Wetland-Archaeology in the Alpine Space. Overview and actual research issues.

First indications of prehistoric sites in lakes of Switzerland go back more than 200 years and in 1854 Ferdinand Keller (1800-1881) published his famous book The Celtic Pile Dwellings in Swiss Lakes. Since these times, large-scale rescue excavations as well as survey and research projects have extended our knowledge about Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements in lakes, bogs and rivers around the European Alps. In 2011 a representative choice of 111 sites out of nearly 1000 in six countries around the Alps (Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland) were recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage committee as serial World Heritage. The lecture will give a general overview on prehistoric lake dwellings around the Alps (distribution, types of lakes/bogs and environment of sites, chronology/cultural units in the time scale 5300 to 800 BC) and present examples of well-documented settlement structures. The intense use of dendrochronological dating allowed the building up of a well-fixed chronological framework. In some cases dendrochronology is the basis for year-by-year reconstructions of prehistoric village biographies and detailed insights in the life cycle of early agrarian settlements. Beside these local events the grouped repartition of lake dwelling remains on the time scale makes a more global correlation between Holocene lake levels and the preservation of archaeological layers likely.

Tuberculosis in early medieval Switzerland - osteological and molecular evidence

Lesions consistent with skeletal tuberculosis were found in 13 individuals from an early medieval skeletal sample from Courroux (Switzerland). One case of Pott’s disease as well as lytic lesions in vertebrae and joints, rib lesions, and endocranial new bone formation were identified. Three individuals with lesions and one without were tested for the presence of MTBC aDNA, and in two cases, evidence for MTBC aDNA was detected. Our results suggest the presence of tuberculosis in the analyzed material which is in accordance with other osteological and biomolecular research that reported high prevalence of tuberculosis in medieval skeletons.

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.

The Medieval Quiet Period

For several centuries in early Medieval times the climate system was relatively unperturbed by natural forcing factors, resulting in a unique period of climate stability. We argue that this represents a reference state for the Common Era, well before anthropogenic forcing became the dominant driver of the climate system.

Archaeology in Switzerland between lakes and mountains.

Switzerland has an extraordinarily rich archaeological heritage from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, dating back nearly 7000 years. Since the mid-19th century, the first pile dwellings were discovered in the lakes of the Central Plateau. Since 2011 these sites are part of the UNESCO world heritage „Prehistoric pile-dwellings around the Alps“. Not only lakes, but also Swiss mountains preserve extraordinary archaeological remains: from an alpine pass in the Bernese Alps prehistoric objects are melting out from the ice. Perfect preservation conditions and modern archaeological methods allow exploring the development of early agrarian societies in this part of the world. We can reconstruct their settlements and follow their exchange with other communities. Archaeology under water and in alpine environments allows fascinating insights into the beginnings of our history.