Serial and transnational World Heritage Site since 2011

The term pile dwellings refers to wooden buildings constructed on piles in or on lakes, rivers or in bogs and other wetlands. Prehistoric pile dwellings are known in Europe from the Circum-Alpine region, the Balkans, the Iberian Peninsula, the Apennine Peninsula and from north-east European lakes and marshes. According to radiocarbon dating, the oldest of these prehistoric pile dwellings date back to around 6000 BC and are located on the shores of Lake Ohrid in present-day Albania. The pile dwellings on Roseninsel in Lake Starnberg are among the youngest prehistoric pile dwellings to date. They date back to the Iron Age around 500 B.C. However, pile dwellings are still widespread today as traditional residential architecture, for example in Southeast Asia and on the islands of New Guinea and Chiloé. The concept of building on wooden stilts can also be found in modern architecture.

Over 1000 pile-dwelling sites from the period between 5000 and 500 BC are known from the Circum-Alpine region. This period covers three epochs: the Neolithic Age, the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age. Research into the pile dwellings began in the middle of the 19th century when the water level of Lake Zurich dropped sharply in the extremely dry winter of 1853/1854, exposing pile fields with a large number of finds. As a result, a veritable ‘pile-dwelling fever’ broke out. Pile dwellings were also found in other lakes in the Alpine region. Gradually, pile-dwelling research emerged as a separate branch of research, which today, in close cooperation with underwater and wetland archaeology, uses a variety of different methods and (scientific) analytical procedures in the investigation of sites and finds.

Representing the entire pile-dwelling phenomenon, 111 of these sites were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011 as ‘Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps’ on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Six countries - Switzerland (56), Italy (19), Germany (18), France (11), Austria (5) and Slovenia (2) - are involved in this serial and transnational World Heritage Site.

The 56 inscribed sites in Switzerland are spread across the cantons of Aargau, Bern, Fribourg, Geneva, Lucerne, Neuchâtel, Nidwalden, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, Solothurn, St.Gallen, Thurgau, Vaud, Zurich and Zug. They can be found on large lakes such as Lake Geneva, Lake Zurich, Lake Lucerne and Lake Constance, as well as on small lakes such as Lobsigensee (BE), Hallwilersee (AG) and Inkwilersee (SO). Some sites have been found in (present-day) moors (e.g. Wauwilermoos (LU)) or in the present-day hinterland of the lakes, such as Lake Zug.

The location on or under water is the reason why remains of the pile dwellings have survived over the millennia to this day. The humid and anaerobic environment provides excellent conditions for the preservation of organic material such as wood, plant fibres, seeds, pollen and much more. The pile dwelling sites thus provide a unique insight into the craftsmanship, diet and everyday life of the early agricultural societies of Central Europe, as well as into transport and trade across the Alps over a period of almost 5000 years - from the Neolithic Age to the early Metal Age.

Analysing pollen, seeds and wood makes it possible to reconstruct the landscape of the time, its vegetation and economic use, as well as to follow its development and understand the interaction between humans and the environment.

Some of the most important innovations, such as the use of the disc wheel or the development of copper and later bronze metallurgy in the Alpine region, date from this period. Numerous finds of wheels, casting moulds and (semi-)manufactures are also known from pile dwelling settlements.

Dugout canoes, nets, fishhooks and fish traps provide information about fishing, but also the use of lakes and rivers as transport routes.

Finds of bast shoes, hats, cloaks or finely crafted wooden tableware, wooden tool shafts, wooden ploughs and bows demonstrate technical know-how and skill.

Based on these finds, connections can be made between the pile dwellings and motifs from the numerous pictorial representations of the Alpine region. These are known, for example, in the form of the rock paintings of Valcamonica (IT, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site) or the stone steles of the Aosta Valley (IT) and Sion (CH). They show, among other things, depictions of carts, wheels, ploughs, houses and other objects made of wood, which have been handed down from the pile-dwelling settlements.