Weier pile dwelling settlement
Coordinates: 47 ° 44 ′ 10 " N , 8 ° 42 ′ 16" E ; CH1903: six hundred ninety-four thousand nine hundred and forty-nine / 288046
The pile dwelling settlement Weier (also called Weier I - III after its three phases ) is a Neolithic pile dwelling moor settlement from the Pfyn culture (approx. 3800 to 3600 BC). The site is located in a shallow valley south of Thayngen in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen . The settlement was discovered in 1914. Since 2011 it has been listed in the inventory of the UNESCO World Heritage Site .
Discovery and Exploration
During an amelioration in 1914, the first signs of the settlement were found. The first partial excavations took place between 1914 and 1921 under Karl Sulzberger . A second extensive excavation supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation was carried out between 1950 and 1963 by Walter Ulrich Guyan . Thanks to the 1988 drilling, a settlement area of around 4500 square meters was verified.
During the excavations in the 1960s, the technique of dendrochronology was used for the first time in Switzerland to determine the age of wood . However, the data had to be corrected later. On the basis of the timber analyzed, the settlement belonging to the Pfyn culture can be traced back to approx. 3800 to 3600 BC. To date.
location
The site is about a kilometer south of the village on the other side of a small hill in a hollow. The settlement was once located on a headland between two small, shallow lakes that are now silted up.
So far, three periods of settlement history have been identified, designated Weier I - III . The three periods are separated from each other by narrow strips of peat and layers of Gyttja deposited in the water .
Discovered buildings
By the archaeological excavations several houses in different designs (could in each layer, thanks to well-preserved wooden components mullion , stator and Stelzbauten) are detected.
Four houses (post structures with beating floors) and a fence were found for Weier I. In the shift of Weier II, eight to nine buildings including stables and storerooms (post and post structures) as well as a fence were discovered. Weier III researched eight buildings, including raised stilted structures, additional boardwalks and again a village fence. Probably 80 to 120 inhabitants lived in the settlement. The opposite terrace was used as a field.
Found objects
During the excavation work, several hundred ceramic vessels, including baking plates and tulip cups, were discovered. These can be assigned to the eastern Swiss Pfyner culture . However, the finds also show influences from the southern German Michelsberg culture .
Other finds include well-preserved wooden objects, including a complete bow and arrow with a flint tip . A copper ax blade, belt hooks made of antlers and two stemmed arrowheads made of Monti Lessini flint from northern Italy were also found. Woman's breasts modeled from clay can be interpreted as part of the wall of a cult building.
Furthermore, remains of grain, forage plants and various animal bones and armor, including those of the European pond turtle, were discovered.
Weier as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site
Under the name Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps , the Weier I - III site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2011, along with 110 other sites of prehistoric pile dwellings in Switzerland, Germany , Austria , Italy , France and Slovenia .
The situation on site is unspectacular. The basin of the former lakes is visible. The actual site is a fallow land. Only information boards point to the UNESCO World Heritage. The small finds discovered during the research excavations are exhibited together with a model of the settlement in the Museum zu Allerheiligen in Schaffhausen .
After the investigations, the remains of the settlement were covered with earth again to protect them. The area and with it the remains hidden in the ground are now threatened by drying out.
The former moorland was drained by the amelioration. As a result of this and the intensive agricultural use, the former moorland is now at great risk. Piezometers were therefore installed to check the water level . To protect the site, part of the former settlement area was declared an archaeological protection zone. The land is only cultivated as an ecological compensation area.
The municipality of Thayngen plans to make the Weier site and the nearby Kesslerloch , a prehistoric cave, more attractive for visitors. In 2014 she therefore took over from the Bernisches Historisches Museum a stilt house built by museum staff and visitors during an exhibition using only tools and methods from the Neolithic Age. It is still unclear exactly where it will be rebuilt.
literature
- Markus Höneisen: Weier. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Thayngen Weier on the website of the Cantonal Archeology Schaffhausen
Web links
- Cantonal archeology Schaffhausen: Thayngen-Weier, Neolithic bog settlement
- Excavation work on the pile dwellings Weier I – III in Thayngen - Swiss film weekly show from September 21, 1956
- Museum zu Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen
- Palafittes: Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps
Individual evidence
- ^ Bernisches Historisches Museum: Press release from December 16, 2014
- ↑ When the pile dwellers come (again) to Thayngen. SRF from December 16, 2014.
Cultural heritage: old town of Bern (1983) | St. Gallen Abbey District (1983) | Benedictine convent St. Johann in Müstair (1983) | Three castles and fortifications of Bellinzona (2000) | Lavaux Vineyard Terraces (2007) | Albula and Bernina lines of the Rhaetian Railway (2008) | La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle , watchmaking and urban planning (2009) | Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps (2011) | The architectural work of Le Corbusier : Villa Le Lac and Maison Clarté (2016)
Natural heritage: Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch (2001) | Monte San Giorgio (2003) | Tectonic Arena Sardona (2008)