Material culture entanglements of early wetland sites in central Switzerland (4300-3850 BC)

In central Switzerland, the earliest wetland settlements with definitely attested finds and features date into the second half of the 5th millennium BC. Combining the information they have yielded with that from dryland sites, we can construct a detailed picture of material culture at the turn of the 5th to the 4th millennium. On this basis, the definition of clearly delimited archaeological cultures seems questionable, not only from a theoretical point of view. Similiarities and differences in the pottery show small-scale regional units defined via vessel forms as well as stylistic and technological aspects. Yet there are also inter-regional connections: roundbased vessels with opposing handles are typical for Lake Zurich, central and western Switzerland, the Valais and the central Rhône valley. In turn, ‘foreign‘ types such as shoulder-band beakers indicate regular connections between groups living in central Switzerland and those in Alsace and southern Germany. Are these beakers ‘imports‘ or locally produced items (‘imitations‘) indicating the adoption of ‘foreign‘ vessel types and concepts? This and similar material culture phenomena result in a picture of many material entanglements and problematise the kinds of relationships and mobility which might have existed. Our paper addresses these questions and discusses how and whether these interwoven connections changed in the early 4th millennium.

NEENAWA: Network in Eastern European Neolithic and Wetland Archaeology: first steps.

Neolithic and Bronze Age wetland sites around the Alps (so called pile-dwellings, Pfahlbauten or palafittes in German/French) are of outstanding universal value (UNESCO-world heritage since 2011). Typical sites are in lakes, rivers and bogs, dating between 5300 and 800 BC. Of common character is the perfect conservation of wood, textiles from plant fabrics and many other organic materials. Larger quantities of sub-fossilized wood, as in the peri-alpine sites, offer the possibility of high-precision dating by dendrochronology. Research in these wetland sites started in the mid-19th century. Through large scale rescue excavations since the 1970s and the evolution of underwater archaeology in the same period the Swiss accumulated a thorough experience with these specific sites. Research in wetland sites is shared between cantonal institutions and universities and led to a worldwide unique accumulation of knowledge. Comparable sites exist outside of the Alpine area, but in much smaller quantities. Regions like Russia (small lakes in NW-Russia) and Macedonia (medium size lakes in the border zone of Macedonia, Albania and Greece) have a high scientific potential; rivers in Ukraine are supposed to have the same type of sites.

Mobilities, Entanglements, Transformations. Outline of a Research Project on Pottery Practices in Neolithic Wetland Sites of the Swiss Plateau

A large number of later Neolithic sites (3900–3500BC) in Switzerland, Southern Germany and Eastern France offer outstandingly well preserved archaeological materials from cultural layers. Due to the wide use of dendrochronology, settlement remains and artefact assemblages can now be placed into a precise and fixed chronological framework, thus presenting a unique case within prehistoric archaeology. In earlier research, chronological and regional units were constructed on the basis of pottery. These spacial and temporal units of typical pottery sets were understood as Neolithic cultures, as culturally more or less homogenous entities connected with (ethnic) identities. Today, with a larger data corpus of excavated settlements at hand, we can begin to understand that this period of the past was in fact characterised by a multitude of cultural entanglements and transformations. This is indicated by the occurrence of local and non-local pottery styles in one and the same settlement: for example typically local Cortaillod pottery is found together with NMB-styled pottery in settlements at Lake Neuchâtel or Michelsberg pottery is regularly occurring in settlements at Lake Constance where Pfyn pottery style is the typical local one. These and many more examples show that there must have been complex entanglements of social ties expanding between Eastern France, Southern Germany and the Swiss Plateau. Given these circumstances the former notions of Neolithic culture should be critically revised. Therefore, in late 2014, the Prehistoric Archaeology Department at the Archaeological Institute of University of Berne started a four-year research project funded by Swiss National Science Foundation in late 2014: ‘Mobilities, Entanglements and Transformations in Neolithic Societies of the Swiss Plateau (3900-3500 BC)’. It’s objective is to address the topic sketched above by adopting a mixed methods research (MMR)-design combining qualitative and quantitative approaches from archaeology and archaeometry. The approach is theoretically based on Pierre Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology and his concept of habitus but includes further concepts of practice theories. By shifting the focus to the movement of people, ideas and things – to pottery production practices in contexts of mobility – a deeper understanding of the transformative capacities of encounters can be achieved. This opens the path for new insights of Neolithic societies including social, cultural and economic dynamics that were underestimated in former research.