Abstract

The montane belt is regarded as unattractive for prehistoric land use (Aerni, 1991). The key evidence for this hypothesis is the existence of very few archaeological finds. This ‘absence-based ’ evidence, however, may be checked with palaeoecologi-cal methods. The key question is what exactly would make the montane belt unattractive. Is it the remoteness, the poor accessi-bility and/or the climate? Thus, the second aim is to compare the results of our study with local archaeological evidence and well-dated palaeoecological records from the central Swiss Plateau