Wauwilermoos pile dwelling settlement (Egolzwil 3)

Wauwilermoos or Egolzwil 3 is one of the 111 serial sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, of which are 56 located in Switzerland.

The site is located on the former Wauwilersee lakeshore in the municipalities of Egolzwil, Wauwil and Schötz in the Canton of Luzern in Switzerland. The settlement comprises 0.65 hectares (1.61 acres), and the buffer zone including the lake area comprises 56.82 hectares (140.41 acres) in all.

To 20000 BC a branch of the Reuss glacier formed a valley whose deepest point was approximately 57 metres (187 ft) below the present surface. At Schötz the glacier stoped, as shown by the impressive moraines. During the retreat of the glacier, meltwater jammed between the moraines. Thus in the Wauwilermoos plain three lakes were formed: Wauwilersee, Hagimoos and Mauensee; latter still exists. The meltwater outsourced enormous amounts of sand, so that the lakes never were particularly deep. The depth of Wauwilersee amounted only to about 15 metres (49 ft). To 17000 BC the area was finally free of ice, and soon first pioneer plants settled, such as dwarf birch and mountain avens on, typically for a post-glacial tundra landscape. To 14000 BC the silting up of the three lakes by sand, lake marl and peat began. As a result of climatic changes, the lake levels have been fluctuating over the course of the Stone Age era. So the water level rose several times, and the area covered by water was enlarged: on the one hand, the waves formed the beach ridges between Wauwil and Ettiswil, on the other hand, the radicals old Stone Age and middle Stone Age settlement sites were captured by the rising water, wiped and finally covered with lake sediments. The Neolithic lake dwellings also were covered with lake sediments. At the former Wauwilersee lake area, peat was mined between 1820 and about 1920, and the lake was drained around 1859. To date, the area is still drained in order to make it usable for agriculture. The moorlands in Wauwilermoos therefore disappeared except for small residual areas. Since July 2009 there is also a waterbird and migratory bird reserve of national importance, to protect migratory and waterfowl year-round living in Switzerland.

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