Laténium
Coordinates: 47 ° 0 '27.5 " N , 6 ° 58' 19.7" E ; CH1903: 564,526 / 206394
The Laténium - Parc et Musée d'archéologie de Neuchâtel is the cantonal archaeological museum in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel . It is named after the site of La Tène on Lake Neuchâtel and is located on the lakeshore in Hauterive . The Fondation La Tène, founded on May 19, 1994, is associated with the museum .
history
The Laténium, opened in 2001, is surrounded by an archaeological park. The entire area of 2.5 hectares was below the lake water level until 1980 and was known as an archaeological site. From 1984 to 1986 this site was drained with the help of a polder and completely excavated. The rich site of «Champréveyres» produced the remains of settlements from the Late Bronze Age and the Neolithic Age, as well as a camp site for early Stone Age hunters. Numerous archaeological finds had also come to light during the construction of the A5 motorway and before that during the 2nd Jura water correction . As a result, the cantonal museum in Neuchâtel had become too small and a new building was erected on the excavation site, which had been fully explored. The Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory of the University of Neuchâtel is also located in the same building .
Museum didactics
In the modern building, around 3000 artefacts from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages are exhibited on an area of 2200 m². From a didactic point of view, the exhibition is designed in such a way that one goes from the present into the past. At the beginning of the 20th century, visitors are faced with the man of the 20th century with a Swiss Army knife and gradually encounter the Cro-Magnon with flint blades, the Neanderthals and Homo erectus with their stone tools and even Homo habilis with a chopper . This is followed by the tool-free Australopithecus robustus and Australopithecus africanus . Using the exhibits from the respective epochs, cultural techniques and their development can be traced back. In addition, the museum offers changing special exhibitions, also on contemporary history .
Archaeological Park
The park around the Museum am See is freely accessible and at the same time offers recreational space as well as reconstructions of settlement forms and habitats in the region from the last 15,000 years. These include selected plants, a Bronze Age pile dwelling settlement, a Celtic bridge, a dugout canoe and a Gallo-Roman barge. The Laténium organizes demonstrations of ancient craft techniques and experiments in experimental archeology in the park .
Collections
In addition to the permanent exhibition, the Laténium houses extensive collections with almost 500,000 artefacts in its depots. Parts of it are housed in glass shelves in the visitable depot so that scientists and - on open days - visitors have easy access. The focus is on regional archeology with finds from the canton. There are also donations from collectors in the region who brought in Mycenaean finds, glass from Palestine, and finds from Greece, Italy and Russia.
For the conservation and restoration of archaeological finds, the Laténium has its own laboratory, which is equipped with modern equipment for the treatment of organic materials, metals, ceramics and glass.
Award
literature
- Laurent Chenu, et al .: Laténium pour l'Archéologie - Le nouveau Parc et Musée d'archéologie de Neuchâtel . Laténium, Hauterive 2001.
- Marc-Antoine Kaeser, Denis Ramseyer: Laténium - Neuchâtel Archeology Park and Museum (exhibition catalog). Attinger Verlag, Hauterive 2011. ISBN 978-2-940418-44-2 .
