Microscopic views of Swiss Lake Villages

Extract

Neolithic and Bronze Age lake villages have captured the public imagination since their recognition in the 19th century. Commonly thought of as 'Swiss' although similar types of sites are found throughout Europe and beyond, these villages are renowned for unusually well preserved organic finds and the romantic image of being raised above water. Today it is held that both raised and groundlevel dwellings existed, and that each site must be interpreted on an individual basis. Current research analyses sedimentary sequences from thrcc Neolithic lakeside villages on the northern rim of the European Alps using micromorphology, or the study of thin-sectioned in situ sediments from and around archaeologicals ites (FIGUR1E). This research is the first time sediment from lakeside villages was treated as material culture, with the specific purpose of detailing human use of the landscape through the identification of archaeological features (FIGURE2). Features on lakeside villages are often distorted by wave action, sediment loading and/or erosional episodes.