Age phase (approx. 1600 to approx. 1400 BC), but these do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about buildings. In addition, several hearths, a small round "cellar building", remains of an oven and various remains of fire were found. Found dagger blades and numerous casting drops suggest that it was a melting or forging furnace. A paved path led from south to north. Three hut places could be proven. A pot depot with seven vessels was uncovered next to a pottery furnace.
Top layer
The top layer dates from the Middle Bronze Age (1500 / 1400–1300 BC). Indications of three hut places with hearths, stone settings and a wooden board floor were discovered. The excavations also brought to light ceramic finds from the Inner-Alpine Bronze Age culture (formerly known as the Crestaulta culture), as well as bronze tools (sickles, axes, daggers, decorative needles), stone and bone artifacts, charred seeds and remains of animal bones. Since only about half of the settlement area was searched, it can be assumed that there were six to ten huts on Crestaulta, in which about 35 to 50 people lived.
Finds
bronze
27 artefacts could be recognized as weapons, implements or jewelry: three hatchets only half preserved, two dagger blades, seven arrowheads, a sickle of the same type as found on Mutta in Falera , three needles and several fragments of Jewellery. It is not clear whether the axes were cast on Crestaulta, no molds have been found.
Stone and crystal
Five Stone lobes with wood scarfed were numerous Kornquetscher and knock and grindstones. 20 rock crystals with worn tips were probably used as a knife.
bone
84 bone artifacts were found, most of them from the lower two layers. Striking are two cut daggers with a length of 15 and 24 cm. In addition, numerous awls , scrapers and needles as well as two tubular bones dyed with ocher , whose purpose is unclear.
Ceramics
In no other country settlement from the Bronze Age have such quantities of skillfully produced ceramics been found as in Crestaulta. All vessels were made here. There were remains of at least 436 different vessels, 20 of which were restored. Seven smaller vessels were practically completely preserved. Numerous vessels were decorated with notches and impressions. Some fine fingerprints have been preserved.
Ceramic finds
Ceramic finds
Arrowheads, dagger blades
Stitch tools
Cereals and beans
Coked wheat and barley grains and broad beans (Vicia Faba) were found in three places on the upper horizon, some of them still in the pots .
Human remains
In 1937 a skull roof of a very small child was found in the top layer, and in 1938 further skeletal remains. Here, too, were the remains of six very small children, presumably newborns, as well as bone fragments (shins and foot bones) of a small adult. The human remains are in the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Zurich kept
Animal bones
Numerous wild and domestic animal bones have been found. Most of the domestic animals were bones from sheep, cattle and goats, some from pigs and hardly any from dogs. Only one horse could be detected. Compared to 840 bones from domestic animals, only 24 bones were found from wild animals, including those from bears, wild boars, chamois and ibex.
Residents
The hill of Crestaulta offered the people extremely favorable conditions: a good strategic location, fertile and manageable arable land, extensive grazing areas for cattle, enough forest to cover the need for wood, a spring at the foot of the hill and lots of sun even in winter. Similar prerequisites can be found in other Bronze Age settlement areas in Graubünden such as Jörgenberg , Falera or Lichtenstein .
There is no conclusive evidence of where the inhabitants of Crestaulta originally came from. However, the archaeological finds indicate that the people from northern Switzerland or southern Germany may have immigrated; Influences from the Aunjetitz culture are also not excluded. Repeated changes in the ornamentation and design of the ceramics suggest immigration of new ethnic groups.
As is clear from the finds in the ground, the inhabitants lived on agriculture and cattle breeding. Barley , wheat and field beans were grown . Hunting played a subordinate role, as the animal bones clearly show.
Cast bronze plugs show that the residents of that time worked the metal themselves and smelted copper from ore themselves. The origin of the tin is not known.
Nothing is known about the social structure and religion of the families or clans, and no graves have been found. It is not known exactly when and why the settlement was abandoned. After a pause in settlement of several hundred years, some finds of individual shards suggest that later, for a short time, people from the Iron Age settled the hill again.
The unknown inhabitants of Crestaulta were the first to do the first cultural work to make the Alps habitable. The explorer Walo Burkhart writes: The Crestaulta research has for the first time allowed an insight into the inner-alpine Bronze Age farming and shepherd culture of a sedentary population, which until now has remained hidden from archaeological research in its richness and high culture.
Cresta Pechna corridor
In 1947, 150 m from Crestaulta, in the corridor Cresta Petschna, a small cemetery was found with at least eleven Early to Middle Bronze Age cremations, which were also excavated by Walo Burkart in 1947-48. The robe pins and arm rings that were found, as well as pendants' jewelry, suggest that they were graves of women. A connection with the settlement on Crestaulta can be assumed.
literature
- Walo Burkart: Crestaulta: A Bronze Age hill settlement, Verlag Birkhäuser, Basel 1946
- Otto P. Clavadetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01319-4
- Castle map of Switzerland, Federal Office of Topography, 2007 edition
- Toni Halter: Culan, the pathfinder from Crestaulta . With drawings by Alois Carigiet. Desertina publishing house, Disentis, 1959 (DEA).
Web links
Coordinates: 46 ° 39 ′ 52 " N , 9 ° 6 ′ 38" E ; CH1903: 727946 / 169497