Wetland settlement

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Wetland settlements are collections of wooden structures on permanently moist or intermittent subsoil, as can be found on lake shores and in bog areas.

Construction

Excavation of the wetland settlement in the area around the Kleiner Hafner , Lake Zurich

foundation

Basically there are two different types of construction: On small lakes, especially those with silting zones that have the character of a fen, houses were built with no or simple foundation structures. In individual cases, earthenware screed was applied directly to the bog soil, in most cases there was so-called beatings on an often multilayered, grid-like laid brushwood underlay.

The construction method is different on the large alpine and pre-alpine lakes because there an intermittent water level had to be expected. Here, however, the findings are often severely impaired by the effects of the water. Therefore reconstructions are methodologically difficult. The interpretations range from ground-level constructions to log house bases of various shapes to pile structures . Piles were either set down to the supporting layers in the subsoil or were simply 'floating', ie they were held in the soft sediments by friction .

Structure

All houses have a rectangular floor plan. The two-aisled construction is typical, one- and three-aisled constructions are rare. The size ranges from 6 to 75 m². On wall forms there are wickerwork between uprights, vertical planks and horizontal bar and board walls. The different shapes are often found on the same building. Walls were either plastered with clay or stuffed with moss. Hearths and occasionally ovens have been identified inside the houses. Transverse and longitudinal walls for dividing the buildings into individual rooms have often been preserved, as well as long roofs that protect a forecourt. The roofs were usually simple gable roofs , and rafter roofs are also possible for small buildings without a center post . Softwood shingles can be found several times as roofing. Finds of strips of bark are also interpreted as material for covering roofs. In the case of roofs that are suspected of being made of thatch and grass, no traces have been preserved or expected. Residential use predominates in the houses. In addition, there are storage areas and occasionally small animal husbandry. Residential barn houses with large livestock are occasionally also found on fen sites with ground level construction .

historical development

Predecessors of the wetland settlements can be found on inland waters of the Mediterranean region and in Macedonia and possibly also on the brackish water lagoons of the southern French coast. The first real wetland settlements emerged in the middle of the 5th millennium BC. Almost at the same time in the cardial or imprint culture - and the Vasi-a-bocca-quadrata culture in northern Italy , while north of the Alps the band ceramic culture did not build any comparable buildings. Here they continue with the Egolzwiler culture and around 4250 BC. In the Aichbühler and Schussenried group . Proofs will follow in Slovenia and at Lake Keutschacher See in Carinthia . In the late Neolithic around 3500 BC The circumalpine phenomenon is already spread between Franche Comté and Slovenia via other cultures in Germany , Switzerland and Austria . After a decline at the time of the bell beaker culture , around 2500 BC. It lives around 1750 BC. BC in the area (except Bavaria and Austria), ebbs again after a short time and reaches its final phase with the urn field culture in the end of the Bronze Age .

distribution

The type of settlement has been proven from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age to the Iron Age . By far the greatest distribution is found around the Alps, with a focus on the northern Alpine foothills , the Salzkammergut , the Lake Constance region and northern Italy with the Po plain (where they are called Terramare ). Isolated finds are known from other parts of Europe.

Around 500 settlements have been identified in the circumalpine region, most of which have several strata , so that well over 1000 individual settlements can be assumed.

Settlement structures

Settlement structures have only been well researched in Switzerland and southwest Germany because of the particular density of finds. Settlements initially emerged from individual buildings arranged side by side in the Egolzwiler culture and the Cortaillod culture . The houses were aligned with the gable facing the bank and placed in one, sometimes two rows one behind the other. In the Aichbühler and Schussenried cultures the same arrangement was taken up somewhat less densely and strictly. The Pfyn culture arranges the individual houses with the eaves facing the lake and much closer together. From around 3500 BC There are also street villages that are lined up on both sides of a path. This type of settlement spreads from Lake Constance over Central Switzerland to Lac de Chalain in the French Jura department . With a few exceptions, the settlements are very densely built up. They are often surrounded by fences or palisades . The size of the settlement varies from scattered settlements with only two or three houses to (protourbanen) settlements with over 100 houses used at the same time.

On the large pre-alpine lakes, chains of settlements used at the same time can be identified at a distance of two to three kilometers. In the end of the Neolithic, the arrangement of several related settlements in so-called settlement chambers can be proven. Main and sub-settlements are also likely to arise here.

Useful life

The houses are typically only used for a short time and have to be rebuilt frequently. Dendrochronological examinations revealed a typical age of the buildings in the early Neolithic of only 4–20 years. The settlements were used for 5–40 years, in exceptional cases 40–80 years. Later, the stability of the buildings and the useful life increase, now repairs to houses instead of demolition and new construction can be proven more frequently. Buildings are now used for up to 60 and, in individual cases, 120 years.

Important sites

The articles Pfahlbau # localities (selection) and Feuchtbodensiedlung # important localities overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Coyote III 11:12, Jun 13, 2011 (CEST)


All pile dwellings around the Alps were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011 under the name Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps . There are 111 directly named settlement locations as well as all other known or still discovered pile dwelling settlements as associated stations .

Germany

Austria

  • Mondsee culture in the Salzkammergut - in the eponym finds at Mondsee , a later rise in the water level, perhaps also ending the settlement, was recently demonstrated by landslides

Switzerland

Other countries

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Helmut Schlichtherle: Lakeside settlements . In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde , 2nd edition, Volume 28, pages 54–68
  2. ↑ a b c Website UNESCO World Heritage Center (June 27, 2011), press release Six new sites inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List , accessed February 15, 2013
  3. ↑ a b Website palafittes.org: Swiss sites in the UNESCO World Heritage Site ( Memento of the original from May 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Rapperswil-Jona / Hombrechtikon-Feldbach ( Seegubel , CH-SG-01), Rapperswil-Jona-Technikum (CH-SG-02), Freienbach-Hurden-Rosshorn (CH-SZ-01) in connection with the prehistoric and historical Sea crossings , accessed February 15, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.palafittes.org