Prehistoric pile dwellings around Zürichsee

Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps

Seedamm and reconstruction of the medieval lake bridgte at Rapperswil, Lake Zurich to the left, Obersee to the right, Hurden in the foreground; the area of three pile dwellings and the Neolithic lake crossing.
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	iv, v
Reference	1363
Inscription	2011 (35th Session)
Website	www.palafittes.org/en/index.html
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Prehistoric pile dwellings around Lake Zurich comprises 11 – or 10% of all European pile dwelling sites – of a total of 56 prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps in Switzerland, that are located around Lake Zurich in the cantons of Schwyz, St. Gallen and Zürich.

These 11 – including one further on the nearby Greifensee and Robenhausen on Pfäffikersee lakeshore – prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlements were built from around 5000 BC to 500 BC and are concentrated within an area of about 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi), on Lake Zurich respectively Obersee lakeshore in the cantons of Schwyz, St. Gallen and Zürich.

As part of a series of, in all, 111 European prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, they were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 2011. Archaeological excavations were conducted in only some of the sites, to preserve the heritage for future generations. Nevertheless, the excavations yielded evidence that provides insight into life in prehistoric times during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Alpine Europe and the way communities interacted with their environment. The settlements are a unique group of exceptionally well-preserved and culturally rich archaeological sites, which constitute one of the most important sources for the study of early agrarian societies.